Research on poverty, inequality, and democracy, with UCSB and the Central Coast
The Blum Center brings UC Santa Barbara faculty, students, and community organizations together to study poverty and inequality and to support collective action for economic and environmental justice.
Research, teaching, and community-centered work
The Center funds research, runs the internship program for the Minor in Poverty, Inequality, and Social Justice, publishes regional equity data, and oversees UC Santa Barbara's first labor center. It reports to the Dean of Social Sciences and belongs to the University of California's network of Blum Centers.
Central Coast Regional Equity Initiative
With The Fund for Santa Barbara, the CCREI tracks wages, housing, health, education, and political representation in Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties, and funds community-engaged research each year.
Dr. U.S. Awasthi Initiative in Cooperative Economics
The initiative funds research on cooperatives, mutual aid networks, and the communal economic practices of Indigenous communities.
Student housing
Blum Center student leaders wrote A People's Guide to UCSB's Student Housing Crisis and convene a coalition of more than 20 organizations. A $100,000 UC research grant now funds a new housing study.
Minor in Poverty, Inequality, and Social Justice
Students analyze the structural and political causes of poverty and inequality through History 74, three upper-division electives, a 120-hour community internship, and a capstone project.
Central Coast Community Labor Center
The Blum Center oversees UC Santa Barbara's first labor center. Its UC Labor Summer program places undergraduates in paid eight-week internships with Central Coast unions.
Research and publications
Reports, data, and policy research from the Center, its students, and its partners on inequality in the Central Coast, cooperative enterprise, and student housing.
Latest report
Equity Matters 2024
The CCREI's second regional report tracks more than 60 indicators of wages, employment, housing, health, education, political representation, and environmental risk across Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties.
Regional equity
- Equity Matters 2024With The Fund for Santa Barbara and the USC Equity Research Institute
- San Luis Obispo County Community Consultation Report
- Towards a Just and Equitable Central CoastWith The Fund for Santa Barbara and the USC Equity Research Institute
- centralcoastequity.orgPublic data on more than 60 regional equity indicators
Cooperative economics
Each year the CCREI and the Cooperative Economics Initiative also fund community-engaged research by UCSB faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates.
Stay connected
Follow the Center for events, calls for proposals, and new research, and meet the Blum Center team.
