Empowering California's Future: The Latino Workforce and Socio-Economic Challenges

Today we are delighted to present our landmark findings , El Futuro es Latino , and to welcome us here today , our spiritual menu advisor and host for today , the dean of the Chapman School of Communication , Dr Andrew Mosher . Thank you , Drew .

I could not agree more with the importance of this report and I really thank the contributors all of the authors to producing a really important report that we hope will actually inform policy going forward in California , because that's really quite important to why we want to do these things and why they're so important .

So I'm not going to say much more other than thank you for having me and thank you for Joel and Marshall for letting me be a part of this team , and it's my pleasure to introduce to you someone who in this crowd probably needs no introduction Joel Kotkin , who is the director of the Chapman Center for Demographics and Policy .

It's about what are the ways that we're going to be able to address a changing population and make sure that this next rising ethnic group has the success that other people who've come to California have had . And if Latinos do well , the state of California does well . If they don't do well , the state of California is in serious trouble .

So that's really what started all this , and we have an amazing team of writers and you don't need to listen to me . So what I'd like to do is introduce Gabriela to me .

So what I'd like to do is introduce Gabriela and she's going to be our master of ceremonies and moderator , and then we really want to make sure that at the end , that if you have questions , that there's time for that as well . Thank you .

My name is Dr Gabby Castaneda and I serve as the AVP of Diversity , Equity and Inclusion and Director for Hispanic Linux Achievement here at Chapman , and it's an honor to share a space with some wonderful women today that you all get to meet , as they will be presenting their research that is very important to our community , but really for our state .

Their research that it's very important to a community , but really for a state . And without further ado , I would like to ask our four panelists to come up to the stage and take a seat , and each of them will be presenting their section of the report in just a minute . So please help me give them a big round of applause .

So , while they take a seat , how are you guys doing today ? Good , High energy . Did you guys get to have some drinks ? Got some delicious drinks over to my right , some delicious drinks over to my right . Without further ado , I want to introduce our first panelist , Soledad Urzua , who is the principal research for this project .

Soledad is the principal at forgive me if I'm unpronounced Orinoco Equities and is a member of the Board of Directors for Venice Neighborhood Council in Los Angeles and serves on Chatham University's Center for Demographics and Policy Advisory Board . So please give her a big round of applause and we'll be going with her presentation .

So what we did here is we took a demographic approach and we looked at what is going on with Latinos nationally and in California . We see that Latinos will account for 78% of all new US workers by 2030 . 78% of all new US workers by 2030 .

What we see that nationally , the Latino population has increased by 23% in 2010 to 2020 , and they now account for nearly 20% of the US total population . But in California , that's quite different . Latinos now account for more than 40% of the state's population and they represent nearly 50% of all people under 18 .

So , as somebody who is native to an academic study , I had to or , sorry , new to this I had to ask a naive question and I asked why do we care if the population is young ? What does it mean ? And what I was told was it means that they're the future . So what demographics has shown us is that el futuro es Latino .

Okay , but despite being more than 40% of California's population , we find that Latinos lag other Latinos nationally in terms of income , home ownership and education , and that's really what this report is going to present to you .

So when we take a look nationally at what sort of occupations Latinos employ , we find that they are heavily represented in farming , maintenance , construction , logistics . So that is nationally . But when we look at California , we find that Latinos are very much overrepresented in what we call these carbon economy jobs . These are carbon producing jobs .

So what we find is that Latinos are California's carbon economy . They play a critical force here . So when we look at something like manufacturing in California , it's 58% Latino .

So we find that these jobs , the ones that Latinos are involved with these , are very vulnerable in terms of policy when we start talking about Sacramento's push to go carbon neutral and that's something that Jennifer will talk more about when we get into the nitty gritties of sort of the environmental policy that's affected them .

We took a look at trucking , for instance , as a case study . When you compare it across all the states , california has the most Latinos working in trucking . 50% of the trucking jobs are Latinos , and trucking is something where you would once think of it as a blue-collar jobs are now in fact taken by Latinos , especially in California .

So let's look at what's going on with trucking just in California . The state has a carbon neutrality plan and so , beginning in 2035 , at all ports , they will soon require that all the trucks are electric . So that's going to be very difficult because these are very expensive trucks . They can cost about $400,000 .

So that really pushes out sort of the small entrepreneurs . It's really going to be the large companies that will benefit and we find that and also , you know , just going electric , there's many challenges with that . You can't run the trucks constantly , you have to stop and charge them . They're very expensive .

So this is something that is really going to hurt Latinos . When we look at just sort of why Latinos have , you know , become attracted to this , we find that it's actually very , it's upwardly mobile . There's skill development opportunities . Those who start out at an entry level . They often go into management .

Sometimes they can go into running their own business , running their own rigs , and they talk about sort of some of the employment that they've produced is , you know , some of these people are making about $80,000 annually by owning their own trucking businesses . So we see that Latinos are very much flocking to these blue sector , you know , middle income jobs .

When we look at home ownership on a national perspective , we see that California also lags the nation in terms of Latino home ownership . So , nationally , 51% of Latinos own their own home , but in California that's only about 46% . We find that Latinos do much better in other states , new Mexico being the best , where they have a 70% Latino homeownership rate .

So what we found is that California really lags in terms of Latino homeownership . They rank 41st nationwide . And why is that ? One of the fundamental reasons is just because of the cost of living , and so this includes , you know , your food , transportation utilities .

What we find is that California has some of the most expensive housing costs , and you know , a lot of it is due to electricity . So this is a big problem that is plaguing Latinos , who very much want to own their own home .

One interesting aspect of this report that we found was Latinos leaving certain metropolitan areas such as San Jose and Los Angeles , particularly due to these high costs of living . We've seen some recent growth in Riverside and San Bernardino , and this is likely because there are better homeownership opportunities there .

When you look at Riverside and San Bernardino , they actually have the highest Latino homeownership rate , which is 61% , so we see that Latinos are doing much better in Riverside and San Bernardino .

San Jose had the lowest , at 34% , and that's followed by Los Angeles with 38.7% , and so what we're seeing is that these are the metropolitan areas where they have lost the most people , the areas like Riverside and San Bernardino . They've had the most gains , and so when you wonder why it really is because it shows you that Latinos do want homeownership .

That really is the American dream , and perhaps they are voting with their feet by leaving some of these expensive coastal areas and moving to the inland counties . So we see that there is much growth there . And then , even with all of this , we find that Latinos are still not participating .

What we found was that , between 2020 , the Latino voting turnout tripled from 1.6 million to 4.5 million . But even in our last election in 2020 , the Latino voting turnout tripled from 1.6 million to 4.5 million . But even in our last election in 2020 , there were 4 million eligible voting age Latinos who did not cast a ballot . So this is a real problem .

What we see is that Latinos are not engaged civically and they are vulnerable to some of these draconian policies that are being pushed forward by their elected officials . So one thing that we really recommend here is that Latinos must get engaged and they must start voting for their own economic interests , and that is everything that I have , thank you .

There we go , and next we'll have Jennifer Hernandez , and she has practiced land use and environmental law for 40 years and leads Haleana Knight West Coast Land Use Environmental Group . So please help me welcome Jennifer Hernandez and she'll be talking about the housing , Thank you .

I teach environmental justice these days at University of California , southern California Law School , university of California , southern California Law School , and I really come to this event with a laser focus on housing .

It's really amazing if you don't know anyone who fears eviction or knows they don't quite have enough money for rent next month , you don't really have , I think , an appreciation of just how much stress , just how much fear and anxiety comes from not being able to make ends meet , especially if you're working hard , commuting a long distance , trying to take care of

kids or parents . Housing insecurity never leaves your gut . It lives in your gut and it eats you away . And it's a terrible , terrible thing . And California has the highest percentage as well as the highest number of people living below the poverty line , who can't afford monthly expenses , when housing is accounted for almost a third of us .

And most of those third they work night shifts , they're on the road . And most of those third they work night shifts , they're on the road , they're in a truck . They're not here with us today , except perhaps at a custodial or other level where low income wages are the norm . The title of the housing chapter is they really don't want us here , do they ?

