PRESS CALL TUES., NOV. 1: Lessons from South L.A.: immigrant integration in a historically African-American community

Since 1970, the South Los Angeles area has transformed dramatically as areas once largely populated by African-Americans became majority Latino. USC researchers offer a comprehensive report that documents the transformation, its impact and the lessons that it holds for the multi-ethnic future of American cities experiencing similar change.

Contact: Emily Gersema at (213) 361-6730 or gersema@usc.edu

WHAT: A press call with USC Professor Manuel Pastor to discuss the USC Dornsife Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration’s report, Roots|Raíces: Latino Engagement, Place Identities, and Shared Futures in South Los Angeles, which combines extensive data analysis (historical, geographic, socioeconomic, educational, and more) with interviews of 100 Latino residents and nearly 20 civic leaders about South L.A.

WHEN: Tues., Nov. 1, 9 a.m. PDT/ Noon EDT

**RSVP to Gladys Malibiran at (213) 821-5258 or malibira@usc.edu**

Call-in number for the Roots report: 1-800-230-1766

African-American departure

WHO: Participants on the call include:

• Manuel Pastor, USC professor of sociology and American studies and ethnicity who is also director of the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration, and study co-author
• Benjamin Torres, president and CEO, Community Development Technologies Center (CDTech)
• Pamela Stephens, data analyst for the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration and study co-author
• Alejandro Sanchez-Lopez, also a data analyst for the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration and a co-author

WHY:
Roots|Raíces presents data-driven insights with a nuanced narrative of South L.A.’s tensions and transformations over time. Lessons from the area’s transformation offer a new model of immigrant integration and civic engagement for Los Angeles and for other cities nationwide that are experiencing similar change.

Latino arrival

Speakers on the call will discuss key findings and topics featured the report, including:

• Demographic change: South L.A.’s majority has shifted in 40 years from largely African American to mostly Latino.
• Civic engagement: South LA’s Latino residents are numerous, diverse, and proudly rooted in the community, but behind on key measures of civic participation, including voter registration.
• Inequality: Latino and Black communities have real differences but also share a number of struggles including poverty, underperforming schools, disproportionate environmental burdens, and over-policing.
• Identity: The emerging Latino identity of South L.A., whose roots began with the Black community’s fight for political and economic parity, requires understanding that it is both independent from and interdependent with Black identity.
• National trend: South L.A. is emblematic of other U.S. communities experiencing similar demographic transition.

Researchers will also discuss the lessons learned from this transformation that will assist communities as they move forward.

MORE INFORMATION:

For the full #RootsRaices report, a short YouTube video, an English and Spanish version of the Executive Summary, and graphics downloads visit: https://dornsife.usc.edu/csii/roots-raices-south-la

Twitter: @CSII_USC @Prof_MPastor #RootsRaices #SouthLA

ABOUT:

The Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII) is based at the University of Southern California and its mission is to remake the narrative for understanding, and to shape the dialogue, on immigrant integration in America. CSII brings together three emphases: scholarship that draws on academic theory and rigorous research, data that provides information structured to highlight the process of immigrant integration over time, and engagement that seeks to create new dialogues with government, community organizers, business and civic leaders, immigrants and the voting public. For more information, contact Gladys Malibiran, Communications Specialist, (213) 821-5258 malibira@usc.edu.

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