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The primary source of news and information about California State University, Dominguez Hills, its students, faculty, and staff.

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CalMatters: Black Women in California Are Overburdened and Underserved, New Poll Finds

August 15, 2023 By Lilly McKibbin

View of Los Angeles skyline and freeway.

Source: CalMatters

A new poll finds 2 out of every 5 Black women in California are just one paycheck away from financial instability. 

The first-of-its-kind survey of 1,258 Black women across the state revealed 37% work two or more jobs – and 62% of them said the second job is “essential” and they would “not be able to make ends meet” without it.

The Evitarus research firm polled the women last spring for the California Black Women’s Collective Empowerment Institute, a research nonprofit in Carson, near Long Beach. 

The findings could be important for political strategists. Of the Black women surveyed, more than 80% voted in the November 2020 elections. 

In general, the results quantify how Black women’s views on politics, economics, family issues and everyday life may vary from other demographic groups.

For instance, nearly a third of the Black women surveyed said they had experienced emotional or psychological abuse in the prior 12 months. And half said they feel unsafe when interacting with law enforcement.

Survey respondents also listed their top concerns as discrimination, financial instability and health disparities. 

“We show up for everyone,” said Kellie Tom Griffin, president of the California Black Women’s Collective Empowerment, during an online presentation of the study earlier this week.

“Black women in California are engaged and connected, and yet … they are struggling socially and economically while serving as the primary breadwinners of their households.” 

No Trickle Down

More than 75% of Black households are headed by single Black mothers, and in 80% of Black households women are the breadwinners, according to a separate 2022 report by the collective.

About 1.1 million Black women live in California, according to a Census Bureau estimate. Women and girls represent 51% of the state’s Black population. 

Some of the survey’s eye-opening findings reveal burdens Black women face: 

  • 2 in 5 Black women find it challenging to pay for basic expenses 
  • 4 in 5 Black women report difficulty dealing with inflation 
  • 8 in 10 Black women report a top concern is being discriminated against or mistreated because of their race or gender
  • 4 in 10 Black women said racism and discrimination have limited their income and earning capacity

These results indicate that the Legislature’s policies aimed at protecting women aren’t necessarily helping Black women, said Assemblymember Lori Wilson, a Democrat from Suisun City who serves as chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus. 

“It’s not really trickling down to Black women,” she said after the presentation, “and what (this data) shows is we have a whole segment of our population that is missing out.” 

Wilson said she plans to discuss the survey results with her colleagues in the Legislature as they debate budget priorities.

“What matters is how we as a community use the insights of Black women to inform our own thinking,”  added Thomas Parham, president of California State University, Dominguez Hills.  “Despite facing significant economic and social burdens, Black women continue to lead our families, our communities, and in the Democratic process.”

The poll is the first public project of the California Black Women’s Think Tank. Created by the California Black Women’s Collective Empowerment Institute, it is housed at Cal State, Dominguez Hills. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation last year funding the think tank with $5 million. 

Griffin said the California Black Women’s Collective Empowerment Institute will make policy recommendations based on the findings, with an eye toward equal pay for equal work, making housing affordable and protecting Black women and girls from violence. 

Newsom over Harris

Researchers also polled the women on their opinions of certain state and federal elected officials, finding 73% had a favorable opinion of Newsom – higher than the 69% favorable opinion of the Democratic Party and the 66% who viewed Vice President Kamala Harris favorably. 

Presentation participants did not comment on the political results. Newsom’s office declined comment, and his campaign spokesperson did not respond to CalMatters’ request for comment. 

The survey’s margin of error was plus or minus 2.7 percentage points, said Shakari Byerly, Evitarus’ managing partner.

John Nienstedt, who runs Competitive Edge Research & Communications, a pollster commonly used by San Diego-area Republican candidates, said he appreciates the effort and intent of the study. 

“It’s important to inform policy – in this case on the challenges faced by Black women – by gathering solid data in order to make evidence-based policy decisions,” Nienstedt said.

He said his firm’s research of San Diego County residents generally supports the statewide findings. 

“For example, our barometer shows the Black community is more impacted by the rising cost of living than other communities of color and whites,” he added.

Nienstedt said one drawback of Evitarus’ findings was a lack of reference points to other groups. 

“In other words, the challenges being faced by Black women voters may be very different, or no different, than those being faced by other groups,” he said, “but the research can’t tell us that. Without that information, it’s difficult to justify targeting policy proposals to Black women.” 

‘I am tired’

Evitarus researchers also included personal comments by survey participants which, they said, further highlight the need to study this population of voters. 

“I am at my limit,” said a 21-year-old Los Angeles resident. “Every turn is a blockade because I am a Black Woman … I am a high-performing individual and cannot get ahead. Banks don’t loan to us. Corporations tokenize us, and often only consider us when it comes to DEI marketing … I don’t have access to quality healthcare, includ(ing) mental health. I am tired.” 

DEI refers to diversity, equity and inclusion, often a catch-all term to describe policies and programs that promote representation and participation of people from various minority groups. 

In the survey, a 64-year-old Black woman in Los Angeles listed her concerns: “unsafe public transportation, being able to find an affordable car … finding a Black female physician … (I) need to see a doctor for health and I’m worried about illness.”

She added that physicians “are dismissive of Black women over 50.” 

A 38-year-old woman from the Inland Empire said her family still struggles with the pandemic’s aftereffects. 

“There was little to no help with the long-term effects from Covid,” she said. “I lost my business and while there was a lot of support for larger businesses, there was little for small businesses, which feed our families. We have been struggling since as the bills continue to climb.”  

Byerly said her research shows women in rural California were more harmed by inflation and rising housing costs than women elsewhere. 

“One of the things that’s most striking about these findings is the heavy burden, particularly on women in rural areas, notably in the Central Valley and Sacramento and far northern region, as well as younger women,” she said. 

CBS: 40% of Black Women in California Are Teetering on Financial Brink

August 10, 2023 By Lilly McKibbin

Golden Gate Bridge in fog

Source: CBS

A new California Black Women’s Think Tank survey finds that two out of every five Black women in California are just a paycheck away from financial instability.

The survey of 1,258 Black women voters across the state found that 37 percent work two or more jobs – this includes 62 percent who do so because it is “essential” and they would “not be able to make ends meet” without the additional income.

The California Black Women’s Think Tank is a policy institute housed at the California State University at Dominguez Hills through a $5 million budget trailer bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022. The survey is part of an effort by the institute to improve structures that impact the lives of Black women and girls across the state.

In the Bay Area, 33 percent of working Black women work more than one job. Fifty-eight percent of those women say that it is essential that they hold more than one job, and they would not be able to make ends meet otherwise.

Across California, the survey reveals two in five Black women face challenges covering basic expenses. Dealing with inflation and the rising cost of living (80 percent), managing stress (66 percent), and finding financial resources (53 percent), were among the top concerns for Black women in California.

“The results are sobering and paint a picture of the pressures that threaten Black women’s stability and financial security,” said Kellie Todd Griffin, president and CEO of the California Black Women’s Collective Empowerment Institute, at a news conference Tuesday. “This data is a call to action for meaningful change to policymakers, advocates, and community leaders to address these pressing issues and disparity gaps.”

Forty percent of respondents stated that racism and discrimination had limited their income and earning capacity, shedding light on the structural inequalities faced by Black women.

In the Bay Area, all respondents reported higher levels of homelessness, violence, and crime than what other Black women reported from other regions. Shakari Byerly, the managing partner of EVITARUS, a Los Angeles-based Black-owned public opinion research firm that designed, conducted, and analyzed the research, said racism and discrimination may be a reason.

“In traditionally African American or Black communities in the Bay Area, people have been more dispersed because of the lack of affordability,” Byerly said. “And that concern about racism and discrimination may be a function of that, especially when crime disproportionately impacts these urban areas.”

When asked about their top policy priorities for improving the lives of women and girls in California, Black women mentioned equal pay for equal work compared to men and women of other backgrounds (88%), the need for affordable housing (86 percent), doing more to protect Black women and girls from violence (85 percent), expanding access to quality, affordable health care (84 percent); fresh, healthy food (80 percent) and mental health services (80 percent).

Assemblymember Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City, described the study as staggering.

“We need real data on experiences of Black women so that the legislator and anyone involved in advocacy positions can make meaningful policy that will drive the change we need to improve their lives,” Wilson said.

The poll on Black women voters is the first public project of the California Black Women’s Think Tank.

Gerth Archives Marks New Milestones in Documenting History

October 13, 2022 By Lilly McKibbin

Campus Library

The CSUDH Gerth Archives and Special Collections, noted for its preservation of Southern California histories and cultures, has had three major developments toward its mission of making materials more accessible to the public.

The Archives is inviting the campus community and public to explore the newly completed Japanese American Digitization Project online, as well as the “Know Justice, Know Peace” exhibition currently on view in the University Library. In addition, the Archives recently received a $150,000 grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commissions to catalog the L.A. Free Press collection.

More information about each of these developments is below.

Japanese American Digitization Project

After eight years, the California State University Japanese American Digitization Project (CSUJAD) has been completed, making over 50,000 digital objects from nearly 30 institutions accessible online to a worldwide audience.

The historic project, housed within the Archives, brings together documents, oral histories, photographs, and other archival materials relating to the history of Japanese Americans. There is a special focus on the incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry during World War II and their experiences in California. 

“It has been a great honor to work with folks who wanted their family records preserved and that included the records and photographs of their time in incarceration camps–one of the great civil liberties failures in U.S. history,” says Greg Williams, director of the Gerth Archives and principal investigator of CSUJAD. 

View the project and get more information on the CSUJAD website here.

Know Justice, Know Peace Exhibition on View Now

The “Know Justice, Know Peace” exhibition demonstrates the advancements of activism and counterculture in Los Angeles as represented in the Gerth Archives. It features a variety of materials from the Archives’ Civil Rights Collection, AIDS Crisis, Watts Rebellion, Los Angeles Communist Party, as well as the political and countercultural photographs (1966-1970) of Jim Coke, Long Beach resident and CSUDH alum.

“With CSUDH’s history of activism arising out the Watts Rebellion, the purpose of this exhibition is to document the persistent focus Americans have on advancing activism when they identify injustices,” says Williams.

The exhibition is currently on view Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through December 2022 in the Leo F. Cain Library South, Room 1940. 

Grant to Catalog L.A. Free Press Collection 

The Gerth Archives & Special Collections has received a $150,000 grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)–the National Archives’ granting agency–to catalog and digitize the records of the Los Angeles Free Press/Arthur Kunkin Collection.

The collection, brought to the campus after being removed from the desert in 2021, consists of archives of the L.A. Free Press–one of the first underground newspapers in the United States–and its publisher, Art Kunkin.

“By essentially inventing the model that hundreds of underground newspapers adopted in the 1960s and 1970s, the Free Press broadened freedom of the press in this country and shook up journalism in Los Angeles,” Williams says. “When accessible, this collection will reveal a great deal of documentation on Kunkin’s vision for participatory democracy and inclusive journalism.”

The project will take 18 months and will result in a fully cataloged collection and some digital materials. Portions of the collection are already on display in the “Know Justice, Know Peace, 100 Years of Activism in the Archives” exhibition.

Study on California’s Freight Competitiveness Presented at Public Forum

March 16, 2022 By Lilly McKibbin

Barge, highway, trucks, airplaneAt a public forum on Wednesday, March 23, Associate Professor of Information Systems and Operations Management Jian-Yu (Fisher) Ke and his team will unveil results of the South Bay Economics Institute’s latest study on the current position of California’s freight system compared with other states’, and policy recommendations to increase California’s supply chain competitiveness. The event will run from noon until 1:30 p.m. in the Loker Student Union, Ballroom C, and is open to students, faculty, and the surrounding community.

The study, “Achieving Excellence for California’s Freight System,” was prompted by the recent relocations of several major California-based companies, including Tesla, Oracle, and Toyota, to competing states, such as Texas. Through a $69,489 grant from the CSU Transportation Consortium at the Mineta Transportation Institute, Ke and his fellow researchers’ goal was to determine performance metrics that contribute to a competitive freight system and evaluate if the state’s system was contributing to companies moving their operations.

“CSUDH was the perfect place for this study,” says Ke. “In this area, we have both the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which are the top two ports in the United States–the gateway of the U.S. supply chain. We also have a lot of highly qualified faculty who have expertise in these areas–a team that was ready and able to address this topic.”

The research team involved in the project also included Ke, along with the co-directors of California State University, Dominguez Hills’ South Bay Economic Institute–Fynnwin Prager, associate professor of Public Administration, and Jose N. Martinez, associate professor of Economics–as well as Chris Cagle from the South Bay Workforce Investment Board.

Researchers worked to establish and test performance metrics for each freight segment (ports, railroad, or trucking, for example) through structured interviews with key industry stakeholders. The team interviewed 30 industry experts, and Ke is quick to point out the help they received from CSUDH’s Alumni Relations team.

“They helped us with outreach and found some real experts among our alumni,” Ke says. “In turn, they referred us to some other industry experts. Alumni Relations made a significant contribution to our research.”

According to Ke, freight competitiveness has five sectors: seaports, airports, highways, freight rail, and distribution centers. “In analyzing these five sectors, our findings show that California is very competitive in terms of our seaports and airports,” he says.

The study found that Southern California’s major weaknesses are its highways and distribution centers. In terms of area highways, “The traffic is a big issue,” Ke says. “We don’t have reliable travel times. Trucks spend too much time on the road.”

“As for distribution centers, the cost of doing business is very high,” he adds. “We have among the highest costs in the nation for fuel, electricity, and land, which reduces the attractiveness of California to many companies.”

The group’s recommendations include significant investments to reduce highway congestion and improve travel time reliability. They also suggest expanding seaport container terminals and air cargo handling facilities, and increasing automation to help manage the flow of trucks, containers, and cargo.

Providing more intermodal connections between ports and other transport modes is essential, according to the report. It suggests that California should consider investing in “inland ports,” so that goods could be transported by rail directly from seaports to inland processing facilities in the Inland Empire and Central Valley.

Ke is hopeful that the federal government will be able to pass an infrastructure bill that would help pay for some of the upgrades. “President Biden is pushing for it,” he says. “If it does pass, we could greatly enhance our highway infrastructure. Our bridges are old and our highways need maintenance. If an infrastructure bill passes, we could definitely make a lot of improvements.”

The in-person forum on Wednesday at noon, in which the research and findings of the study will be presented, can also be joined via Zoom.

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