And that is really representative of a couple of our main policy directions . Right now , when we have a drought and our son was a teenager , the absolute best way to cut down on water use would have been to export that child . We would have nailed our water deductions right With his three showers , please . Right With his three showers , please .

The way California has chosen to count progress toward climate change is what is produced by way of greenhouse gas emissions inside California's borders and from electricity we consume inside California's borders . So if we grow tomatoes in the valley , we process those tomatoes when harvest time hits and you're running three shifts and now we have ketchup or salsa .

My gosh , the greenhouse gas emissions from the processing plant . How terrible . When we take those same tomatoes and drive them to Reno and process them there and import this tomato , the salsa or ketchup , well , my goodness , we have zero greenhouse gas emissions . We've cleansed it because it wasn't made here .

Better to bring in cement from China with bunker fuel than to allow cement to be made here , and those are policy choices that increase costs and those costs aren't felt by those who are homeowners , boomers by and large , or relatively well off . So in this piece I'm going to talk about all the knobs we've been turning for the better part of 40 years .

We declared our first housing crisis in 1981 . Oh my God , no one could afford to buy a house 1981 . We turned some knobs at the policy level . We did nothing . It just kept getting worse . And this slide shows the housing production over a period of 12 years and you can see that we kind of climbed up the ladder and then we fell off the cliff .

And falling off the cliff wasn't interest rate driven , it's because we've now loaded so many requirements onto housing that it's the Christmas tree that fell over One of the most temperate climates in the world . We want housing to be tight .

We want it to have fancy air conditioners and electric heat pumps and filters and not fresh air , because every time fresh air comes in you got to modulate the air conditioning or heating . But most of the time , a lot of the time , we don't need air conditioning or heating . We're a pretty temperate climate . We're not on the Starship Enterprise .

That's an example of a building code requirement installed because of climate . That could add $15,000 or $20,000 to the cost of a unit . Plus you've got to maintain it , plus you've got to run it . You know , I grew up in a 900-square-foot home in Pittsburgh , california . When it was so hot we all piled into the one bedroom that had the air conditioner .

We didn't have the money to air condition the whole house , but people who are doing these codes they just don't get it . So what we see with the green and the red together is apartments green , single family homes red . The only thing that's kind of increased are accessory dwelling units , granny flats or garage conversions .

Those have been creeping up and we actually call that missing middle housing . Missing middle for who ? Who wants to raise their kid or kids in somebody's backyard and pay rent ? That's not missing middle . That's another conceit of our policymakers and it's a conceit , frankly , that isn't selling well in the Latino audiences when we do outreach .

They want to work hard , save money , buy a house , have the house for their kids , be able to draw equity out of the house for college tuition or for their own care , like my grandmothers Mexican and Sicilian and my parents did . Without home ownership there is no wealth buffer . Some of my friends say , oh , it's not worth it .

You know , invest $2,000 in the stock market and you'll do better . Who has an extra $2,000 to invest in the stock market ? Almost none of us can afford and mostly we don't want , right after we turn about 31 , and only if we went to college before then these fancy apartments on a bus line with great amenities .

It feels like a cool fancy dorm and you'll pay $4,000 or $5,000 a month because you're young and you're partying and you're having a good time . And then , boom turns out , both men and women have biological clocks . They kick in at around 31 , 32 , according to Silicon Valley surveys I've seen and they want to settle down and have a kid .

And so what is the fastest growing county in California , yolo County , which is taking expats from the inner core Bay Area who want to stay in California but want that little home , not a big , one little yard , not a big one , but want that little home , not a big , one little yard , not a big one , but not a tight home that you can't open the windows for ,

with a little backyard that they can put the toddler in without worrying . The toddler's got to go down an elevator . We can't make that form of housing five over one apartments , one story of parking and then apartments . We can't make that housing pencil for under about $45,000 , $5,000 a month for a one bedroom .

If you can afford to pay that much money you're probably rich or young , but you do kind of get out of it . And that's now confirmed . It's not an industry claim , it's confirmed by UC Berkeley's Turner Center . Last couple points there's this notion that we are part of a rule of law society , a democracy . We made a deal with government .

Government more or less keeps our lives safe and secure . The rules are kind of even all and we can succeed within that framework . It's not a handout government . It's not a socialist government . It's got some bumps all governments do , but nobody voted to make housing unattainable for hardworking families .

Government has breached its social contract with people with upwardly mobile immigrants , with upwardly mobile families . They breached their duty to us to allow housing to be built at about three times area median income in starter homes . They just killed that market . They did it with two things , and then I'm going to finish .

The first thing they did is they imposed country club fees on new housing . Many California jurisdictions charge 50 , 100 , in its heyday $300,000 in government fees per unit per apartment . That's before land , that's before labor , that's before materials . You cannot make an affordable home of any kind with that kind of fee structure .

Honestly , the fees are used for good things , right . We want public art , we want school band sessions , like my son did . We need maintenance of roads and schools . But to put these obligations disproportionately on new owners is to hit them three times . First , the housing price goes right up . Those fees are just passed through .

Second , you got to pay more , so you got to borrow more in a mortgage and you pay that much more in interest for 30 years . Third , your initial price is your tax base . You pay more forever because that fee stays around forever and no one wants to ask or answer or limit that issue . Because , guess what ? You're trying to figure out how to pay for roads .

Let's make Johnny do it . He's not here . Let's put it on the new residents who aren't here , and that happens all the time . Finally , we've got the California Environmental Quality Act , which I've made my living at . I'm somewhat now embarrassed to report . My license plate is sequinered . I do these environmental impact reports and really it's just a total scam .

You know , we've got a bunch of consultants now trying to figure out with these instruments whether students make too much noise at night that they might bother somebody . And that's a real case . You see , berkeley , that the Supreme Court is considering as we speak . Really , that's what we have time and money to do and fuss with .

Sequel lawsuits are a roll of the dice . You never know how a judge is going to rule . Most judges are like me , you know , 60-year-old social studies or humanities majors . What do we know ? We have opinions , though Lawyers are very arrogant . They don't get less arrogant when they're a judge .

So it's a random issue as to how a CEQA lawsuit comes out , and that means everybody who files one can leverage the heck out of whoever they sue and literally say you give me a pickup truck and $200,000 and I'm out of here , and so is this lawsuit , and I've had that case . Unions use it . All kinds of people actually use CEQA as a leverage tool .

Good news is this too has now been recognized . Little Hoover Commission just issued its CEQA study , finding that CEQA is in fact mostly used against housing , which I've now proven in three different studies , the last one published by Chapman Law School just last year . And it's really a scam . It's not about the environment , so I'll stop with that .

But fixing fees and fixing CEQA would go some distance in fixing housing . Thanks , thanks All right .

Romero holds a PhD in social and personality psychology and is a professor emeritus at California State University , los Angeles , so please give her a big round of applause , thank you .

It's personal , and if we look at the photo , these are women that I knew , two of them In fact . One is Tia Annie to Soledad , and the other is Grandma Licha , and both of these women who worked the fields , they had not more than a few years of elementary school education .

I remember Soledad telling me about how they would often marvel at Soledad coming home and sitting at the kitchen table with her grandma , and they would just wonder at her doing work .

Soledad later became a graduate of the University of California and , of course , at the New School of Social Research in New York , and her grandmother very proudly attended that graduation . These women are very indicative of the Latino community .

My mother had a sixth grade level of education , but I recall well that what she wanted was essentially just for all of her kids to graduate from high school . That was her dream and so you know it's a tribute when we take on the work of education .

It's been 41 years and maybe many of us might remember or maybe , if you're a student , you will read at some point A Nation at Risk . This was a groundbreaking report that pointed out , basically , the failure of education nationally .

Well , that was 41 years ago , and so if we take a look at what occurred 41 years ago when the National Commission on Excellence in Education , they basically said that the foundations of our society , the educational foundation of our society , are being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and a people .

41 years ago , and if we fast forward to today 2024 , we can find that a nation at risk could be very aptly applied to a state at risk . Here in the state of California , this can be said about our system . It's important to note that in California , we have the largest education system in the nation in public school students .

