Welcome to the UCSB Blum Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy

The UCSB Blum Center aims to foster interdisciplinary, socially engaged research and learning about poverty and inequality, and to contribute to collective action that advances intersectional economic and environmental justice regionally, in the United States, and abroad. Established with funding from UC Regent Richard C. Blum and the UC Office of the President, it is part of a campus-wide network across a number of UC campuses system.

This year the Blum Center is focusing on three core initiatives:

The Central Coast Regional Equity Initiative (CCREI) was launched in 2021 in partnership with The Fund for Santa Barbara. Building from the Central Coast Regional Equity Study, conducted in collaboration with USC’s Equity Research Institute, the initiative documents widening inequality in California’s increasingly diverse central coast counties of Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo with trend data on employment and wages, housing, health, education, political  representation, and environmental risk, among other indicators. In addition to funding collaborative community-engaged research, the CCREI  has set out to foster a collective, region-wide conversation and to advance a research-informed action agenda to improve the lives of all, and especially of the increasingly multi-racial working class communities who live, work, learn and contribute to the vitality of the region. 

Our initiative on Cooperative Economics encompasses a broad spectrum of collaborative endeavors, from the communal practices and empowerment strategies of indigenous communities to the support and exchange networks developed within the contemporary mutual aid movement. There is a rich tradition of cooperative endeavor in movements for racial and intersectional justice. Thanks to generous support from the family of Dr. U.S. Awasthi, UCSB faculty and students are eligible for funding opportunities. 

Our most recent efforts, the Central Coast Community Labor Project & Labor Summer initiative, will provide UCSB students with opportunities to learn about community and labor organizing and research practices. As part of the immersive Labor Summer internship experience, Central Coast unions and allied organizations will support UCSB students in paid internships to advance labor causes and achieve social and economic justice. 

We invite you to join us in the work and to stay informed about up-coming events and programs. We can be found on Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube, and we also distribute a regular newsletter to our audience. Sign up to join our listserv!

See below for our most recent announcements & up-coming events:

Discussion: J. Mijin Cha, "Energy Equity for Al: What do Central Coast Workers & Communities Need to Thrive?"

 

 

Join us for an opportunity to attend Dr. Mijin Cha's discussion, "Energy Equity for All: What do Central Coast Communities and Workers Need to Thrive," on Thursday, February 20th @ 12-1:15pm at the UCEN in the Flying A Studios room. The event is co-sponsored by UCSB's Community Labor Center, the Blum Center, the Center for Restorative Environmental Work, the Central Coast Labor Council, & UCSB's Environmental Studies. The discussion will be moderated by UCSB Professor David Pellow from the Environmental Studies Program. Please RSVP in advance.

Dr. U.S. Awasthi Receives the 2024 Rochdale Pioneer Award in Cooperative Economics

 

The Blum Center extends its congratulations to Dr. U.S. Awasthi for being awarded the prestigious 2024 Rochdale Pioneer Award by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), the voice for cooperatives across the world. To learn more about Dr. U.S. Awasthi’s work in cooperative economics as the Managing Director of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO), please read Dr. Awasthi’s interview with the ICA.

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If you would like to learn more about the Blum Center's initiatives, events, and ways to get involved in addressing poverty and inequality both on campus and in the community, please sign up for our newsletter here.