Existing Systemic Inequities Promote and Maintain Low Civic Engagement Levels

By: Leila Forouzan, Senior Research & Data Analyst

Across the United States, significant racial and socioeconomic disparities exist in voting and other forms of public participation. Generally, Whites participate at higher rates than people of color, seniors participate at higher rates than young voters, and people with higher incomes and education levels participate at higher rates than people with lower incomes and education levels. This leads to an imbalance in representation, which means the residents who need policies that adequately support them, are less likely to receive them and enjoy the benefits they provide. Our November 2018 report, Making Public Participating Equitable: Recommendations for an Office of Civic Engagement in Los Angeles offers some research-based insight to illuminate a way to effect meaningful change for the communities most impacted by unaddressed disparities.

Why This Matters

Policymakers lack an understanding of the interests and needs of all residents and make poor policy decisions. This can, in part, be remedied by higher levels of civic engagement from the voters who are less likely to participate due to a variety of existing factors.

The City of Los Angeles recognizes this issue. As a result, the City is exploring the idea of establishing an Office of Civic Engagement (OCE) as a means to start addressing barriers to better levels of civic engagement. The City’s Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (EmpowerLA) is leading the process. In pursuit of this, EmpowerLA partnered with Advancement Project California to incorporate the voices of community residents in the design, planning, and implementation of an OCE.

To include community voices, Advancement Project California collaborated with four community-based organizations that work with low-income communities of color: Community Coalition, InnerCity Struggle, Los Angeles Community Action Network, and Pacoima Beautiful. These organizations serve residents in South Los Angeles, the Eastside of Los Angeles, Central Los Angeles, and the Northeast San Fernando Valley respectively.

Findings

We elicited community perspectives from our collaborators through surveys, focus groups, and interviews. Community engagement was done in both English and Spanish for each community. Some of the results of those engagements are illustrated below.

• More than one in three residents have never participated due to concerns/fears about interacting with public institutions. An almost equal share cited not being sure how to participate or of what is expected of them as a barrier. In contrast, only 16 percent of residents, who have never participated, said disinterest was behind their lack of participation.

• More than half of residents said participation opportunities on weekends would make it easier for them to participate. Engagement opportunities in local neighborhoods was the second-most popular response.

• Residents prioritized health and housing. This result is not surprising in light of the relatively higher immigrant population in Los Angeles who face many barriers to health care. In addition, the affordable housing crisis in Los Angeles is well-known and disproportionately impacts the low-income communities of color who participated in this research.

• Community members recommended first prioritizing trainings for residents and then for city staff. Residents cited a lack of knowledge about how city government works and how they can/should participate. When speaking of times that they were able to participate, stories about obstacles to engagement or poor experiences with public participation systems arose.

Solutions

Policy solutions must look at barriers to participation that people of color and people with lower levels of income and/or education often face.

A common explanation for these disparities is that people of color lack interest in or are apathetic about politics. While apathy certainly exists, it does not provide the best explanation for these disparities. For example, research at the state level has shown that low levels of political interest are more prevalent among Whites and least prevalent among Latinos/as.[1] Our research refutes the apathy narrative at the local level.

To achieve long-term change, a key strategy involves focusing on structural reforms and strengthening Los Angeles’ participation infrastructure.

Through our research with the community, Advancement Project California developed several recommendations for the proposed OCE.

The OCE should:

1. Have a presence within neighborhoods, not solely in City Hall, and have staff that reflect the demographics of those neighborhoods.
2. Collaborate with residents, elected officials, City departments, and City commissions to improve the standards of making public participation opportunities more accessible.[2]
3. Collaborate with residents, elected officials, City departments, and City commissions to improve the standards of informing residents about public participation opportunities.
4. Coordinate public participation trainings for residents and public engagement trainings for public officials and staff.
5. Focus its work on equity by eliminating participation barriers beyond inaccessibility, inadequate outreach, and the other barriers mentioned above.

Read more about our research and recommendations in the full report.

[1] John Dobard, Kim Engie, Karthick Ramakrishnan, Sono Shah, and Lisa Garcia Bedolla. 2017. Unequal Voices II: Who Speaks for California? Los Angeles: Advancement Project California. http://advancementproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Unequal_Voices_PartII.pdf.

[2] Access is broadly defined here to include times, dates, transportation difficulties, location, and insufficient language support at participation opportunities.