We've got almost 6 million kids in the public school system and the largest number of the children in the K-12 system in California today they're Latino students .

Okay , in this fiscal year , california is going to spend about $128 billion billion dollars on K-12 education , and that is an amount that exceeds the entire budget of every state in the nation , except for New York .

But despite this level of spending 128 billion when we look at the statistics today , we find that about 75% of all California students lack basic levels of proficiency in math , reading , writing . So again to a nation at risk 41 years later , that's California for you .

Going forward again to I don't have this on that one , this is actually a different presentation . Mine isn't Okay , I'm going to skip over those . Here's the ones that I have here . So basically , we are shortchanging the American dream for Latinos .

When we take a look at this , latino students constitute , as I said , about 56% of those 6 million kids in California and basically Latinos are the primary casualties of a failed education system . According to and these are California results in the Department of Education , only only 36% of Latino students meet or exceed English language arts .

That's reading , that's writing , that's comprehension 36% . How do you become a professor , how do you attend an academic conference , how do you walk onto the grounds of Chapman College ? With 36% of just meeting the basic level of proficiency ? It's even worse in mathematics . Only , round it up , 23% of Latino students met or exceeded proficiency levels in math .

How do you become an astronaut , a physician , a nurse when you've got those kind of numbers of failure ? And so as we go forward , we find that , according to the national assessment , taking a look at the nation , we find that there's something called the NAEP , the National Assessment of Educational Progress . Basically we call it the nation's report card .

They do sort of analysis across the country . Nation's report card . They do sort of analysis across the country and you never can really do apples to apples because funding changes , curriculum changes , governance change from state to state . But you kind of get an approximate level overall .

And what we find overall is that on this national report card that's put out every year , california fourth graders scored lower in math proficiency than those in 29 other states . California is not number one , mr Gavin Newsom , okay , get off that Golden Gate Bridge . Take a look at the schools .

California only exceeded five states or jurisdictions , washington DC , for example . So out of 50 states in the nation , we're basically number 45 . Like woohoo , we're number 45 . That's not very good when it comes to education .

And when we looked at Latino students overall , we basically find that on these testing scores that Latino students had an average score that was 27 points lower than that of white students in the nation . This performance gap , by the way , it's not much different than when NAEP was done in the year 2000, . 24 years ago .

So 24 years ago now , 41 years later , we find overall that basically we are failing our students . So what did we decide to do ? We looked at the numbers overall and we just thought this is really bad . But I will tell you , as a senator , I used to see report after report after report . I remember one hearing I went to .

I brought all the reports and I stacked them up on the desk and said take a look at them . Which one do you want to read ? A nation at risk ? You know , we're number 45 , we can do better , etc . It never changes .

Governor after governor , legislature after legislature , decade after decade , generation after generation , it seemed to be the same thing over and over . And so what we thought is let's make this report different , let's go ahead and let's visualize , because I can tell you a statistic 34% , 22% , 75% . It sort of goes over our head at a while .

So you're talking with Soledad and working with Marshall and Wendell and Joel and the creative team here at Chapman . We decided to do a stress map and basically to show what would it look like if we were to see it all at one time . Because if you go to the website the Department of Education it is so convoluted .

I have a PhD I can't even figure my way around that website . You can imagine an ordinary parent trying to find information . So what we said is let's put it up , there's too much for us to go through . But basically you'll find on one side for all students on the left , on Latino students on the right . Basically this shows level of failure .

The worse that it gets , the redder the map gets . So what we might say is it's a bloodbath in California , and I'm not threatening violence on anybody , by the way , okay , and we can take a look at it in reading . And then also we threatening violence on anybody , by the way , okay , and we can take a look at it in reading .

And then also we can take a look for mathematics . This is the state of educational failure in California , not 41 years ago or 20 years ago . Today , with the results of the most recent stats . What we want to do is continue working on this very innovative project to show that a parent can go in . It can be very interactive .

You can basically click We'll look at it so you can go into your own school and see how your school does . And what we have found in California is all districts , while we get scores for them , you can go across town . If it's a more Latino area or an African-American area or more poverty area , that is going to be an even redder number .

Okay , so what do we do ? We find that , and something that I found was we disguise this and what we do , what we find Latino politicians doing , is sort of just ignoring the problem . It just goes on year after year and what many have begun to do is to say well , let's just name a school for an American hero , cesar Chavez , for the Latino students .

I knew Cesar Chavez , I marched alongside of him , in fact Soledad , and I actually marched behind his coffin way back . There were a lot of people that day when he was laid to rest in Delano , california , and what I find is that in California we have today 21 schools that boast the name Cesar Chavez elementary , immediate , you know , high school , etc .

And usually there's a lot of fanfare , people are called parades , you know , everybody comes out the mayor , the politicians and we , you know , basically name the school and then we walk away from the school .

And so when I look at the statistics today and I'm just going to give you a few examples At the Cesar Chavez Intermediate School in Sacramento this is only blocks away from the state capitol where I used to serve and I ran the education committees not too far from then , governor Davis or Governor Schwarzenegger , or today Governor Newsom , where they sit in their

offices . At the Cesar Chavez Intermediate School , blocks away from the city , the capital of the state of California , where education policy rolls out , we find that only 32% of students meet or exceed the reading standards . 29% meet or exceed math proficiency levels .

Cesar Chavez would be rolling over in his grave Like , if anything , we should say take that name off , because in America all schools deserve greatness , but a school name for an icon , for a hero , definitely . We should honor that legacy by honoring and turning them around .

And I could go on and on , but we don't have time today and I have lots of examples here . You can read them in the report . A little teaser . So , finally , I asked the question . Well , we're talking about El Futuro , es Latino , but I would ask es Like ? Is it really Es el futuro Latino .

Because look at these numbers , look at these statistics , look at the reports again , and so I've come up with just a few things where we have to focus . One of them , of course , too , is on the school school choice , having more rights for schools . Parents want choice . We saw that coming out of COVID . And what does choice mean ?

It doesn't mean going to just automatically . You live in this area , you're directed to this school , you have no other choices . Go there , even when the state of California knows that the school is failing and has been failing for year after year after year .

So I believe we need to do everything Charter schools , magnet schools , homeschooling opportunity , scholarships , vouchers , you name it . Let's basically shake up the system . Competition is good . Without that , you're just gonna get the stagnancy . Get the kid in the school gets the money , everything goes forward . Coupled with that , we need parent rights .

I was very honored to write against incredible odds and get some legislation passed open enrollment laws , the parent trigger law , district of choice , curriculum review , changing the rules related to tenure , hiring , promotion All of those were battles that I took on in Sacramento and that falls in the reform category where , at all levels , including and starting with the

top of the ticket the governor , the legislature to reform the governance structures and really to look at our education laws and to demand accountability and to make those databases easy to handle and able for parents to look at , because today they are .

It's like Greek I don't know if anybody speaks Greek , but anyway and finally , I think we have to overcome If we want the future to be Latino and it is going to be , you know what is it going to look like we have to overcome the special interests that dominate and strangle any type of change in the state of California and strangle any type of change in the

state of California . Some of those , the most powerful special interest in California , it's not tobacco or oil or the pharmaceutical company , it's the teachers union .

The California Teachers Association is the most powerful special interest in California , with an overwhelming war chest , and this makes it virtually impossible for people who depend upon money to run a campaign , as everybody does , to go up against these most powerful entities to just basically do the right thing for the little kids in the classroom .

So in closing , I just wanted to say let's make it a good future . I wanted to point out that in a few days there's going to be an activity sponsored by La Unión de Padres here in Orange County , honoring the charter school parents of the year . We left flyers at the table . I hope you can join us . I'm actually the keynote speaker at that event too .

So let's take a look at it , let's organize , let's make this change for the kids and to honor our mothers , our grandmothers , our sisters who came before us . Thank you .

I come from a family that was mixed of middle class and very poor , so you can see me with my family hanging out in the pueblo with my abuelita and my cousins . I get a little emotional about that and so , but my reality was that my parents were really trying to provide us with a middle class upbringing and so I had access to education .

