The UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute (UCLA LPPI), in collaboration with Arizona State University’s Center for Latina/os and American Politics Research (CLAPR), announced $1 million in funding over two years from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (Chase), today. The funding will support ongoing research focused on the state of Latinos in Arizona and California that is centered around improving Latino-led economic development, eliminating barriers to wealth building and a just climate transition with a focus on Latina entrepreneurs, and examining job automation impacts on Latino workers. This funding will also support the ongoing work to bolster the U.S. Latino Data Hub (LDH) and create the UCLA LPPI Action Lab.
“Like other people of color, Latino communities have been left out of policymaking decisions despite being the economic engine of this country,” said Dr. Silvia Gonzalez, director of research at UCLA LPPI. “There is limited data that captures the diversity of the Latino experience, and too few changemakers able to advance the solutions our researchers know are effective. This investment allows us to make Latino-led research easily available to policymakers while training the next generation of Latino leaders to advocate in solidarity with others for the economic development all our communities need.”
By leveraging new data from the LDH, researchers will provide a detailed profile of Latino workers in California and Arizona. This will enable them to investigate the representation of Latino workers across key industries and evaluate the number of Latino workers at risk of job displacement, providing actionable policy solutions to support the Latino workforce in those states. The research team will also examine the progress of economic development investments in three West Coast metro areas – Los Angeles County, San Diego (San Ysidro) and Oakland – and Phoenix. Additionally, researchers will examine the persistent barriers to wealth building and climate adaptation for minority-owned small businesses, including the pandemic’s impact on these businesses and the effects of recovery efforts in Latino communities.
“JPMorgan Chase is committed to creating a more inclusive and equitable society. Our collaboration with the UCLA Latino Politics and Policy Institute will help expand its capacity to research, develop and test strategies that bolster economic mobility for Latino communities across California and Arizona, which can create a model for economic development that can be scaled across the country,” said Corey Matthews, Vice President of Global Philanthropy for Los Angeles at JPMorgan Chase.
The LPPI Action Lab will focus on delivering culturally competent research training and curriculum, utilizing a trainer model to grow the internal capacity of data scientists working within the LDH. In partnership with ASU CLAPR, UCLA LPPI will create a learning community with leaders from Arizona who will leverage data-informed policy ideas with a Latino lens around the issues of economic opportunity and social mobility.
“Through this collaboration, we are bridging research across California and Arizona – two states where Latinos and communities of color are vital to political, economic, and social landscapes,” said Dr. Angie Bautista-Chavez, an assistant professor at the ASU School of Politics and Global Studies and an affiliated faculty member at CLAPR. “We will center the entrepreneurship, organizing and leadership of Latinos, alongside and in collaboration with various communities of color, to provide policymakers with a clear picture of how Latinos have navigated an ongoing global pandemic that has exacerbated inequalities. Further, this work will provide a range of evidence to push for the support and resources Latinx communities and other communities of color need to thrive now and in the future.”
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ABOUT UCLA LATINO POLICY AND POLITICS INSTITUTE
The UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute addresses the most critical domestic policy challenges facing Latinos and other communities of color through research, advocacy, mobilization, and leadership development to expand genuine opportunity for all Americans.
ABOUT ASU CENTER FOR LATINA/OS AND AMERICAN POLITICS RESEARCH
The mission of CLAPR is to foster and support thoughtful, objective, and innovative research on the political and policy circumstances of the nation’s Latina/o-Hispanic population, thereby creating a fuller, deeper understanding of politics and governance in the United States. This mission entails facilitating and disseminating research that emphasizes, but is not limited to, empirical and normative theoretical perspectives, historical context, institutional dimensions, and public policy issues which are especially germane to the Latina/o-Hispanic population while also having broad significance for American society and politics.
ABOUT JPMORGAN CHASE
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading financial services firm based in the United States of America (“U.S.”), with operations worldwide. JPMorgan Chase had $3.7 trillion in assets and $294.1 billion in stockholders’ equity as of December 31, 2021. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing and asset management. Under the J.P. Morgan and Chase brands, the Firm serves millions of customers in the U.S. and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients globally. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.
