The Index permits apples-to-apples comparisons from place to place as well as from year to year.
BOX 1
The human development approach allows for the exploration of the interlocking factors that fuel advantage and disadvantage, create opportunities, and pattern life chances (see box 1 ). Because it uses easily understood indicators that are comparable across geographic regions and over time, the Index permits apples-to-apples comparisons from place to place as well as from year to year. The approach facilitates critical analysis of how and why policies succeed or fail, and helps to focus attention on which groups are moving forward and which are falling behind—and why. Presenting the Index in the form of rankings taps into the competitive spirit, spurring policymakers and others to prioritize improving people’s lives rather than just growing the economy. This California Human Development Report represents a collaborative effort among a consortium of public advocates and philanthropic organizations hoping to better understand the challenges facing California, to stimulate dialogue, and to create action to help move California forward. This dedicated group and numerous advisors generously lent their time and expertise to this effort, in the hope that this report will identify new paths for the future. This report explores the state of human progress within California; it contains an Index of the major racial and ethnic groups, women and men, native- and foreign-born residents, and the smallest place-based population groups for which there is reliable data from the U.S. Census Bureau. These populations have been grouped into “Five Californias,” to represent the disparate choices and opportunities available to different segments of the state’s population—Silicon Valley Shangri-La, Metro-Coastal Enclave California, Main Street California, Struggling California, and The Forsaken Five Percent. Rankings are also presented and analyzed for different economic regions of California as well as the five largest metro areas in the state—Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco,
The American Human Development Project
The American Human Development Project (AHDP) introduced the human development approach to the United States with the release of The Measure of America: American Human Development Report 2008–2009—the first human development report ever written for an affluent country. In 2009, it was followed by state human development reports for Mississippi and Louisiana, both of which had fared poorly on the state rankings. The second national human development report, The Measure of America 2010–2011: Mapping Risks and Resilience, was released in November 2010, in conjunction with an online interactive mapping program, available at www.measureofamerica.org/maps. The American Human Development Reports have spurred a national conversation about well-being and access
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to opportunity among Americans in different parts of the country, and have helped policymakers and philanthropists in determining need and targeting assistance. For example, in 2010 the Department of Health and Human Services awarded multimillion-dollar grants to develop health-care infrastructure in Jackson, Mississippi, and Fresno, California, based in part on evidence presented in these national and state reports of the obstacles these communities face. As the human development approach continues to gather momentum in the United States, communities can be expected to leverage these publications and their tools to hold leaders accountable for progress on these critical issues and to guide business and other investments.
T H E M E A S U R E O F A M E R I CA S E R I E S