Resources

The page that follows contains more information on Los Angeles County and the many issues addressed in “Making it in L.A.”

Social services | Education | Living wage | Organized labor | Housing | Social networks

For more information about Los Angeles County, please refer to the following Web sites:

The official site of Los Angeles County
Facts about the population and geography, Board of Supervisors’s home pages, phone numbers for county services, all the cities in the county and their home pages.

County of Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk
Information on voter registration, marriage and birth certificates, real estate records and election records.

Los Angeles County - Quick Facts from the U.S. Census Bureau
A quick glance at L.A. County, including population and ethnic breakdown.

Los Angeles County Yahoo! Directory
Links to businesses, shopping, arts and entertainment, travel, real estate, etc. in L.A. County.

In today’s fragile economy, a person can be gainfully employed one day and looking for work the next. However, county, state and federal governments have recognized the need for social services, as have numerous non-profit agencies. As the population of the United States has grown, so too has the need for social services to help those who might need a little extra help.

Related Links

United Way of Greater Los Angeles
A non-profit social services organization in Los Angeles.

Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles
The oldest social services organization in Los Angeles.

California Employment Development Department
Information on unemployment insurance and benefits.

Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services
Information on the services provided by the county and how to access them.

California Department of Social Services
Information about the social services provided by the state of California.

InfoLine
A listing of social service resources in L.A. County.

Related Articles

“SB 40.”
Information about SB 40, a bill Gov. Gray Davis approved in 2001 that would increase unemployment benefits for the first time in nearly a decade.

“How to know if you qualify for unemployment benefits”
A generic list of qualifications needed to receive unemployment insurance.

Books

Riddick, Glenda. Los Angeles County Social Service Rainbow Research Guide. Resource Directory, 2003.
A comprehensive resource and referral guide to social services in L.A. County, clustered by type of social service. It is available at any Los Angeles public library.

Axinn, June and Stern, Mark J. Social Welfare: A History of the American Response to Need. Mead Dodd, 1975.
Detailed history of social welfare services in the United States.

Sometimes the forgotten stepchild of the state’ss public education system, California’s community colleges are caught in a long-lasting state budget crunch. From propositions to tuition increases, California community colleges have seen it all over the last 25 years.

Related Links

California Community Colleges, Office of the Chancellor
The official site of the Office of the Chancellor, the administrative branch of the California Community College system. Search for information regarding the policies and administration of the community college system.

List of California Community Colleges
An alphabetical list of Californian Community Colleges. One may also search by region or district. Find the community college you want to learn more about from a comprehensive list of all California Community Colleges.

Information for Perspective California Community College Students
Get answers about California Community Colleges admission requirements, application processes, and other questions.

California Department of Education
The official site of the California State Superintendent of Education and the state’s education programs and policies.

California Postsecondary Education Commission
A portal for education beyond high school, including a college search engine and current issues facing the state’s postsecondary schools.

Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees
A site with bios of board members and information about meeting times.

Community College League of California
Information about the nonprofit public benefit corporation whose voluntary membership consists of the 72 local community college districts in California.

Related Articles

“At What Cost? The Price That Working Students Pay For a College Education.” The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). May 2002.
The results of a study in May 2002 done by the State Public Interest Research Groups, which dissects students who work and the effects that has on their academic success.

Rabin, Jeffrey L., Silverstein, Stuart and Trounson, Rebecca. “Schwarzenegger Pushing to Raise College Fees 10% to 44%.” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 8, 2004.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes tuition hikes for all California colleges and universities, including a 44 percent fee increase for the state’s 108 community colleges.

Moore, Stephen. “Proposition 13: Then, Now and Forever.” The Cato Institute.
A Cato Institute study on the negative impact of Proposition 13 on California Education and education across the country.

“What Did Proposition 13 Do?“ Education Not Encarceration.
In an effort to organize a May 8th rally in Sacramento, a group of students, teachers, parents and community members explain six ways Prop. 13 changed educational funding in California.

Hill, John. “Debate Over Prop. 13 Still Rages.” Sacramento Bee. June 1, 2003.
A look back at the 25th anniversary of the passage of the controversial Prop. 13, which forever changed how California’s community colleges are funded.

“California State Assembly Bill 1725.” Sept. 19, 1988
A bill, signed into law by Gov. George Deukmejian on Sept. 19, 1988, that altered the master plan of the California Community Colleges.

Books

Dougherty, Kevin J. The Contradictory College: The Conflict Origins, Impacts, and Futures of the Community College. State University of New York Press, August 1994.
A book that examines the history of community colleges and their roles in higher education.

