Nine months after the coronavirus pandemic seriously hit the US, California is facing a new order and shutdown similar to the first, threatening to shut down businesses like bars and personal care services that may have only recently regained a foothold. On Sunday, Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley joined a stay-at-home mandate after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Dec. 3 that regions where intensive care unit availability falls below 15% will stay at home for three weeks .
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Shortly after the stay-at-home announcement, the governor spoke at the California Economic Summit, touting the state’s potential for economic recovery and growth.
“There is no other state that is clinging to a dream,” Newsom said during the December 4 summit. “And there’s a reason it’s the California Dream, because the future happens here first.”
The annual summit, which highlights “regional approaches to solving economic problems,” coincided this year with the launch of the California Dream Index, a measure of nationwide economic inequality. According to the index, which highlights 10 indicators of economic mobility, security, and inclusion between 2010 and 2018, from clean drinking water to affordable rents, California has made little overall progress over those eight years, with an overall score of about 60 out of 100 in each of 2010 and 2018.
Since 2010, the proportion of affluent neighborhoods, or areas where fewer than 20% of residents live in poverty, has declined nationwide from around 83% to 77% in 2018. The Redwood Coast region in particular saw a sharp decline in affluent neighborhoods from about 90% in 2010 to about 42% in 2018. The state also saw longer commute times, from an average of nearly 27 minutes in 2010 to about 29 minutes in 2018.
According to the index, however, the state has improved in a few areas: Statewide broadband internet access has increased from about 66% in 2010 to almost 85% in 2018, while the number of people with a college degree or certification has also increased Has.
Looking forward to an equitable recovery of the state, the summit emphasized the need to expand home ownership as the front and center in 2021, along with investing in small businesses owned by people of color, strengthening education and boosting manufacturing, among other initiatives. In all efforts, the Summit emphasized equity as a key component of progress.
Despite events over the past year that have shed light on the state’s injustices – including a devastating wildfire season and an increasingly alarming number of COVID-19 cases – Newsom is hopeful about the state’s future.
“We’re going to be fine,” Newsom said during the economic summit. “Indeed, not only be okay, there is no state better positioned in the future than this state.”
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