A formal rulemaking to authorize autonomous trucks on California roads would pave a path toward a highly efficient transportation and delivery system for Hispanic-owned businesses and the consumers we serve.
Morning pollution over Longt Beach. (Photo: Katharine Moore, via Shutterstock)OPINION: We all have witnessed the devastation of climate change. As I write this, our California neighbors in Napa, Sonoma and up north are losing homes and businesses to wildfire. Every year, wildfire season is more severe than the year before. But the ravages of wildfire are not the only harmful result of climate change that is impacting us.
Two children receiving instruction via the internet. (Photo: adriaticfoto, via Shutterstock)The resurgence of COVID-19 over the summer and the predicted fall increase in cases means that many districts will continue some form of distance learning for months to come. Our findings show that distance learning has widened gaps for children of color, children in low-income families, and children of less-educated parents. More specifically, we find:
An interior view of one of the rooms of the Spacecraft Fabrication Facility of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (Photo: Sundry Photography, via Shutterstock) California faces an increasing demand for affordable higher education and a need for adequate facilities suited to a rapidly evolving economy. PPIC estimates that by 2030 the supply of college graduates will fall 1.1 million short of workforce demand. All three public systems—UC, CSU, and CCC—are working to bridge that gap.
A young girl looks examines the illustrations in a book. (Photo: Tatiana Bobkova, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom is exactly right when he states that “early childhood education and affordable high-quality child care pays dividends for that child’s growth, and for our state’s economic growth.” He eloquently made the case during the campaign and we concur: Early learning opportunities for infants, toddlers and preschoolers are crucial for their development.
Students at the graduation ceremonies of UCLA. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)OPINION: California is recognized as an innovative economic leader boasting access to world class higher education, yet the state is quickly being outpaced in the percentage of students who actually complete their degrees. What drives this chasm between shining opportunity and lackluster outcomes? One reason is as simple as it is startling: Students’ basic needs are not being met.
Downtown Los Angeles seen through the smog. (Photo: Justin Dennis, via Shutterstock)OPINION: There are a lot of questions surrounding California climate policy right now. For me, growing up in Watts, Los Angeles, the most important question is: how will state climate policies help low-income communities and communities of color?
A VW bus converted to electric power, displayed last year in Beverly Hills. (Photo: Phil Pilosian)If you’ve ever been behind the wheel of an electric vehicle, you know that they’re really fun to drive. Many Californians have discovered the joys of electric drive, as our state is nearing 200,000 plug-in vehicles sold, and accounted for more than half of all the EVs sold in the U.S. last year. But we need to ramp up sales of these advanced technology vehicles in order to clean up our air, reduce our dangerous dependency on petroleum, and stabilize the climate.