This initiative is designed to place equity concerns front and center in emerging efforts to identify solutions to California 's infrastructure crisis. It seeks to generate an increase in the level of infrastructure investment in California's low-income communities and to enhance the equitable distribution and impact of these investments statewide; increase the ability of localities to address economic and fiscal disparities; and increase the participation of low-income and communities of color in infrastructure policy debates and decisions.
Years of under-investment in infrastructure have taken their toll in California. Parks and public facilities are overcrowded and in poor repair. Inadequate protection of open space, water, and other natural resources threatens the loss of important birds, fish, and other wildlife. Schools are struggling to accommodate students beyond the physical limits of their buildings. Housing is in critically short supply and traffic congestion in California is the worst in the nation.
This is the State's condition even before more people are added to the population, and analysts predict that California will grow by some 12 million people in the next two decades. There is broad agreement that California needs substantial increases in the level of infrastructure investment - in schools, transportation, water, parks, public facilities, and the environment - to promote economic prosperity and maintain a high quality of life for all Californians.
PolicyLink, with the involvement of several statewide advocacy organizations, is developing two reports designed to frame and inform infrastructure discussions, debates, and recommendations from an equity perspective. The development of these reports includes extensive outreach to build greater understanding of and engagement with this issue.