The East Bay Community Foundation’s Vision requires that we “be a vital resource of intelligence on the East Bay.”
We do this through conducting research on important problems facing our diverse people and communities, as well as research on the solutions to those problems.
East Bay Indicators 2010 (December 2010)
The study by the East Bay Economic Development Alliance and the East Bay Community Foundation highlights economic hardships faced by families even before the recession and contains recommendations for new joint efforts to improve the region’s economic health. According to the 16-page report, “The East Bay faces serious challenges. Foremost among these is the need to promote sustainable economic growth to compensate for the jobs lost to the Great Recession and to long-term structural shifts in the region’s economy. We are also challenged to advance economic opportunity for the one East Bay household in five that faced serious economic hardship even before the recession.”
The report tracks a number of economic and social indicators, including: population growth, household income, home values, construction, child-care services, education issues, public services, the non-profit sector, and arts and culture organizations. The report is the result of a first-ever collaboration between the Foundation and the Economic Development Alliance to combine their data and analysis.
It urges new joint efforts by government, business, the philanthropic sector and the nonprofit sector to address the East Bay’s major challenges by creating jobs, helping people acquire job skills, starting new small businesses, improving access to high-quality child care, ensuring young children acquire reading and math skills, providing resources for critical public services, and supporting the region’s important non-profit sector, as well as arts and culture organizations.
Putting the East Bay to Work – Sustainable Jobs for the Underemployed (September 2009)
The study compiles recommendations for employers, training institutions, service providers and policy makers to provide employment for “low-income, disadvantaged, impoverished, underserved, and underrepresented” people in the East Bay. Specifically targeted by the study are those with limited English skills, those who are no longer eligible for foster care because of their age, and those recently incarcerated.
Financed by a grant from the Ford Foundation, the 70-page study identifies employment opportunities for the three targeted groups in four different sections of the local economy prevalent in Oakland and Richmond: construction and green technology, health care, logistics and international trade, and custom manufacturing.
The study was compiled over a period of nine months, drawing upon information from employers, nonprofit organizations serving the target populations, community colleges, adult education schools, job-training providers, business assistance organizations, chambers of commerce, labor unions, and workforce investment boards.
East Bay Community Needs Assessment (May 2008)
The 2008 East Bay Community Assessment examines a wide range of quality-of-life indicators with a focus on barriers to justice, and on equity and inclusion in the fabric of civic life for all East Bay residents. The topics covered in the report address the East Bay Community Foundation’s focus areas of grantmaking—promoting economic independence for families and educational success for children—as well as the broad range of related issues of concern to EBCF’s donors.
What has changed since the 2005 report was published?
Demographics
- Alameda County had 1.5 million residents in 2007, an increase of 6% over 2000. Sixty-two percent of residents are people of color, as compared to 59% in 2000.
- Contra Costa County had 1.04 million residents in 2007, an increase of 10% over 2000. Forty-six percent of residents are people of color, as compared to 41% in 2000.
Family Self-Sufficiency and the Economy
- The number of East Bay residents living below the official poverty level increased.
- The East Bay continued its transition to an “hourglass economy,” where new jobs are divided between low-wage, low-skill jobs and high wage jobs, with little growth of living-wage jobs in the middle.
- An emerging “green economy” in the East Bay has the potential to create thousands of “green-collar” jobs with livable wages and benefits for East Bay residents dislocated from the old economy.
- The prevalence of hunger increased in both counties, most sharply in Contra Costa County.
- The East Bay continues to be one of the least affordable regions in the country for home ownership and renters.
Early Care and Education
The East Bay has a persistent unmet need for quality child care for working families of all incomes.
Education
- Test scores for reading and math improved in most school districts in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. However, wide disparities in achievement persist among East Bay schools and districts, as well among student sub-populations within each district.
- Public schools are facing large funding cuts at a time when research has shown that California schools will require increased resources to close the achievement gap.
- High-school graduation rates have fallen in 19 out of 24 East Bay school districts since 2002. English learners and socio-economically disadvantaged students pass the high school exit exam at rates well below other students.
- State Proposition 49 brought an influx of more than $35 million for school-based after school programs. East Bay schools and community partners have unprecedented opportunities to create much-needed programs for low-income youth, but also face challenges in providing high-quality services for more students.
Health
- The East Bay continues to experience alarming inequities in health status, with low-income residents, people of color and immigrants bearing a significantly greater burden of poor health across a wide range of indicators.
Crime and Public Safety
- There are more than 4,500 adults on parole in the East Bay who require a range of supports and services to help them successfully reintegrate into neighborhoods, communities and families—a critical strategy for reducing crime.
For More Information
To view a five-page summary of the study's findings, click here.
To view an 11-page summary, click here.
To view the full report, click here.
To view a list of the report’s sources of information, click here.
East Bay After-School Strategy (2006-2009)
The East Bay Community Foundation launched the East Bay After-School Support Program at the end of 2005 in anticipation of the state of California’s release of Proposition 49 funding. Proposition 49 was passed by California voters in 2002 to provide seed money to support universal after-school programs for every public elementary and middle school in California.
Prop. 49 represented an important opportunity for both schools and community-based organizations to access continuous funding for after-school programs targeting young people with high needs. Because of its history supporting after-school programs, the Foundation initiated a strategy in 2005 to ensure young people in the East Bay were able to fully benefit from the State’s landmark investment in after-school programming.
