Dear Bay Area Equity Atlas Users:

The results of this year’s elections are largely due to a historic groundswell of activism led by people of color and grassroots community organizations across the country, including the Bay Area. As the movement for racial equity continues to build momentum, the Atlas team is proud to partner with local leaders at the forefront of policy change. Our research this month highlights the urgent need to center low-income communities and people of color in both the ongoing Covid-19 recovery and in the long-term vision for a just and fair society. Here are some updates:

Atlas Dashboard Reveals Majority Black and Latinx Neighborhoods Hardest Hit by Covid-19

To track the community-level impact of the pandemic, the Atlas team launched a new automatically-updated dashboard that provides ZIP code-level data on total Covid cases from the four Bay Area counties that publish such detailed geographic data: Alameda, San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Sonoma. By analyzing Covid cases in each ZIP code in relation to the share of Black and Latinx residents, the dashboard highlights how neighborhoods with large populations of color have been hardest hit: The four ZIP codes with the highest case rates are majority-Latinx or majority-Black. Targeted strategies are needed to improve conditions in these hotspots, including community testing, better enforcement of workplace safety standards, rental supports, and continued eviction protections.

New Report Highlights Strategies for Inclusive Recovery and an Equitable Future of Work

In partnership with Burning Glass Technologies and the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, the National Equity Atlas released, Race and the Work of the Future: Advancing Workforce Equity in the United States, a comprehensive analysis of long-standing racial gaps in labor market outcomes, the economic impacts of Covid-19, and the racial equity implications of automation. We found that White workers are 50 percent more likely than workers of color to hold good jobs, and that eliminating racial inequities in income could boost the US economy by $2.3 trillion a year. We’re currently partnering with Rework the Bay to produce a similar report for the Bay Area, which will be published in spring 2021. Watch our webinar presentation and read the full report.

Eviction Risk Analyses Released for California

The Atlas team has been supporting the Our Homes, Our Health housing justice effort by producing eviction risk fact sheets for local campaigns advocating for strong renter protection and eviction moratorium policies across the country. This month, we published a factsheet for California (with Housing NOW! California), which found that 1.6 million renter households are experiencing rent shortfall and potentially facing eviction. We plan to publish a factsheet for the nine-county Bay Area later this year. Find them here.

Thank you!

The Bay Equity Atlas team