The Latino/a Scorecard Report: A Policy Roadmap for Transforming Los Angeles answers a series of critical questions about the opportunities and challenges facing Latino/as in Los Angeles County and establishes a grade/score in different focus areas. The Scorecard uplifts the assets that Latino/as bring to the county as well as highlight opportunity gaps that have acted as barriers that prevent Latino/a communities from fully thriving.
The report establishes a grade/score in five issue areas: education, health, public safety, economic prosperity, and civic engagement. These grades are based on indicators and data collected by our university partners: USC Sol Price for Social Innovation, LMU’s Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles, and UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.
Coupled with accompanying policy recommendations, the report intends to guide advocacy and campaigns for addressing the opportunity gaps that have acted as barriers to allowing Latino/as in Los Angeles from fully thriving. This report comes after the 2003 Latino Scorecard: Grading the American Dream, created by ABC together with United Way of Greater Los Angeles. This initial report took an important step in examining data, perceptions, and implications surrounding the Latino/a community and put knowledge to work to surface one critical and fundamental idea: to take action.
Though improvements have been made over the last 18 years, these improvements have not been sufficient to enable all Latino/as to fully thrive. Pre-COVID-19, Latino/as have long-experienced disparate outcomes in every indicator that enables access to opportunities to thrive: health, education, economic equity, public safety, environment, civic engagement, and immigration. During this pandemic, we are seeing the devastating impacts further exacerbated on our families, our communities, and our economy. The Latino/a Scorecard Report will be a valuable tool for research, policy, advocacy, communications and accountability as we work towards an equitable recovery for Latino/as and all residents in Los Angeles.
The time to highlight both our achievements and the need for substantial investment is now