Welcome to the UCSB Blum Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy

The UCSB Blum Center aims to foster interdisciplinary, socially engaged research and learning about poverty and inequality, and to contribute to collective action that advances intersectional economic and environmental justice regionally, in the United States, and abroad. Established with funding from UC Regent Richard C. Blum and the UC Office of the President, it is part of a campus-wide network across a number of UC campuses system.

This year the Blum Center is focusing on three core initiatives:

The Central Coast Regional Equity Initiative (CCREI) was launched in 2021 in partnership with The Fund for Santa Barbara. Building from the Central Coast Regional Equity Study, conducted in collaboration with USC’s Equity Research Institute, the initiative documents widening inequality in California’s increasingly diverse central coast counties of Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo with trend data on employment and wages, housing, health, education, political  representation, and environmental risk, among other indicators. In addition to funding collaborative community-engaged research, the CCREI  has set out to foster a collective, region-wide conversation and to advance a research-informed action agenda to improve the lives of all, and especially of the increasingly multi-racial working class communities who live, work, learn and contribute to the vitality of the region. 

Access our most recent report: Equity Matters 2024. This report builds on the 2021 study Toward a Just and Equitable Central Coast by incorporating San Luis Obispo County as part of the tri-county Central Coast region.

Our initiative on Cooperative Economics encompasses a broad spectrum of collaborative endeavors, from the communal practices and empowerment strategies of indigenous communities to the support and exchange networks developed within the contemporary mutual aid movement. There is a rich tradition of cooperative endeavor in movements for racial and intersectional justice. Thanks to generous support from the family of Dr. U.S. Awasthi, UCSB faculty and students are eligible for funding opportunities. 

Our most recent efforts, the Central Coast Community Labor Project & Labor Summer initiative, will provide UCSB students with opportunities to learn about community and labor organizing and research practices. As part of the immersive Labor Summer internship experience, Central Coast unions and allied organizations will support UCSB students in paid internships to advance labor causes and achieve social and economic justice. 

We invite you to join us in the work and to stay informed about up-coming events and programs. We can be found on Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube, and we also distribute a regular newsletter to our audience. Sign up to join our listserv!

See below for our most recent announcements & up-coming events:

Research Funding Opportunities

Are you working on research that centers equity, community partnership, or cooperative approaches to social change? The UCSB Blum Center on Poverty, Inequality, & Democracy is accepting proposals for two funding opportunities: the Central Coast Regional Equity Initiative and the Dr. U.S. Awasthi Initiative in Cooperative Economics. Whether your work focuses on housing, health, climate, political representation, democratic economic models, or other equity or collectively-centered approaches, we welcome proposals from across disciplines.

Learn more here. Apply by February 28th, 2026.

New Book Announcement

We are thrilled to announce the publication of Rings of Dissent: Boxing and Performances of Rebellion, co-edited by Blum Center Director Gaye Theresa Johnson along with Rudy Mondragón and David J. Leonard (University of Illinois Press, December 2025).

This groundbreaking collection explores the boxing ring as a powerful site for understanding race, citizenship, gender, power, and dissent in America. Moving beyond the sport's apolitical veneer, the book examines how professional boxers navigate and challenge capitalistic and neoliberal structures while illuminating the cultural politics surrounding Black, Brown, and queer bodies. Through essays and interviews by scholars, activists, and artists, Rings of Dissent reveals boxing's central place in communities of color and opens exciting new avenues for studying race, immigration, gender, and capital. With contributions from leading voices including Dave Zirin, José M. Alamillo, and Louis Moore, this multifaceted collection uncovers what the sport tells us about America—its contradictions, its resistance, and its possibilities.

Interested in learning more? Sign up for our newsletter!

If you would like to learn more about the Blum Center's initiatives, events, and ways to get involved in addressing poverty and inequality both on campus and in the community, please sign up for our newsletter here.