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Ventura County Civic Alliance — Livable Communities Newsletter

by Community Contributor • May 16, 2024 • Comments Off

Volume 19 / Number 70 / May 2024

Your Livable Communities Newsletter

This quarter’s Livable Communities Newsletter takes a look at who we are in the county, who needs help, and what we are doing to address that. Kerry Roscoe gathered data from the State of the Region Report to lay the groundwork for Marni Brook’s article on steps being taken to gather community input and move toward a strategy of assistance.

Let us know what you think.

Thanks,

Stacy Roscoe

State of the Region

Data & graphs in the first two articles come from the most recent edition of the Ventura County Civic Alliance’s State of the Region report published in the fall of 2023.

The Civic Alliance’s focus is on the three Es: Economy, the Environment and Equity.

WHO ARE WE?

In a 2021 population of 845,255, the median age was 38.7 years, up from 34.2 years in 2000. Our demographic is aging.4.3% are veterans.

Economically, 8.9% of us are below the poverty line. We have a per capita income of $41,863, with a median household income of $94,150. Our median family income is a bit higher at $206,425.

Racially, we are predominately either Hispanic or Latino and White Not Hispanic or Latino.

85.6% of us have a high school diploma or higher, and 34% of us have a Bachelor’s degree or higher.

Most of us are gainfully employed, with only a 3.7% unemployment rate in 2022. One in ten of us work from home, but three out of four of us who commute to work drive alone.

In 2022, 584,861 of us were eligible to vote and 86.4% of these registered, but only 48.6% of those who were eligible actually turned out to vote. Over 89% of us vote by mail. Politically, we are 43.7% Democrats while the remainder are almost evenly divided between Republicans and other parties or those with no party preference.

We continue to live in relative safety with a crime rate that has dropped to 15.49 incidents per 1,000 people. Both the violent crime rate and the property crime rate are only a third of that in San Francisco County and about two-thirds of that of Orange County.

WHO AMONG US IS VULNERABLE?

While life may be good for many of us, it is a struggle for others. How we take care of our most vulnerable is a reflection of who we are.

The need for different social services varies by community. Knowing where the needs are greatest can help our public and private social service providers better target their

efforts.

The 100 point scale Vulnerability Index developed by Dr. Jamshid Damooei, a professor of economics at California Lutheran University, measures indicators for different ZIP codes in 13 different areas: unemployment rate; percentage of the population living below the federal poverty line; percentage of children in poverty; housing affordability; percentage of the population that does not speak English at least “very well”; share of households without a computer or internet connection; share of the population without health insurance; share of the adult population without a high school degree; percentage of households without an automobile available; percentage of the population with a disability; percentage of the population in long-term care; percentage of households receiving food stamps; and the incidence of domestic violence.

Based on this index, we have the most economic and social challenges in the West County, especially in the 93033 ZIP code which covers the southern and eastern portions of Oxnard. With a score of 26.07 on the 1-100 Vulnerability Index, it has the county’s highest poverty rate, at 18.1% among all residents and 28.7% among children. Nearly 40% of its residents speak English less than “very well,” and almost 24% of

households lack a computer or internet connection. More than 22% of the population has no health insurance, and nearly two thirds of adults lack a high school degree.

Also highly vulnerable are those of us in Piru, central Oxnard, west Ventura, Santa Paula, north Oxnard, El Rio, and Port Hueneme with scores in the 40.01 to 46.2 range.

We are the least vulnerable in ZIP codes in Westlake Village, Oak Park, Agoura Hills, Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks and Moorpark. The geographic pattern is clear: East Ventura County neighborhoods have much lower levels of poverty, inequality and other socioeconomic challenges than those in West Ventura County. Every ZIP code in East Ventura County scored above 65 on the index, while every ZIP code west of the Conejo Grade scored below 70.

WE LISTENED — NOW IT’S TIME TO STRATEGIZE

Uplift Central Coast: A Regional Collaborative for Social Equity

by Marni Brook

In recent years, the discussions around economic development have increasingly shifted towards systemic disparities and their impact on historically marginalized communities. No modern strategic plan can omit addressing inequity related to economic opportunity and/or avoid the necessity of putting inclusivity at the forefront. While there have been many conversations around this topic and innovative ideas have indeed surfaced as a result, there has at the same time been a glaring lack of the funding and resources needed to meaningfully implement these ideas. However…

In 2021, Congress created the American Rescue Plan Act Coronavirus Fiscal Recovery Fund. From this, $600 million was appropriated to the California Community Economic Resiliency Fund (CERF),now known as California Jobs First. This state-wide program is designed to bring meaningful funding to every area of the state to facilitate sustainable, equitable economic growth.