My parents gave up a lot so I could go to a private school . Very much like Gloria was talking about . The public system in Mexico has failed low income families and so that's following them . We bring those things with us . I was fortunate to be educated .

I wasn't too much of a nerd until I got older , but I came to realize I was a nerd as I became older . But I had fun . It was a great life . We went to Chapultepec , we would go to the pyramids , we were tourists of our own city , I could ride my bike with my brother .

But as time passed by , the economy really started tanking and the opportunities for continuing to be a middle-class family in Mexico started dwindling and the kitchen table conversations started happening . And then , all of a sudden , that life that I knew started becoming .

There were burglaries and you couldn't really use public transportation anymore because you get pickpocketed and then it's no longer safe to ride your bikes . Towards the 1990s , there was a huge recession in Mexico and people were getting kidnapped . People in middle class were getting kidnapped . There was something called Secuestro Express , which is express kidnap .

So they put you in their car and they drive you around and they take you to all these ATMs day by day until they finish with your bank account , and sometimes you make it alive , sometimes you don't . So my parents are thinking like this is not what we want and although we are moving forward , our children are not having a future here .

My mom said well , you know my mom , she still picks strawberries in the United States . I have a residency . We should go , and at 15 years old they came into my room one day and they said in this box you're going to put everything you own that you want to take . We're going to go .

Not fun , not fun , but when you're a parent , you make those decisions for your children . That's why I was crying in the video . Every time I tell this story I get so emotional . I'm looking at the video . Why am I crying ? So I came to the States and didn't speak the language . That was the first barrier that I found .

But my education , that private education that my parents had invested in it , paid off . I actually was put forward like math and reading in my own language . I was moved up one grade . It was the English that I needed to learn . Esl classes useless , I mean it just like did not help . You know what helped me ?

Immigrants who were also broken language , but they were really moving and they said we'll give you a job .

And then I started doing some business , writing little red letters , and that immersion and that welcoming allowed me to grow in ways that I had no idea would come , because as I started uncovering the language , I also started understanding the rules of the game .

So what I wanted to point out to you is that my essay is about how do we empower Latinos in California and the question is what public policies should we be writing for them ? Well , we should not be writing public policies for anybody . Everybody should be writing their own public policies , everybody should have their own voice .

And so what I came to find in my research is that my hunch was right , that everything that has been said before me the housing prices going up , the inability to buy a home , which is not possible in Mexico , like when you come here , there's no 30-year mortgage in Mexico that's a whole new concept .

And you're coming from families who are not just low income , but they are uneducated themselves , just like my colleagues . My grandma did not go to school . She was not allowed to . She was supposed to work hard in the fields , so it was a battle just to go to school and have the right to be educated . Things can change here .

I started feeling the change in me because I started getting involved civically , because I started getting educated and I started understanding that , okay , this new world in which I live actually has a lot of innovation and a lot of opportunity , and I am actually very much able to understand it and to move with it and to influence it .

And so many years forward , what I find is that I'm a rare I'm a very rare example where you see my family from the Pue pueblo . They're not doing well . They don't have the access to education they never did , they will never . Then they travel here and they still work the fields and they still do not have access to good education .

So how do you make more income ? The statistics say that somebody like me , who's foreign born which used to be the fuel of this country only 9% of us get higher education at the bachelor's degree . That would be me . Only 9% of us Hispanic native born only 20% graduate college , and that's against the counterparts of whites and Asians at 45 and 53 .

That has a huge impact in how much money you can make . So what I found is that the financial and civic foundations of the Latino community really need to be addressed , because otherwise they will not be voicing the policies that matter to them , just like the housing . No one's talking about homeownership .

If you go to my house , I invite you over to all of my extended large family . Everybody wants to buy a house . There's not one that I know that says I don't need a house . No , thank you , I want a little apartment . We come from open space , we come from the fields and they put us in this little pigeonhole . You know apartments , two bedroom apartment .

It makes no sense . Where's the dream lack of education that leads to financial wellness ? It's overly representing Latinos . 40% of residents who are Latinos are poor and we represent 50% of the population . That's why Joe was so worried . If 50% of your population is failing , what kind of economy can you build ? And what kind of information ?

It's not just academic information . When you come to this country if anybody of you has ever gotten citizenship they ask you a bunch of historical questions and they send you off . There's no onboarding package coming to the United States . There's no . Here's how you buy a house . This is where you get your Social Security .

This is how you establish a retirement account . This is how you open a bank account . So it's not just about having homes available . Do you understand how to attain that home ? Do you understand how to get ready for that home ?

So that investment of financial wellness and financial health information at an early age , when we're in school , is missing Because you graduate from high school , you don't have a good education , you don't know how to use your paycheck , you don't even know how to buy a house . How are you supposed to plan for the future and envision something better ?

So these very deep-rooted issues in the community are things that no one's going to come and help us with . All we need is access to information . We need partnerships to understand how to move forward . We have deep-rooted community issues like low financial literacy , higher debt-to income ratios , missed tax credits .

I actually run a program that helps people understand that they earned a tax credit and they can use it to buy that house to pay them debt . They have no information about this . So what's the answer ? It's access to information . They needed it in Mexico , they need it here . Access to resources they needed it there , they need it here .

And they need partnerships Partnerships with parents , partnerships with schools , but also partnerships with businesses that will help them understand how they can move their own lives forward by influencing how California will move forward as well . And if their outlook is bright , then California will be bright .

But if their future is limited , then California will also be limited . And in a competitive worldwide economy , latinos have the power . Like me , did not speak the language , did have a little bit of education and a whole lot of access to how to buy a house , how to buy a car , how to finance , how to retire .

All of that I sought myself , but it's rare , so I have this almost responsibility to my community to ensure that I share my story , that I share the information and that I mentor people . And mentorship can really go a long , long way .

My boss , director of housing and workforce solutions in Riverside County , told her story and she allowed me to say that she almost did not apply for college . Her mom was a cleaning lady and she worked two jobs and she thought it was a natural progression .

You know , you go to junior high , you go to high school , and so the very last day that was supposed to be the day to apply for college , one of her professors' mentors said you're not going to apply , you have excellent grades and she had .

I had no idea how to apply , so that same night she had to apply , had it not been for that mentor , that person that cared and understood that the only thing that the kid needed was information , and now she leads an entire county . It's incredible how that little mentorship and that little access to information can open your world .

So , civic engagement I don't see any investments in it , particularly with low-income families . You don't see them going to city council . You don't see them going to city council . You don't see them participating in commissions , boards . Yes , we have a lot of elected officials . Many of them do not know what they're doing .

They're first generation and it's not malicious what I'm saying . I'm nonpartisan . I wasn't born here . I don't have teams . My only team is like how do we get out of the hole ? Right , who wants to work with me ? Who wants to do this work ? Because I am tired of the politics I really am and politics about us without us at the table .

How does that create democratic public policy ? It doesn't . So I would like to see more investments in civic engagement , not just academic education , but education about life and about the dream . And what does it take to keep the dream in California and in the United States alive ? So we have a lot to contribute .

As Latinos , it is our privilege and honor to provide our talents and skills to California and the United States , because this is not just about seeing people do better . This is a message back to ourselves that the investments that we are doing today in others will take us forward , just like others did for us before .

So hopefully , we get more involved and , just like Gloria said , we have a lot of things going on in Riverside County . If you ever want to come and get involved . You're more than welcome to join us , so thank you .

We have a microphone on that side of the room and we will ask you to participate in asking questions . If not , I'm going to have to ask other questions and you don't want me to just be the one asking questions . So thank you everyone .

It's not about the mistakes of the capitalist system . It's really about , let's try to figure out , in the case that we're already in , how do we make an improvement , and so what we really like to do is engage you .

And then we're going to continue to go , we're going to speak at churches , we're going to speak at supermarkets , because at this stage of the game , our goal is to energize not just the Latino community but all of California about , let's face the issues .