Over the past decade, a movement advocating a living wage for all Americans has been spreading through cities and universities. Within Los Angeles County, one of the country’s most expensive metropolises, cities are now grappling with the issue that can pit business against employee, as each struggles to agree on the critical question — how much pay is enough?

Related Links

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)
The nation’s largest community organization focused on grassroots social justice campaigns.

ACORN’s Living Wage Resource Center
A clearinghouse of information, news on the issue, and grass roots planning models for launching living wage initiatives.

The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE)
A non-profit organization that handles a variety of local social justice issues, most predominantly living wage and the hotel workers’s union.

U.S. Department of Labor
The official site for information on:
The federal minimum wage
History of minimum wage in America

California Department of Industrial Relations
History of California’s Minimum Wage.

Internal Revenue Service
Information on the federal Earned Income Tax Credit.

American Federation of Labor/Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
Document compiled by AFL-CIO to answer questions regarding living wage laws.

Related Articles

“How Living Wage Laws Affect Low-Wage Workers and Low-Income Families.” The Public Policy Institute of California. March 2002.
A study that examines the costs and benefits of living wage laws on low-income workers.

“The Employment Impact of a Comprehensive Living Wage Law, Evidence from California.” Employment Policies Institute. July 1999.
A study on the impact living wage laws have had jobs in the state.

Lind, Michael. “The Case for a Living Wage.” New America Foundation
An article that examines the effectiveness of living wage laws and offers possible alternatives.

Kaye, Jeffrey. “What to Pay?“ Online NewsHour 1 August 2001.
A look at the living wage law fight in Santa Monica, Calif.

Books

Pollin, Robert and Luce,Stephanie. The Living Wage: Building a Fair Economy. New Press, January 2000.
The authors favor implementing the living wage initiative on a national level, the core findings on which the book is based most likely played a role in living wage legislation that was recently adopted in Los Angeles.

Quigley, William. Ending Poverty as We Know It. Temple University Press, June 2003.
Quigley, a professor and public interest lawyer presents the case that Americans should codify the right to a living wage into the Constitution.

Big concessions from supermarket employees illustrate the risks of regional strikes against national corporations. Are unions still the force that helps to level the playing field between workers and employers?

Related Links

Statistics

Bureau of Labor Statistics

How many workers nationwide are involved in strikes or other work stoppages? Find out here.

How many workers are unionized?
By age and gender
State-by-state
Sector-by-sector

Regulations

National Labor Relations Board
The federal agency charged with overseeing unionization and policing unfair labor practices.

Fair Labor Standards Act
General information on the act, which sets the minimum wage, overtime pay requirements and child labor rules.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration
The federal agency that sets and enforces workplace safety standards.

Unions

United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)
The union that represents supermarket employees in Southern California.

Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Union that launched the successful Justice for Janitors strike in 1990.

Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union (HERE)
Union that is leading the fight for a living wage in Santa Monica.

American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
Information on the history of organized labor in the U.S.

United Food Workers (UFW) and César Chávez

Company information

Albertsons

Kroger

Safeway

Videos

“Bread and Roses“
The 2000 Lion’s Gate film about the Justice for Janitors campaign.

Books

Milkman, R., ed. Organizing Immigrants: The Challenge for Unions in Contemporary California. 2000, Cornell University Press.
An account of the problems facing organized labor in California, with special attention given to the difficulties in drawing new immigrants into the union movement. An analysis of the successful Justice for Janitors strike is given.

Articles

“SoCal supermarket workers ratify contract.” Los Angeles Business, March 1, 2004.
Supermarket workers and representatives the three chains ratified a three-year contract, ending a 141-day strike that affected more than 850 stores.

“Strike takes down Albertsons, Kroger in Q4.” Los Angeles Business, March 8, 2004.
Two of the chains involved in the strike felt the effect of the labor troubles in their fourth quarter results.

Goll, David. “Grocery strife fallout benefits rival chains.” Los Angeles Business, March 8, 2004.
The strike had a positive effect on chains not involved in the dispute, such as Trader Joe’s, Costco and Gelson’s.

Cleeland, Nancy. “Hotel Workers Seek Clout.” Los Angeles Times, April 16, 2004.
The union representing hotel workers in Los Angeles begins a national campaign that has significant repercussions on local contract talks.

