Research
Research
Research
Research
Across the Central Coast, structural inequality shapes nearly every dimension of daily life: wages and employment, housing, education, healthcare, the environment, immigration status, civic participation, and more. Our key findings are documented in two regional reports: Towards a Just and Equitable Central Coast (2021) and Equity Matters (2024), both available below. We also fund community-engaged research projects by UCSB faculty and graduate students and host an annual symposium that brings these findings to a regional audience. We also support organizations and communities interested in developing their own research capacity, connecting them with tools and resources to investigate the conditions that shape their work.
Central Coast Regional Equity Reports
2024 Report
Equity Matters 2024 is a supplement and update to the 2022 Towards a Just and Equitable Central Coast report in two significant ways: it broadens the geographic scope to include San Luis Obispo County alongside Santa Barbara and Ventura, and it updates the baseline data indicators to reflect the latest available figures. The report documents structural inequality across the full tri-county region in five areas: demographics and immigration, economic opportunity, vulnerable households, environmental exposure, and civic participation. It closes with an economic case for equity, projecting the regional GDP gains that would follow from closing racial wage and employment gaps.
2021 Report
This report is the first major product of the regional equity research initiative. It documents structural inequality across Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties across six domains: income and employment, housing, health, education, criminal justice, and environmental risk. The analysis draws on quantitative data, administrative records, and input from over 130 community members across 16 consultations. The report frames inequality as structural and long-standing, sharpened by the COVID-19 pandemic but rooted in decades of policy and economic decisions. It closes with 11 principles and priorities for a more just and equitable region.
Community-Engaged Research
At the University of California, Santa Barbara, the Blum Center on Poverty, Inequality, & Democracy provides funding to support academic research centered on community engagement within the tri-county region of the Central Coast. Learn more about these CCREI projects by accessing the link below.
Central Coast Regional Equity Research Symposium, May 19, 2026
This symposium featured research by our 2025–26 Central Coast Regional Equity faculty and graduate student awardees working at the intersection of inequality, democracy, and community life on California’s Central Coast.
Amy Gonzales
Associate Professor, Communication
“Reducing Technology Anxiety and Encouraging Digital Literacy for Low-Income Latino Residents”
Carson Kopper
Graduate Student, Computer Science
“Mobile Broadband Performance and Access Trends in the Central Coast”
Ben Olguin
Professor, English
“Historias: Latina/o Oral Historiography, Community Theater, and the Latina/o Digital Commons”
Şeyma Özdemir
Graduate Student, Sociology
“Invisible Childhoods of Farmworkers’ Children: Child Labor and Educational Outcomes on California’s Central Coast”
Lisa Parks
Distinguished Professor, Film & Media Studies
“The Satellite Coast: Community Impacts of Commercial Satellite Launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base”
Haven Parker
Graduate Student, Bren School of Environmental Studies
“Voices of the Transition: A Worker-Centered Just Transition Strategy for Santa Barbara County’s Oil and Gas Workforce”
Daniela Sarmiento Hernández
Graduate Student, Counseling, Clinical & School Psychology
“Feasibility, Acceptability, and Effectiveness of Digital HEROES: An Online Resilience Program with Latinx Families”
Yuyang Wu
Graduate Student, Geography
“Understanding the Spatiotemporal Evolution of Local Labor Market Areas in California’s Central Coast”
UCSB Community Engaged Research
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Additional resources include our community consultations that informed both the original study Towards a Just and Equitable Central Coast (2021) and the inclusion of San Luis Obispo County alongside Ventura and Santa Barbara counties for a regional update in the recently released Equity Matters 2024 (2025) report. These consultations provide a comprehensive tri-county view of challenges that span jurisdictional boundaries. Though they were not designed to be a representative sample of the Central Coast, they provide valuable guidance and ongoing community engagement and organizing as part of the ongoing Central Coast Regional Equity Initiative.
The Central Coast Regional Equity Initiative
The Central Coast Regional Equity Initiative is a collaboration between:
USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)
The Fund for Santa Barbara
The UCSB Blum Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy