Energy & Environment
A healthy environment is essential for sustaining all human and natural communities. Humans have had an accelerating impact on the planet – especially since the industrial revolution – including environmental harms such as air pollution, unsafe drinking water, disease spread due to overcrowding, climate change, increasing natural disasters, and biodiversity loss. To mitigate environmental harm, […]
Transportation
A sustainably constructed and well-maintained transportation infrastructure network is crucial to support the entire Inland Empire (IE), its diverse industries, and its growing population. For a region that relies heavily on the movement of goods, having a reliable active transportation system benefits all. The Riverside-San Bernardino Metro Region has a multi-modal transportation system made up […]
Social Services
In California, there are many government programs that provide additional social services to what is provided by the federal government. However, due to disproportionate and inadequate funding to Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the Inland Empire (IE) has many direct-service nonprofits that fill in the gap to provide social services for the region. Social Services, […]
Public Safety
Public Safety means a program or programs carried out or promoted by a public agency for public purposes involving, directly or indirectly, the protection, safety, law enforcement activities, and criminal justice system of a given political area. Public safety programs may include but are not limited to those carried out by public police departments, sheriffs’ […]
Media & Democracy
The vitality of our local democracy depends critically on the strength of our civic infrastructure, including strong community organizations, vibrant local media, innovations in participation (including planning and participatory decision-making), and reduced barriers to civic participation (including for voting and participating in public meetings). Media is a tool with the power to reach a large […]
Labor & Workforce
California’s economic performance is impressive on many counts. If it were a country, it would be the fifth-largest economy in the world, and the state’s engines of innovation and productivity have long drawn entrepreneurial interest and labor talent from other states and countries. California also plays an outsized role in shaping our nation’s trade relationships, […]
Housing
Housing does more than just shelter; it affects our lives in a multitude of ways, such as shaping our sense of community and belonging, and determining our access to work, education, and leisure activities. Importantly, housing is a topic area that intersects with many others, including education, health, and social services, just to name a […]
Health & Well-being
According to the World Health Organization, “health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Health is not only the biological and physical well-being and prevention of diseases but encompasses an intersection of social, socioeconomic, cultural, spiritual, environmental, and psychological elements.
Education
Education in the United States has often functioned as a means to upward social and economic mobility. College graduates’ wages and non-wage benefits, like paid vacation time or employer-provided health coverage, are much higher. Education offers a variety of societal benefits, including a well-educated workforce which in turn contributes to economic growth and innovation. A […]
Food Systems
At its core, a food system includes the public policy decisions; the national, local, and global systems and supply chains; and the individuals and groups – both public and private – that ultimately influence what we eat (FAO et al 2022). Food systems are not only important to public health and well-being (especially important for […]