Recognizing that not all parts of our state have the same characteristics and needs, thirteen regions were identified to ensure that job creation strategies aligned with a carbon-neutral economy could be tailored to the unique demands of different communities. Each region has been allocated significant funding to develop its own strategic plan relative to the priorities identified in the California Jobs First program. Ventura County is part of the Central Coast region, comprised of six counties: Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura.

The collaborative formed to coalesce these six counties is called Uplift Central Coast (“Uplift”) https://upliftcentralcoast.org/ and is convened by three economic development agencies: REACH, Monterey Bay Economic Partnership and the Economic Development Collaborative (EDC). Uplift’s approach to developing its strategy focuses on inclusive community engagement alongside extensive data gathering and research. To that end, the convening agencies have conducted wide-ranging community listening sessions, data analysis, interviews, and polls directly and through other community partners with the specific aim of hearing and incorporating the voices of disinvested, underserved and often altogether excluded groups.

3,000 community members participated in Uplift’s outreach process and, to no one’s surprise, several topics consistently came up when they were asked about the biggest barriers to economic prosperity:

– High cost of living, especially housing, and lack of quality jobs

– Underdeveloped infrastructure, especially internet and transportation

– Under-resourced childcare and eldercare

– Spanish and English language proficiency

More than 2.5 million people call California’s Central Coast home, and while residents take pride in their communities and there are numerous notable economic and aesthetic advantages, many residents struggle to get by with low-paying jobs in sectors such as agriculture, hospitality, retail and tourism. According to Uplift’s community engagement and research, about 45% of Central Coast families struggle to make ends meet. High housing costs, childcare challenges and other financial burdens make access to equal quality of life extremely difficult. Only about 25% of jobs in the Central Coast qualify as “quality jobs” (those that pay a “living wage”, offer employer-sponsored health benefits and provide stability re: job retention and upward mobility opportunity). Ventura County has nearly twice as many residents as the next two largest counties in the Uplift region, thus job-to-population ratio is higher for Ventura County (2.42 people per available job vs 1.9 in Santa Barbara County, for example). Housing is also the least affordable in Ventura County due in large part to alack of quality jobs combined with limited housing inventory that has resulted from zoning policy barriers and SOAR-related restrictions.

As engaged citizens, we already know these things. So, you might ask, what now? With the completion of Uplift Regional Plan Part I, the Uplift Central Coast Coalition will now transition from research to formal strategic planning. The strategy, informed by all that was learned in the research phase, will recommend directing significant resources and investment toward the economic initiatives identified as the most impactful to the overall goal of addressing and removing systemic barriers that hinder equal access to economic opportunities and prosperity. Once completed, the strategy will be submitted to the State with a request for funding.

Why is this different than any other fact-finding, strategy development exercise we’ve seen before? In a word, money. The potential for funding this strategy is very significant. Game-changing, if applied thoughtfully, strategically, and collaboratively. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to make lasting change for the betterment of our community.

What can you do? Get informed and involved! The Uplift website and Part I plan are linked in the article, and below, along with links to the Executive Summary and a short video describing the project.

Here’s how I got involved. As a staff member of one of the participating community-based organizations, I am extremely proud to be part of this project. In one of the listening sessions facilitated by Women’s Economic Ventures, single parents discussed their particular challenges and concerns related to economic opportunity, and they are numerous. In a fit of excitement at the prospect, one mom suggested that “every employer have on-site daycare!” which, while perhaps not practical, highlights the incredible impact the lack of safe, affordable and accessible childcare has on all working parents, but in particular those doing it alone. I was so inspired by the resilience of this group. They chose to spend an evening with us (we provided childcare so that they could…) to open up about the challenges they face because they are hoping for a better life for themselves and their children. In the span of two hours, this group of women who had never met before had formed a community of solidarity and hope around the idea of having a voice and a say in the outcome of this project. We saw them, we heard them, and their input will now be part of the development of the strategic plan along with the input of all the other community members who took the time to participate. This is important work, and I for one am excited to be part of it. By supporting and engaging in the process and committing to collaborative action, we can build and rebuild communities where every individual has the opportunity to thrive, ensuring a more hopeful and equitable future for generations to come.

Uplift Central Coast Website: https://upliftcentralcoast.org/

Uplift Central Coast Executive Summary Report: Executive Summary

Uplift Central Coast Full Part I Report: Uplift Central Coast Part I Full Report

Uplift Central Coast Video: https://upliftcentralcoast.org/es/que-hacemos/

Link to the Full State of the Region Report