Center for Social Innovation
Major Initiatives
Current Initiatives
IE Squared is a collaboration of regional partners seeking to support and advocate for strengthening the innovation ecosystem in the Inland Empire. IE Squared is a resource for innovation in the region and includes: A directory of regional incubators and accelerators, Research on the current state of innovation in the Inland Empire, Convening coordinated narrative work and events; and Maintaining, fostering, and growing relationships within and outside the Inland Empire.
AAPI Data publishes demographic data and policy research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are the fastest-growing racial groups in the United States. Accompanying this rise is a growing interest in these populations from journalists and public officials. There is also a growing number of data sources, reports by government agencies, and academic studies on AAPI needs and concerns.
We seek to make policy research and demographic data on AAPIs more accessible. We strive to keep our information current and useful, with data and research that are as rigorous and accurate as possible. We also regularly help journalists, community organizations, and decision-makers make better sense of data and research.
This compendium was created in preparation for the Civic Engagement and Population Health Initiative, a joint project of the University of California, Riverside and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
It is by now widely recognized that population health is shaped, not only by clinical care, but also by community conditions such as affordable housing, quality education, or living wage jobs, and even more broadly by structural factors like poverty and discrimination, and policy-related factors like immigrant integration and exclusion. This shift in our understanding has been based on a deep body of empirical research, quantitative and qualitative, built on theoretical and conceptual frameworks developed over the last several decades.
Census Legacies is an emerging network—of funders, nonprofits, businesses, government agencies, and researchers from around the country—seeking to re-purpose Census outreach tables and ensuring that historically undercounted communities have an equal voice in shaping the future of our regions.
More generally, Census has provided an opportunity to build truly inclusive tables, that include a broad spectrum of historically undercounted (or Hard To Count) communities, including communities of color, immigrants, seniors, people with disabilities, LGBT communities, and more.
IE RISE is a two-county wide collaborative that works towards amplifying community voices around a unified vision and activating shared values to reform systems to make them truly equitable. IE RISE is led by a broad and diverse group of leaders in the Inland Empire region of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, united in the commitment to an inclusive, sustainable, and equitable future for the region.
The leadership group draws heavily from the cross-regional and cross-sector collaboration of Census 2020 outreach, IE COVID Response, as well as other collective efforts in the region.
Inland California Rising draws on leaders from the philanthropic, business, non-profit, and public sectors who are united in their desire to turbo-charge progress for Inland California, in ways that also benefit the state overall. Initial backers of this effort include the mayors from the major Inland California cities, local philanthropy from each community, higher education leaders, and a rapidly growing coalition of civic and community leaders.
We are grateful to the James Irvine Foundation for their early support of this initiative. The Center for Social Innovation at UC Riverside is providing initial data and staff support for Inland California Rising.
IE Together is a leadership network of community members from the Inland Empire dedicated to meeting regularly to share updates, resources, and information on issues that affect our community. In response to the COVID-19 virus outbreak, the Inland Empire Community Foundation (IECF) and the Center for Social Innovation (CSI-UCR) saw the importance of maintaining strong communication with our community partners in order to share updates on the emerging virus, resources to support our community members, and to inform others about topics, programs, initiatives, and people who positively impact the communities we serve.
Since its inception, the IE COVID Response weekly webinars have blossomed into a network of leaders who have the same vision and mission of uplifting the community. IE Together is committed to continuing to host a regular set of community updates via a Zoom webinar.
Legacy Initiatives
The Inland Empire Complete Count Committee (IE-CCC) was a leadership body that drew on representatives from the nonprofit, government, education, business, and philanthropic sectors to develop a Census awareness campaign specific to San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.
Each individual organization had a unique mission and expertise, and through working together and sharing resources, this collective could best ensure our community at large and on the regional level was counted fully and accurately in the 2020 Census.
UCR Counts was the University's official Complete Count Committee. An initiative of the U.S. Census Bureau, the Complete Count Committees program was key to creating census awareness in communities nationwide through targeted outreach efforts.
UCR Counts brought together representatives from the Center for Social Innovation, which was housed within the School of Public Policy; Student Life; Governmental & Community Relations; the Associated Students of UC Riverside, or ASUCR; and Undocumented Student Programs.
The idea for Racial Data sprang out of AAPI Data, which started as a portal for data and research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and soon grew to become an indispensable national resource for journalists, policymakers, and community organizations alike.
We hope to recreate that magic for all communities of color, thanks to an incredible team of publicly engaged researchers. In addition to the individuals below, we thank UC Riverside's Ethnic and Gender Programs for their contributions to this project, including: African Student Programs, Asian Pacific Student Programs, Chicano Student Programs, Middle Eastern Student Center, Native American Student Programs, Undocumented Student Programs, and the Women's Resource Center.
Southern California has a wealth of research and policy expertise, on matters ranging from housing and transportation, to immigration, economic development, technological change, and civic engagement. However, many discussions on these topics occur in specialized fragments, and silos, with few opportunities to engage and inform the larger public.
SoCal Policy Forum (SPF) is a platform that regularly convenes policy experts in Southern California on timely issues that can better engage and inform the larger public.
The IE COVID-19 Response is a shared and coordinated platform for updates on resources, needs, and opportunities connected to the COVID-19 response, including immediate and longer-term impacts connected to community health, economic vitality, belonging, and equity.
With so many changes occurring every week, it is more vital than ever for leaders in the Inland Empire to share timely information about critical needs and opportunities.