I was so struck with well , actually , with both Jennifer and Gloria in how little progress we've made after all these years . And you know , I will say that some of those politicians call uh , you know , if they're not incompetent , they're either corrupt or stupid or both , because they're certainly voting for things that don't help their own constituencies .

So I just really appreciate your being here , I really appreciate the panel . It was great to work with them , and this is just the beginning .

We're going to continue to go in other parts of the state , to Fresno , to the Bay Area , to San Diego , and our next event will be in Irvine and we really , really are trying to get this message out that it's not an issue of resentment or ethnic conflict .

It's how do we solve the fundamental issue that faces California , which is is that Latino future going to be a good one or not ? So from there I'm going to I guess I'll bring my partner in crime , marshall who's going to ? take care of the Q&A .

The hallmark of progress seems to me to be in the educational area . The ticket for both economic growth and prosperity of people lies in education , and prosperity of people lies in education . Gloria , let me ask you to start us off on this .

You pointed out that the special interests , especially the California Teachers Association , seem to have a tremendous hold on opening up educational policy , and I think , if I'm stating your point correctly , competition is really the only way to solve the problem . We need more alternative ways of dealing with opening up educational alternatives to people .

What specific things can be done that could get the Teachers Association to actually get on board to opening up those things ?

And so what that did then is it enabled teachers to basically say I'm not going to join , you still have to pay a certain amount of dues , et cetera , but I don't have to be a member because , remember , membership dues , which can cost quite a bit of money . That is basically , as you always hear , money is the mother's milk of politics .

So who else has a natural database ? A thousand school districts in California . You have a mandatory membership to pay dues to a teacher's union and , by the way , I was a member of that teacher's union Because , again too , I was a member of that teacher's union . Because , you know , again too I was a member of the union , I paid my dues .

The lobbyists would come forth and oppose everything I ever tried to get through in Sacramento . So I think that is probably the most important thing for teachers .

But aside from that , then we some of the more important things then are really to work with the teacher's union because you have a difference between the membership , the executive board and the rank and file .

And many rank and file teachers say I want to be judged on my record , I don't just want it to be seniority , I just don't want it to be an automatic tenure .

Teachers know when there is a bad apple in the crop , and so teachers are saying give me a chance to maybe do some meritocracy , some merit pay , bonus pay , give me a different schedule than just this many hours , this much time that you've breathed in the classroom . You get this number .

And when you have to lay off , as we know that the state of California is doing now , you basically go on the basis of seniority reverse . So I think these are two of the most important ways . Rank and file executive boards there is a bit of a gap there , but I think these are probably some of the biggest hopes .

And really that Supreme Court decision and now it's really teaching teachers these are your rights . You don't have to be a member , you can step out and when you do , that puts a major monkey wrench into the war chest that basically sustains a mediocrity of education in California .

I've read the report a few times at this point , so actually I just really enjoyed to kind of put some faces to names and , I think , more importantly , like learn more about your stories and your experiences .

So I have one , maybe two questions related to some themes that came up in the presentations but I think are featured a little bit more heavily in the report .

You can probably guess it from my faculty affiliation , but one of my takeaways is that a critical barrier to achieving various forms of equality for California's Latino communities is the state's climate policy framework . Is that an accurate representation of that ?

Yes , and I wrote an article called Green Jim Crow that goes into detail and I've yeah , I think , and I've , I think , I've been engaged with that goes into detail , and I've yeah , I think , and I've , I think I've engaged with that article too .

So my follow-up question then is can you help me square that which implies this recommendation to me of well , halting climate policy then , or at least slowing it dramatically , is a pathway to achieving equality ? Can you help me square that recommendation up with two things . First , california's more recent climate policymaking efforts .

So here I'm thinking about , I think it's like AB 2552 . It's probably not the right number , right ? It's a lot of jargon , right which is effectively a wage insurance fund for fossil fuel workers that will help you transition out of carbon intensive jobs .

Or also policies like SB 532 , which requires that 25% of revenue generated from the greenhouse gas trading scheme go and be reinvested in low income communities .

So squaring it up with that , but then also , at the same time , squaring that recommendation up with the mounting body of evidence showing that it is black , brown , working class communities that are , and will continue to be , disproportionately harmed by climate related disasters , absent effective policy recommendations .

So how do we , I guess , bring those two perspectives into alignment with each other ?

To living in higher hazard conditions , we can have people live in high hazard conditions or we can have enough wealth in the economy to adapt and make those conditions more safe , and we don't have enough money in the coffers to simply change climate at California's level , since California is less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions .

So , as Governor Brown said , our efforts at addressing climate change in California will be futile unless others countries and states are persuaded to follow our lead . What does that lead look like ? Well , California has always been a technology leader , has always been an innovation leader , has always been , frankly , a capital investment leader .

We didn't used to all carry these around within 14 centimeters of our , and these , by the way , are some of the most effective trip reduction tools we have . I don't drive to the bank anymore . I deal with the bank online . I get prescriptions online . We don't necessarily have a solution for everything , though .

We don't have a solution for the fact that India and China continue to burn more coal every single year and their entire economies are built on coal , even though they're embracing a sustainable form of renewable energy and battery technology at a wonderful pace as well .

California's obsession with either or , from my perspective , is very much a product of polarization in our state and country . At the moment , and a couple of your other examples we'll just create government slush funds to help people who have lost a good union job at age 56 , which is what happened to my dad when he was laid off permanently from US Steel .

Forget about it . That's been peddled to coal country , to rust belt country , to out of work steel workers , among others , for decades . It never works . The agencies somehow suck up the money , A big group of people with college degrees who type suck up the money and in the first downturn there's no money for the people who need it .

So part of it is not trusting a government tax and spend approach . Part of it is let's really do something with climate change . What can we do with climate change ? I don't know . You know it's like so much China right now is . Greenhouse gas emissions are more than the next five economies combined . What can we do ? That scales in California ?

I'll give you a goofy example . Only because we have such success in reducing pollution , Obama administration in 2016 rejoiced that tailpipe emissions from our cars were 99% cleaner in smog-forming pollution 99% cleaner than they were in 1972 when we enacted the Clean Air Act . We closed the ozone hole . Remember the ozone hole ? We figured that out .

We don't need to drop into despair . We don't need to drop into doomsterism . We don't need to call panic in the street or run around as people did in Berkeley was when we were waiting to vote for the Democratic caucus slate , literally shouting that the floods are coming , with little kids crying . Really , Is that what we're doing ? We're terrorizing children .

I remember Mooney's . They did that . I'm not OK with us doing it again . It's not an either or Some things we don't know . I'll give you one really stupid example , but it's just so dramatic . We have been locked down in trying to get low cost , high speed internet everywhere . It's a utility like electricity . You can't really study and do homework .

You can't do after school ed , you can't do as much telemed , you can't do much . You can't even entertain yourself , it's true , without high speed internet and there are all kinds of solutions to this , but our utilities have a lock .

Our agencies have a lock and they've been dancing and locking , and dancing and locking until this dude from South Africa fires a bunch of little gizmos into the sky . And now we've got Earthlink .

And suddenly Earthlink is how Ukraine is fighting a war in Russia and how my brother , who left the Bay Area because it costs too damn much and he's a welder , how he's finally able to get high speed internet . We didn't see that as greenhouse gas solution , but it is .

Every single bit of non-trip is a better solution and I think everybody , especially in the climate world , needs to be a lot more respectful of our international brethren where this is called green colonialism of our upward mobility generations , and get past just the conceit that the only way we're going to avert horrible climate change , which will hurt brown people the

most , is by living in small apartments and ride the bus . You live that way first and ride the bus . You live that way first . I'd like to and my apologies , by the way , for my tone , and I really appreciate the question .

And in fact we have made changes , we have done policies that have had , that have created a lot of positive outcome .

But what seems to be missing and I want to kind of get into the Carla side on this the unintended consequences of who's left behind , the unintended consequence of the debate being dominated by a particular group in Sacramento without the Vox Populi being present right , is really what concerns me .

So if we now have a new Populi right , if El Futuro is really Latino right and we really are looking at a group that will be the majority group in the state , what is it going to take to get that civic engagement ?

