On Friday, October 29th, the UC Riverside Blum Initiative held a day-long practitioner-focused event on the causes and consequences of poverty in the Inland Empire. 

The event included a keynote address by California Assembly Majority Leader Eloise Gómez Reyes and a regional poverty report with updated poverty measures and risk factors for poverty specific to the IE. The summit had a networking lunch, a practitioner-led Q&A, and a panel discussion. The event also included presentations by leading researchers from across the U.S. on issues material to poverty in the IE:

• David Brady (Professor of Public Policy, UCR), to speak on the measurement, composition, and risk factors of poverty in the IE
• Ryan Finnegan (Associate Professor of Sociology, UC Davis), to speak on issues of homelessness
• Lisa Gennetian (Pritzker Professor of Early Learning Policy Studies, Duke University), to speak on the impact of cash transfers on childhood development
• Heather Hill (Professor of Public Policy, University of Washington), to speak on the impacts of family income variability on childhood poverty and long-term health
• Jasmine Hill (Assistant Professor of Public Policy, UCLA), to speak on issues of economic and social mobility for people of color
• Stan Oklobdijza (Visiting Assistant Professor of Public Policy, UCR), to speak on issues of affordable housing
• Jennifer Montez (Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar in Aging Studies, Syracuse University), to speak on the social determinants of aging, disease, and death

“As a student in public policy, I find it critical to observe and recognize risk factors of poverty in both my own region and globally,” said Johanna Arias, a fourth-year public policy student. “The UC Riverside Blum Initiative on Global and Regional Poverty, along with other brilliant minds, are dedicated to finding solutions and collaborating on ways to combat poverty in our communities.”

View the video here:

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The UCR Blum Initiative on Global and Regional Poverty is dedicated to advancing our understanding of poverty – in Inland Southern California and abroad – through world-class faculty and graduate student research, service, teaching, and academic and community events. 

Media Contact:

Kevin Karami

kkara009@ucr.edu