California Explorations Project Re-Imagining California Report
Re-Imagining California: A Call to Action and Framework for Building a Human Rights Economy in the Golden State
By Henry A.J. Ramos, Shimica Gaskins, Dr. Angie Kim, C.M. Samala, Dr. Gabriela Sandoval, Victor G. Sánchez & Calvin Williams
The 2024 election cycle vividly revealed the iterative and inseparable relationship between politics, economics, and social-identity. By capitalizing on real and growing economic grievances, Donald Trump and his supporters have once again sewn division between identity groups. But division never has offered—and never will offer—a solid platform for durable public problem solving. To root out the divisive, dead-end politics that increasingly define our times, we must defang that which gives it power: an economy grounded in extraction, despair, risk, insecurity, and a growing chasm between haves and have nots. In California, leaders in racial, gender and economic justice across the state stand at the forefront of resistance to the persistent policy trends that seek to further divide us. The report offers a vision of a more unifying political culture and economy centered around people and the environments in which they live, of an inclusive democracy and economy that is rooted in a shared commitment to human rights and human dignity.
In the report, this leading cadre of California new economy leaders call for sweeping changes in the ways California makes policy and budget decisions. Participating contributors represent organizations including the Center for Cultural Innovation, the Excessive Wealth Disorder Institute, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, and the Women's Foundation of California. The group is calling for California to advance a more strategic public and private reinvestment strategy over the coming generation with an eye to expanding racial, gender and economic justice, while challenging current federal initiatives in the opposite direction.
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