Because it strikes me that Latinos need to step up and make themselves more of a political force than they are even today , by underscoring the linkage of how these policies are affecting them and , in fact , by extension , the prosperity of the state . So what is it going to take Carla to be able to get people engaged .

We agree on we got to do something , how we go about it . But what I wanted to tell you is that you know , like I'm a big data person and I've never really seen data that shows how these policies are actually helping the environment in my community , in a Latino community , but it is always in a grant written that that community needs that clean air , right ?

The problem with academia , in my opinion , is that it's absolutely disconnected from the community , right , it's just . These policies are written by people who are not in touch with the everyday person , and the reason why is because , and what it takes is oh , thank you , okay . So it's not lack of wanting .

And particularly when it comes to the younger generations , generations like my daughter , the sons and daughters of the first generation , they become much more engaged . The language it's easier for them , they're born in understanding the system much better , so they are very interested . But my findings were that , if , if I can't even read the number .

One reason why Latinos do not get involved is lack of time , because they have two or three jobs in this carbon economy that Jennifer's talking about and they can't come tell you . You know , but my kid has asthma because in the Inland Empire it is very bad . As a matter of fact , the logistics industry is killing Latinos .

There are places in our communities that are called diesel debt zones , because there's so many cars and trucks going around in between schools that the smog is terrible . It's worse than where I used to live in Mexico City and it's one of the worst . I mean bad pollution follows me . It might be me .

The other 16% and this is making let's see 30 , 40 , like almost 40% of the people that are not engaging . It's because they did not know I bring this again lack of access to information . They don't know how to participate . Their parents did not know how to participate . How would they even emulate that ? So what would it take ?

I think we need to meet people where there are . We need to get out of our universities and we need to get into our communities . We need to get the data from the people .

We need to get people to speak at council , not because they're educated and they have all this data , but because they can tell their story and they can influence how the person that's on the other side making a decision feels about their decision .

The problem is that these elected officials the only people they talk to are academics , and academics are so far away from the reality .

I'm telling you because I went to one of those schools and I sat in one of the urban and regional development classes several and I was a single mother on public assistance so that I could finish school in Berkeley and I remember looking at those presentations and hearing my teachers , the knowledgeable people , and thinking they're not talking about me .

They never asked me if I wanted to live in a boxed apartment . That's what I did my entire life , and what I really enjoy is riding my bike like I used to and living in a suburb . I'm sorry , that's not your decision , it's mine . I'm the one that I am government .

You are elected , and so for people to be empowered and understand that they are the government and that they are the ones that elect the people and that if those people do not do what they're asking them , they're removable and replaceable . To this moment , I can tell you my uncles and aunts , who are not educated .

They think I'm crazy , but I tell them it's you can influence , even in Spanish . Show up , say something you explain to my aunts . You want to mobilize against CEQA . Tell them why they can't buy a house and their kids cannot buy a house . Get them involved in understanding what is CEQA about .

Ask they will ask you questions , okay , and so how do you know it works ? Simple questions like that Nobody can give you and you're in this field I've been looking for . I recycle . I drove an electric car for a little while . It didn't work out too much because the grid is really terrible . I save water .

Like you have no idea , I'm traumatized from all the educational campaigns from Mexico City . We have no water . I am a true environmentalist . But I'm telling you these policies are not convincing me that this is working . That's all . I'm not taking sides . Let's do that . So I would say let's take this into the community .

Let's mobilize the people who are affected by these policies and allow that to inform how we make decisions .

So I have a question about where does social capital fit in the discussion and in the report , particularly because you mentioned , for example , the use of these ceremonial mechanisms , which Chapman also does , I think right , so bringing culture and the richness of the community into the conversation .

So I'm just curious , because we do have Latino community in California that is indigenous , that is organizing , that is civically engaged , and I don't see the representation in the report . So I'm just curious how you think about culture , particularly where in an education setting . So I think what do you ? Where do you see that fitting in ?

Another is education . I'm going to get a good education , I'm going to go to college , I'm going to get a good job . And the third was entrepreneurship starting a business . So that's really the three that we looked at for this report .

So we didn't consider social capital , but these were sort of the three where , if you are born poor and you go through one of these routes , you can become middle class or move up the socioeconomic ladder . So that's why we really chose these three sort of pathways towards upward mobility .

It's a big pie , and so too often grant-making institutions will pick one little slice of the pie to the exclusion of the others . Now you've got people working on poverty who aren't working on housing , or people working on criminal justice who aren't focused on education , and that siloism within the broader civil rights community , I think , does us all a disservice .

It takes us further away from people rather than bringing us to the dinner table , where it's all one big pie .

And in the budget in California you can see what the priorities and the policies are by just looking at that budget . And in California , year after year , decade after decade , governor after governor , decade , governor after governor , almost 50% of the budget is education and I've shown you what those outcomes are .

So I think too , it's part of again to looking at all of these debates and discussions . It's , if we park the policy and look at the budget , maybe part of again to the conversation just looking at . Let's look at the most important policy document of California . It's called the budget and probably most of us have never seen it .

It's virtually impossible to figure out . There was a lawsuit , I mean there was a court hearing in Sacramento today with Governor Newsom and the state lawyers trying to prevent a petition getting on the ballot for the people to vote on taxation and representation .

So I say we get kind of like you know , we're going to fight environmental education , blah , blah , blah , and I'm supposed to say park all of that , follow the money , that's what we pay into , and until we get to a shifting of that , we may be still fighting about over which slice of the pie . So I just wanted to throw that in .

So , first off , thank you for making that wonderful connection between education , homeownership , wealth building and just a better life . I think most people don't quite understand the relationship .

I was in Sacramento last week as part of a delegation meeting with our legislators specifically dealing with home ownership and I was absolutely disheartened by some of the misguided legislation that's floating around making it from one office to another . So unfortunately , some of our elected officials clearly don't understand what's going on .

So let me present a scenario to your question . Perhaps I appreciate the fact that you presented us with the data around education . I am an immigrant . Education I am an immigrant , so I was fortunate that I grew up in a family of very modest means .

However , they taught us one simple thing , which I think probably the most powerful educational piece that any parent could give that failure was not an option . We didn't know how , but this was drilled into our head . So to this day I live my life by those values and I try to kind of pass that on .

So the reason why I bring this up is I appreciate the education system has failed us . I get that has failed us . I get that . But I believe we need to take it one step back , and by that I mean especially for the first generation immigrants that come here specifically from Mexico or some of the , I would say , the Hispanic or Latino countries .

About 15 years ago , my father-in-law which I believe he is one of the hardest working people you'll ever meet in your life immigrant here in fact , both my in-laws are immigrants from Mexico worked at a job for 39 years and when he finally retired , he had so much Retired , he had so much what do we call it vacation and sick leave that they literally paid him

out months , just so , talking about his work ethic . Now , however , 15 years ago , when my wife and I sat with him and we talked about , well , why don't you buy your own home , he looked me in the eye with the most sincere attitude . He said , son , but I can't own a home . And I said , well , why not ? He said , well , but that's for other people .

And I can't tell you how profound that was . So he became a homeowner , and I can't tell you how profound that was . So he became a homeowner and I can't tell you what a big difference that made to his belief system .

So here's my humble suggestion to you I think we have to take it one step back and begin to really educate the parents , to begin to change this narrative that owning a piece of the American dream is for other people . I think it's this notion of believing that you can .

I don't know how to do it , I'm not smart enough , that's way above my pay grade , but I'm presenting it to you . If there was a way that we could add the fourth component to it you shared with us .

I think that the three or four are , I would say I think education starts at home , with the parents , to instill in our kids that failure is not an option , that you can and you will find a way , because I believe that's what's missing .

So I think by the time our kids get to the to system , obviously there's really not a success story there and I think they're kind of sort of set up for failure . But if we were to take it one step back , perhaps we will have a better chance of positioning them .

So how that can be done , I don't know , but I wanted to take this opportunity to put that out to you . So thank you so much again . I look forward to seeing you in San Diego . Thank you , oh , that's great .

