Publications

We believe in elevating and expanding research to ensure that what we learn is shared with communities and reaches the hands of decision-makers in communities, governments, and industry. Our extensive library of publications features insightful reports and actionable articles from our affiliated researchers that disseminate our co-created research findings and culminate in evidence-based recommendations for the greater good.

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Solidarity Economics Series: Childcare in the Monterey Bay

The institute’s joint project, Solidarity Economics, has released a report focused on the intersection between public health and building a more inclusive economy. The report highlights the ways the status quo of health inequality undermines economic prosperity, resulting in worse health and economic outcomes.
The Power Line: Strengthening Academic-Community Partnerships for Change

Authored by Chris Benner, Darío León, and Susan Grasso (UCSC) March 2025 This report examines the role of academic-community partnerships in strengthening and sustaining community power-building efforts. The study builds on the Lead Local initiative, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), which explored how community power catalyzes and sustains conditions for healthy communities. A key recommendation that emerged from…
A Foundation for Change: Understanding African American Community Conditions in Monterey and San Benito Counties

This report is a collaboration with the Institute for Social Transformation, Action Council of Monterey County, Monterey County Black Caucus, and New Hope Baptist Church. The report presents a picture of the demographics, socioeconomic status, and challenges faced by African American residents in Monterey and San Benito Counties. The analysis reveals notable issues related to…
Let Them Eat Big Macs, Crunchwraps, and Whoppers: A Working Paper Describing the Local Impact of California’s $20 Fast Food Minimum Wage in the City of Santa Cruz

Funded in part by the institute’s Building Belonging program research fellowships, this study examines the local impact of California’s Assembly Bill 1228, which implemented a $20 minimum wage for fast food workers, using the city of Santa Cruz as a case study to highlight the many unintended consequences of this legislation.
Inventory of Community-Engaged Scholarship at UC Santa Cruz

Over the summer of 2023, Campus + Community (C+C) surveyed community-engaged scholarship and research collaborations across the UC Santa Cruz (UCSC) campus. A key takeaway is that centering community partnerships is happening in all divisions across campus and is conducted by faculty, students, and university staff. Focused on the past five years, the survey brought…
Solidarity Economics Series: Public Health in the Monterey Bay Area

The institute’s joint project, Solidarity Economics, has released a report focused on the intersection between public health and building a more inclusive economy. The report highlights the ways the status quo of health inequality undermines economic prosperity, resulting in worse health and economic outcomes. These inequalities disproportionately affect the well-being and prosperity of racial minority…
Powering Prosperity: Building an Inclusive Lithium Supply Chain in California’s Salton Sea Region

New research reveals steps California must take to capture more jobs from lithium battery boom. California is capturing only 2.4% of projected jobs in planned operations in the nation’s lithium battery supply chain, with most going to states that are ranked low in terms of labor protection, worker health and safety, and wage laws.
UCSC Journal of International Society and Culture: Vol. IV

The student-run, institute-supported Journal of International Society and Culture has released its Winter 2024 edition. The journal features undergraduate students’ discourse about global topics, offering a platform to author and publish articles with diverse perspectives across academic disciplines. This issue focuses on Russia’s philosophical and political theories over time, Haiti’s political violence and its origins,…
Building an Inclusive Economy in the Monterey Bay Region: A Progress Report

In this report, researchers from the Institute for Social Transformation, in partnership with the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership, aim to help community and business leaders throughout the Monterey Bay Area (Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties) better understand the progress they are making towards a more inclusive economy.
Pandemic retelling: What GoFundMe posts reveal about the socioeconomic context of COVID-19 death and bereavement among Latinx and Spanish-speaking communities in the United States

Funded in part by the institute’s Building Belonging program research fellowships, this study explores the social relationships, economic factors, and emotional experiences that surround COVID-19 deaths among the members of Spanish-speaking Latinx communities in the United States, as retold in user-written posts on the GoFundMe crowdfunding platform.
Critical Campus Sustainabilities: Bridging Social Justice and the Environment in Higher Education

Funded in part by the institute’s Building Belonging program research fellowships, this edited volume calls for higher education leaders to revamp programming, pedagogy, and research that problematically reproduce dominant techno-scientific and managerial conceptualizations of sustainability.
Solidarity Economics Series: Housing in the Monterey Bay Area

The Monterey Bay Area has some of the least affordable housing of any region in the U.S. This is part of a series on how Solidarity Economics principles of mutuality and movements can be applied to help promote inclusive economic development in the Monterey Bay region.