Building for Equity and Justice: Opportunities for Change The inequities this report has highlighted are deep, longstanding, and immensely consequential, as the disparities unearthed and exacerbated by the pandemic have made all too clear. They are also a starting point for a long overdue conversation about change—transformative, inclusive, community-generated and engaged change—that will lead the region toward a just and equitable future. The urgent need for this conversation was a constant refrain in our community consultations, as was the insistence that it grapple fully and forthrightly with the realities of underpaid and precarious work, unaffordable housing, rising homelessness and social insecurity, carceral and environmental injustice, and gaping income and wealth inequality that for too many have become defining features of life on the Central Coast. It must also, simultaneously, confront the impact of systemic racism on the lives and opportunities of our Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, and immigrant communities. This conversation cannot be set aside in a rush to return to an unsustainable pre-pandemic “normal.” Instead, we can take what we’ve learned and come to value during this unprecedented time of crisis as an opportunity to set the foundation for a region that works for all. What would it look like to put equity and justice at the center of regional priorities? One way to get at this is to consider the economic impact of closing the racial gaps in wages and employment between whites and workers of color, as we have done by calculating changes in average incomes and GDP in a labor market without racial and ethnic disadvantages.e The gains in such a scenario are impressive, both in terms of economic performance and of improved earnings across the board. Projecting from pre-pandemic conditions, the Santa Barbara economy stands to gain nearly $7.5 billion (a 25 percent increase) and Ventura County $13.6 billion (23 percent) in GDP were racial income gaps eliminated (Figure 56 and Figure 57).
e For a detailed discussion of the methodology used to estimate income and GDP gains with racial equity, see: https://nationalequityatlas.org/about-the-atlas/methodology/incgainsre 97
TOWARDS A JUST AND EQUITABLE CENTRAL COAST