These were Mexican parents who , exactly that , took that into their own hands , marched and brought about a change which eventually led rise to Brown v Board of Education . Very few people ever know of them . It's important history , and that happened just a few miles down the road from where we sit tonight .

I am now working with academics , although I still work for a living and I was recently at a pretty hoity-toity academic conference with mostly East Coast academics in this housing space , and fully half of the 40 or so people there had decided quite firmly that the only solution to the housing crisis was to strip real estate of any asset value , to simply switch

from a capitalist economy to a socialist economy , to simply switch from a capitalist economy to a socialist economy . And those are not confined to academics . You'll hear the same thing from senior ministers in Canada . Mayor Blasio in New York said the problem with you know , the housing crisis in New York is capitalism .

So we're not , I think , fully appreciating the extent to which our educators are quite intentionally undermining some of the framework that this country has been built on , sometimes because of climate , sometimes because of social justice . Because of climate , sometimes because of social justice .

But it's there , and you will not have anything like consensus , even when people understand the math that we should make homeownership attainable .

We would have calendars and I can take two , I can take three , and so we helped each other get through finals . When I ran out of food , I went and I knocked on my friend's , Angela Wooten's , and I said I have no food for me and my daughter and she fed me for a whole week . That's , to me , social capital .

What you did for your in-law by giving him hope and outlook and the possibility and making it a reality . That's social capital to me . So it plays a very important role . But it's not money , not directly , and it's not recognized and appreciated . We were just having this conversation .

If you were to tally up right before this presentation , if you were to tally up all of the expenses that it would take for covering what a single mom or a dad or a mom that stays home costs when there's no other human doing it than the mother , you cannot afford it . You can't even afford childcare right now .

So social capital plays a very important role , but what I'm most worried about is that people need to have money like hard call cash money , your question well thank .

I learned a lot and one of the questions that I want to ask and to see what are you putting in place many of the things that I find my way as an obstacle in the positions that I hold right now and being a tax advisor for over 15 years as well , I have a very similar story as you , carla .

I really touched my heart because I went through pretty much the same you went through In my whole career life . That's been my passion educating on financial leadership to my clients , to my friends , to everyone around me and to see those little results that when I used to do taxes for a self-employed , now he become an LLC and now he has employees .

Those little successful stories are very close to my heart and I believe that that's how we create change . But then you get to become a little bit more active in your community because things happen .

And then you get to the title of being a commissioner of the city , when you can raise your voice higher , and then you find , like the home ownership programs that the city is holding doesn't even make sense because they're boxing everybody on condos , because the DTI doesn't even make sense of what they have to be making for living a very like a decent life

really . So my question is being in a position of leadership or really really trying to raise your voice , really trying to create an impact and a change ? My biggest challenge is to connect with the community and keep the momentum going .

I feel many times because the change is taking so long and the change is bringing so many obstacles , how do you keep them engaged ?

Because many , many times during the period of time that I've been doing this , that's what I suffer the most , and it's not so much the passion that I put into it , because even though the little success stories that I have for me move mountains , it doesn't mean that they move mountains .

Unfortunately for Latinos , especially when they come from that American dream and their American dream turn out to be having four jobs and sending all their money to Mexico for their families over there . Jobs and sending all their money to Mexico for their families over there .

So that would be my question how can you in a leadership position and what are you doing right now keep that momentum going ? How can you just give them hope when it's very hard At least , it has been very hard for me to change policies in a very small little level which is like a city . So that's my question .

It's a little embarrassing to me to show my pictures and tell my story and cry in front of everybody , but it actually moves people to say you know what ? I went through something similar , I want to change too . And then you're bringing more people to the table to say you know what ? I went through something similar , I want to change too .

And then you're bringing more people to the table to think with you . Most of the time we're talking about how bad things are , and I think this country was built by small stories in aggregate and continues to be the backbone of every economy in the world . The little wins are the ones that keep things going .

So I would not underestimate your power in your small city , because if there was one of you and every one of your cities worried about how to get people engaged in telling stories and bringing the legislators to the community to listen to those stories rather than going to Sacramento I do a lot of those delegations , but I bring people with me that are it's not

me , it's the people that live in their neighborhoods and they have the chance to speak and tell good stories and how those good stories happen , so that they can also energize the legislative body . I don't know , gloria . You served for so many years and I don't know .

What is it that moved you to make decisions on policies , because at one point in time , not everybody agrees and you have to make a decision . So how would you ? You know ? What were the instances that kept you engaged with the community and the community engaged with you ?

They couldn't write , they couldn't read , they had , you know , financial aid . They'd have to go into remedial education , which didn't count towards college . You know , graduating , yada , yada , yada .

So basically , for me , it was in fact when I ran I was called the professor and people wanted that though in Sacramento , to say , you know , to me , education , it changed my life and if it changed my life I knew it was going to change the life of those around me . So it's again you tell your story , because the stories are not different .

That picture of you know the women , you know the relatives , the Annie and Grandma Licha and the other woman , those are really , those are true stories and I think we tell the story and I think we give hope to each other .

So we are working on a site in Linwood and it's a brownfield site , and we're going to , we're going to do basically a freestanding market there . We're going to spend six and a half million dollars to clean up the brownfield site .

And then , on top of that , the municipality mandate is that we do WQMP , which is wastewater control and management , and so nobody else on our side of the street for a mile and this is a big commercial thoroughfare has underground retention systems , filtration systems for stormwater .

Everybody's parking lot goes right into the street and goes right out to the ocean , and so that puts a really , really heavy burden on the newest in person , right .

And so very similar to if you wanted to clean up the air , say you know , if you want to buy a new car , you have to clean the air over your house , and so what that does is it just limits the availability of new product . And so , looking at Southern California , we have a very limited supply of developable dirt .

And so when you look at step up housing , which basically is creative workforce housing for years and years and years , that doesn't exist anymore , and so it's created a massive issue because there's no more supply of that workforce housing outside of new infill redevelopment .

And so , going back to that story of us doing a two and a half million dollar stormwater filtration , that's just one little piece of the environmental puzzle Right now . Title 24 , the standard is LEED silver . It's basically LEED silver . It's the highest , basically in the world . And so now you're putting the environmental cleanup on the newest end guy , right ?

So if you want to do anything , you have to clean it for the rest of us , and we're sorry , it's your problem . And so that's what we're telling this demographic . Is that guess what you know ? You are going to have to clean up this mess for the rest of us .

And so that's the underlying current really that we're dealing with in the environmental , just to , like you know , bring it down on a main street level . And so my question to you , and I think the government is having to rethink a lot of different environmental things .

I just got a $400 subscription today from the DMV because , as gas , we're already paying $1.10 to do new roads and clean up stuff , a gallon per tax on our gas . Well , as electric vehicles come online , they're thinking about taxing us based on usage Right . And so the question and miles driven per car , and so it's like a pro rata environment .

And so using that philosophy like and maybe it sort of gets back to that equation of , is there a pro rata equation for the government to really get involved on the environmental side versus like pushing the agenda really on the newest end entry point ?

And so I think that's really , I think , where the conversation needs to begin , but I'd love to hear your thoughts .

And what I mean by governor is back in the 60s we were going through lots of different changes , from civil rights to women working amazingly , just a ton of fundamental social changes , including consumer protection . And so we have on the books in California a statute that says you can't make building codes more stringent unless it pencils for the consumer .

If it costs another 10 grand at the beginning , fine , but it's got to be amortized out over the next 20 years . That law is still on the consumer . If it costs another 10 grand at the beginning , fine , but it's got to be amortized out over the next 20 years . That law is still on the books . It's just not enforced , and it's not enforceable by our courts .

The idea that we're supposed to reduce vehicle miles traveled , which is the magic metric you raised at the end , really is the backdrop of we don't know how to become a net zero carbon state . We don't know how to do that .

There's a lot of really fancy assumptions about maybe we can get there , but every night the sun goes down and solar panels don't work , and we haven't quite really figured out what to do about that . And we haven't quite really figured out what to do about that . And batteries only work for about four hours . We haven't figured out what to do about that either .

