The research released was focused on the state’s economic mobility, education, arts, culture, and entertainment. “The three reports that we’re releasing today are part of 15 reports that California 100 is going to be releasing over the course of this year," said California 100 Executive Director and UC Riverside Professor Karthick Ramakrishnan.
Ramakrishnan says the initiative’s research is producing something most Californians have not seen before. “We are talking about long-term futures," Ramakrishnan said. “We are not talking about forecasts or projections; what we’re talking about are scenarios that are plausible scenarios for the future.”
Those scenarios include a future where private-for-profit and non-profit providers would replace the public education system or a different reality where education remains a state responsibility.
Michael Tubbs is a California 100 commissioner and the founder of the End Poverty in California (EPIC) non-profit. He discussed the group’s report on economic mobility, which partially looked at working poverty in the state. “Poverty is becoming a caste in our state and in our country; that there’s a permanent caste of folks who are born in poverty and stay in poverty, and that should be unacceptable," Tubbs said. He added that if California wants growth, the state needs to end poverty.
Some of the upcoming reports to be released by California 100 include one on the future of fiscal reform and one on federalism and foreign policy.