Housing dominates a family’s basic needs. It is the single most costly item in most families’s household budget; the fundamental element of economic and social stability; the hub that allows families to function as a safety net. The home setting expresses achievement in this country. In California, the world’s sixth largest economy, housing difficulties have long been developing that drag down people across much of the economic spectrum. And in Los Angeles County, the nation’s largest metropolitan area, with 9.6 million residents, price and availability issues are even more acute.

Related Links

M/PF Research
Provides real estate market research.

California Association of Realtors
Non-profit real estate agent organization.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
A policy organizations working at the federal and state levels on fiscal policy and public programs that affect low- and moderate-income families and individuals.

Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.
A think tank that provides economic research on the Los Angeles area.

The California Budget Project (CBP)
A non-profit, nonpartisan organization based in Sacramento, funded by foundation grants, subscriptions and individual contributions. Provides information and analysis on a range of state policy issues for the media, policymakers, and state and local constituency groups.

National Low Income Housing Coalition
Los Angeles-based non-profit advocacy organization whose mission is ending America’s affordable housing crisis, focusing the lowest income households.

Related Articles

“Testimony of Jeff Farber, Chief Operating Officer, L.A. Family Housing.” Los Angeles Family Housing. July 1, 2003.
Testimony by an employee of L.A. Family Housing, a non-profit organization that provides low income and emergency housing services, to the House Committee on Financial Services urging the government not to cut funding for affordable housing subsidy vouchers.

“How Critical is California’s Housing Shortage?“ Research Brief: Public Policy Institute of California, March 2004, Issue#82.
A study showing that the housing shortage in California is highly concentrated to certain regions of the state.

Stewart, Jocelyn Y. “Deal in the Works to Save Aid for Low-Income Renters,“ Los Angeles Times. April 3, 2004.
Measures by the L.A. affordable housing officials and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help the thousands of people who unexpectedly lost their housing subsidies.

Nelson, Kathryn P., Treskon, Mark, and Pelletier, Danilo. “Losing Ground in the Best of Times: Low Income Renters in the 1990s.” National Low Income Housing Coalition, March 2004.
A report on how low-income renters had even worse housing problems during a time of economic prosperity.

“Deep, Widespread Cuts in Domestic Programs Over Next Five Years Under Administration Budget.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Feb 27, 2004.
How federal budget cuts are causing housing subsidies for the poor to be suspended.

It’s easy to take social networks for granted. The tacit support of friends and family that provides childcare, a little extra money or a Sunday dinner can make all the difference to many Angelenos. However, across America, such familial and community ties are weakening and can be strained to the breaking point in communities that need them the most — the people trying to make ends meet.

Related Links

World Bank studies: Social Capital
Social capital theory suggests that contained within the complex web of human relationships is a potential to generate material resources as well as opportunities for personal development.

Economic roundtable
A non-profit corporation organized to conduct research and implement programs that contribute to the economic self-sufficiency of individuals.

Center for Immigration Studies
More papers and research on immigrant issues.

Related Articles

Light, Ivan and Karageorgis, Stavros. “The Ethnic Economy,“ in Neil Smelser and Richard Swedberg (eds.) The Handbook of Economic Sociology, Princeton University Press. 1994.
The mechanics of entrepreneurship among ethnic groups.

Victor, Davis Hanson. “The Universe of the Illegal Alien,“ Center for Immigration Studies. June 2003.
Charts the life of an immigrant farm worker - How his perspective changes from being better off than in Mexico in the early years to envy and frustration in the later years once the body starts to give up.

Salgado, Gasper Rivera and Rabadan, Luis Escala. “Collective Identity and Organizational Strategies Among Indigenous and Mestizo Mexican Immigrants.”
Data and information about Mexican social clubs in the United States.

Orozco, Manuel. “Remittances and Markets: New Players and Practices.” May 2000
Regarding money transfer firms that charge exorbitant fees.

Alarcón et. al. “Money Transfer Mechanisms Between Los Angeles and Jalisco, Mexico.” May 1998, UCLA.
The study shows that a lot of immigrants depend upon informal social networks — friends, family and people from their hometowns who are going to Mexico — to send money.

Brown, Eleanor and Ferris, James M. Social. “Social Capital In Los Angeles.” Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey, USC. September 2001.
A statistical measurement of social capital in Los Angeles.

Books

Menjívar, Cecilia. Fragmented Ties: Salvadoran Immigrant Networks in America. University of California Press, July 2000.
The problems of obtaining help from relatives and friends who have few resources to share.

Dohan, Daniel. The Price of Poverty: Money, Work, and Culture in the Mexican American Barrio, University of California Press, December 2003.
Analysis of Latino poverty and the role living conditions plays.