Report Archives - Resilience OC

What We Heard in Costa Mesa: Elevating Latino Voices Through Participatory Research

Resilience OC — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 15:00:00 +0000

At Resilience Orange County, we believe that meaningful policy and systems change begins with listening to the voices of those most impacted. On June 6, 2022, we released our Summary of Findings from a participatory research project focused on the experiences and needs of Latino residents in Costa Mesa.

This report reflects insights gathered through community surveys, deep canvassing, and direct engagement with over 1,200 local residents. It highlights both the pressing issues impacting Latino families in the city and the civic barriers that limit their full participation in public life.

Read the full report here

Key Findings: Pressing Concerns and Everyday Realities

Through this process, we identified a range of challenges facing working-class Latino communities in Costa Mesa. Among the most urgent were:

Housing insecurity, including rapidly rising rents, overcrowding, and fear of eviction.
Lack of access to youth programming, economic mobility, and culturally responsive services.
Barriers to immigration legal support, which often force families to seek services outside of the city.

In our second round of deep canvassing, we explored residents’ views on three potential local initiatives: a rental assistance fund, a youth development fund, and an immigration legal defense fund. The majority of respondents—62%—prioritized rental assistance, followed by youth development (21%) and legal defense (17%).

These findings underscore the urgent need for policy interventions that respond to the everyday struggles of families who are working to remain rooted in their communities despite rising costs and limited support systems.

Civic Barriers: Exclusion from Local Decision-Making

A striking theme in our conversations was the widespread lack of awareness and access to local civic processes. Notably:

93% of residents surveyed reported they were unfamiliar with how the city’s budgeting process works.
Many residents described feeling disconnected from city decision-making and unsure of how to engage meaningfully.
Language barriers, limited outreach, and a lack of culturally relevant information were identified as significant obstacles.

As one participant shared, “We’re not against the city—we just don’t know how to be part of it.”

For a city as diverse as Costa Mesa, the absence of inclusive engagement strategies has direct consequences on whose voices are heard and whose needs are met.

A Foundation for Collective Action

This report is not intended as a conclusion, but rather a starting point for deeper engagement, leadership development, and systems change. It will guide Resilience OC’s ongoing work to:

Advance equitable policies, including rental stabilization and youth investments.
Develop civic education efforts to increase community understanding of the budget and decision-making processes.
Support infrastructure for long-term community engagement and accountability.

Through this work, we aim to support a future in which all communities—especially working-class Latino families—can participate fully in shaping the city they call home.

Moving Forward

At Resilience Orange County, we remain committed to building power alongside communities that have long been excluded from political and economic systems. This report affirms what we already knew: Costa Mesa residents are ready to lead, but they need meaningful access, protection, and investment.

We invite community members, partners, and public officials to engage with this report and take it as a call to action. Together, we can build a more inclusive, equitable, and accountable Costa Mesa.

The post What We Heard in Costa Mesa: Elevating Latino Voices Through Participatory Research appeared first on Resilience OC.

The State of Orange County

Oswaldo Farias — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 09:20:08 +0000

Today Monday, January 7th, 2019, Resilience OC, the UCI Law School Immigrant Rights Clinic and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) hosted a press conference to release a report that outlines the state of immigration enforcement in Orange County. The report contains a first look at data about the impacts of the county’s immigration policies and places local officials’ entanglement with federal immigration enforcement efforts in the context of the county’s anti-immigrant legacy. The report is also forward-looking. It lays out a set of questions and demands for local elected officials to guide them towards a more inclusive future in which all immigrant communities are protected and treated with fairness and dignity.

The report comes as Orange County’s political landscape is being transformed through bold organizing by communities of color, as evidenced by the major electoral upsets during the November 2018 elections.

To download the report click here.

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The Status of Youth Investment in Santa Ana

Resilience OC — Tue, 28 Mar 2017 04:24:35 +0000

Download the new report on new data that estimates how much the City of Santa Ana spends to arrest and suppress youth ages 0-19 rather than provide youth programming that supports healthy youth development. The data finds that in 2017, the City of Santa Ana will spend $19.55 million on arresting youth, while only spending $15.3 million on city-sponsored youth development programs. In Santa Ana, city resources allocated towards healthy youth development are limited to workforce development, the library, and programming provided by the department of parks and recreation. Find the report and the budget analysis below.

Status of Youth Investment in Santa Ana by Resilience Orange County on Scribd

AP SA Budget Analysis – Status of Youth Investment in O.C. 2017 (1) by Resilience Orange County

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