July 29, 2020
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Postsecondary to Prosperity: Examining California’s Opportunity Landscape

California depends on its strong workforce to drive economic growth, but in the midst of the current pandemic and accompanying unemployment rates, the state must rethink its approach to supporting skilled workers and their future access to higher education. To inform decision making and help prioritize equity in the state’s approach to economic recovery, Postsecondary to Prosperity: Examining California’s Opportunity Landscape highlights critical analyses into educational outcomes, upward mobility in the workforce, and quality of life. With data drawn from California Competes’s new California Postsecondary to Prosperity Dashboard, the report helps assess and address inequitable pathways to higher education and economic mobility throughout California’s diverse regions.

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Key Findings

1

Californians live different experiences based on key factors: race/ethnicity, region, gender, income, level of education, and whether in high school they were homeless, a foster youth, a migrant, an English learner, socioeconomically disadvantaged, or with a disability.

2

Latinx, Black, and Native American and Alaska Native Californians face particularly inequitable opportunities.

3

Some quality of life markers, however, are equally good or bad across groups—notably, housing is unaffordable for almost everyone, and nearly all Californians have health insurance.

4

Further studying, understanding, and analyzing the data are key next steps toward developing and implementing strategies to meet our goals.

Check out the Postsecondary to Prosperity Dashboard here and read our other published briefs here.

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California Competes is a project of Community Partners.