So vehicle miles travel became a surrogate for two things . One was live in a small apartment , ride the bus . Don't own a car , and that is fine for some people . It's not fine for the majority of Californians , 97% of whom drive a car to work , to get you know of the workforce drive . The other thing , though , is it just doesn't work .

It's not like we like wake up and say , oh , let's have a little extra drive this morning before our commute . Right , we drive out of necessity .

There was a very longstanding member of the California Air Resources Board , which is the entity that came up with this VMT notion , along with some folks in the sequel world , and the guy looked at the new state plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and he says is a great plan , dr Sterling , great plan people .

Only one problem we are not going to be able to reduce vehicle miles traveled . The last goal was reducing vehicle miles traveled statewide by 15% . We totally missed it , like totally missed it . It's population and economy . If you have population and jobs , you have driving . This is one of those things . It's like you eat more if there are more of you too .

So 15% was the last plan . It's like my diet plan I didn't lose 10 . This time I'm going to lose 20 . The new goal is 30% reduction . 30% reduction is two and a half times the lockdown pandemic . That is the vision these folks have of the state of California , and we filed a civil rights lawsuit against this . Because who's hurt the most ?

Who drives the longest distance ? Not the keyboard economist in Santa Monica who can walk to their you know venture capital office . No , we know , and we just have a new study showing 42% of our super commuters , 90 minutes a day or more , are Latinos in jobs that earn less than 25K a year , and so that's two jobs .

That's what that house is doing , plus another adult working . Vmt is , for me , the absolute most racially discriminatory metric any government has come up with in my working career . It is locked and loaded against people who cannot afford housing near where they work . Who are those people and what color are they ? Who are you hurting ?

Who are your experts telling you you're hurting ? Are they ? Who are you hurting ? Who are your experts telling you you're hurting ? And yet unanimous vote by a quite diverse board , all Democrats , no countervailing forces . I'm a Democrat , a union-based Democrat , but I don't know what happened to my party . It's gone kablooey .

I think some Republicans think the same of their party . It's gone kablooey . I think some Republicans think the same of their party .

And , of course , remember we don't really have to worry about net zero anymore , because they just turned on that first carbon vacuum cleaner yeah , the vacuum cleaner and so now it's going to suck all of the pollution out . We just have nothing to worry about at all . Your question .

I find it ironic because , when I was in college and Latinos , a lot of Latino groups that I was part of . They took a lot of pride in the fact that , like high school dropout rates were reducing greatly in like since the early 2000s , and educational higher education attainment in terms of master's degrees , bachelor's degrees , by Latinos were also increasing .

Would you say that's because the educational system all around has lowered their standards and they're just passing students on , or is there a population in the Latino community that is skewing these results ? That is , you know , or that is doing the right thing in terms of education ?

It's not rocket science , it's reading , phonics , learning . There is a major debate going on right now how do we teach reading overall , and a part of me just feels like shaking folks .

So , but what we found , however , is that , remember , there are pockets of great success and that's where we find charter schools , for example , when you basically have an and charter schools are public schools , but these are charter schools that basically don't have to follow the rules as dictated by the state of California and the California Teachers Association , may I

add and can do very innovative projects . When we look at learning and math proficiency and closing those gaps , charter schools are rocking it . So it's not about what's happening here . It's again to what's happening here . It's again to what's our governance , what's our curriculum , what are the parents' rights to participate overall .

So we know what the answers are . It's just how do you shake the powers that be to basically adopt a new system . And that's when you're going up against power , you're going up against money , you're going up against a system , and parents are doing it Since the days of Mendez versus Westminster . Parents are doing it , but we're still so far behind .

There's hope and I showed you that flyer for the event coming up here in Orange County , they're honoring parents who are shaking the foundations and demanding closing the gaps and they're winning .

So there is hope in this bloodbath , you see , but we have to turn these colors around so that they're not the red , it's the green that we want to get to , but we're far behind for really every kid in California .

There are systems at play that are meant to keep us behind right . So thank you for the work . These reports are so important and there's not enough of them to validate us and realize there's a reason why we are where we are . So I went into work . I'm a financial advisor and I went . My goal is to normalize Latino wealth . That is the end goal .

Make it more known . There's different pillars . You mentioned entrepreneurship . We have great entrepreneurship rates , not growth in our businesses , but at least starting them . That's a problem . Two , we see the home ownership . It's not great , but it's higher than well , say . The third pillar I see that's missing is investing .

So actually having assets put to work , especially with housing affordability so low . I feel like if there's any extra money and we're not having hope for owning houses , at least having some of that extra money go and being put into the market .

Having the education is , I think , essential in this current day and age when housing and all the other aspects are so out of reach . I think how do you see that playing into the report , maybe in the future ? Was there a reason that wasn't included ?

I just think that's another like key aspect or another pillar , because I think the ones you did address are really important . But I feel like this is additional .

I think there are six dollars a gallon in Los Angeles . Again , we're paying the highest electricity . So you will never , it doesn't matter how much you're earning , it's just gone .

So any net gains in terms of workers , you know , increases in wages , it's just flush , and that's really because of poor policy or policy that's focused around environmental regulations to less expensive states . Look at Nevada , where they have a 70% Latino home ownership rate . Nevada is a much cheaper state to live in than California .

So when we're talking about people who are upwardly mobile , what really is holding them back is the cost of living expenses , because if you're paying these exorbitant rates , you'll never be able to save money or to own a home , and today we even have hyperinflation . So it's just all of these things that is really keeping working class people down .

To take the time right now to think about the solutions , as you guys were talking about civic engagement , getting the Latino community more involved or understanding the problems . My family has deep roots in the Inland Empire . My mom and my dad have a gardening business and they've had their gardening business for 30 years .

It's gotten us through the pandemic , through the housing crises . My brother-in-law has a taqueria business in the Inland Empire , has a house in Riverside Luckily , you know , those things are there . But my dad still complains often about money and he doesn't't . He's not involved with his community . He has mental health issues .

He's working Monday through Sunday and basically , I wanted to talk about perhaps incorporating cultural anthropologists into these spaces so that there is a more agile social , entrepreneurial route to getting solutions on the floor .

Conversations with my dad , it seems that they don't need convincing as to why this social program doesn't work or that , in fact , they're very apprehensive of people coming and lecturing them because they feel like someone's trying to sell them something , and so what I'm thinking is we need to get the solution , or get the solution started .

I I'm thinking at churches . My mom , even though she works Monday through Sunday , six in the morning making tortillas , she goes to church three , four times a week . That's her social space , perhaps embedding economic programs within religious spaces and just having more of that applied cultural , anthropological work so that these solutions are being tested .

We're kind of like in a startup way , as opposed to things , legislations , debates , taking forever to get to a place like Inland Empire . That's just what I wanted to say .

I'm so impressed by the engagement of all of you in asking questions and exploring the space here that we're talking about . But at the end of the day , this is a question of how do we get the word out right . How do we get people engaged enough to talk about it . Some final words from you guys about some ways in which we should do that effectively .

It's very hard to make a living , you know , and so why not go to them ? So if they're at church , that's somewhere where we can go . Try to work with some of the pastors . What we need is for people to understand , you know , what is in their best interest economically , because that's what they need to put forward .

Those are , those are the policies , anything that helps people economically , and maybe sometimes people don't understand what's in their best economic interest , because what , you know , the politicians in Sacramento are pushing today , we find that it disproportionately hurts Latinos , and so this is sort of what we want to do with this .

If you know anyone where we can be invited , talk to people . We really want to start spreading the word and getting people to really understand what's best for their future .

One group that is highly dedicated to being able to get this message across is Chapman University and the work . Thank you , gabby . Thank you for all the work that your group and the DEI group here have done .

We appreciate the support , we appreciate the support for our research , we appreciate the engagement of our wonderful research group and we appreciate you and your time commitment tonight for being here , and thank you very much . This is going to be a wonderful podcast . We encourage you to tune in to the Feudal Future podcast .

We're on YouTube , we're on all the places that you typically look for podcasts and we hope to see you as one of our audience members . So thank you again and we appreciate your being here .