This project examines commonalities and differences among disadvantaged neighborhoods in mobility and access to opportunities. Our approach is based on the concept of spatial-transportation mismatch (STM), which asserts that spatial distance and poor transportation resources and accessibility to employment, quality elementary schools, and health care. The study compares two regions in California, one highly urbanized (Los Angeles County) and one more agriculture-based (San Joaquin County). This allows us to compare disadvantaged neighborhoods with nondisadvantaged neighborhoods within each region, and to compare disadvantaged neighborhoods in one county versus another. The project uses policy-based definitions of disadvantaged neighborhoods and bivariate tabulations. The project's empirical findings are partially consistent with the existing literature: residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods suffer from some STM in multiple arenas, especially those in rural areas. The analysis also finds considerable heterogeneity in the magnitude of inaccessibility in the two regions. Residents in disadvantaged San Joaquin tend to fare worse. The diversity of outcomes at the neighborhood level points to the need to be flexible so programs and investments can address the diversity in transportation challenges and investment opportunities of disadvantaged communities.

This project examines commonalities and differences among disadvantaged neighborhoods in mobility and access to opportunities. Our approach is based on the concept of spatial-transportation mismatch (STM), which asserts that spatial distance and poor transportation are potential barriers to opportunities beyond one’s immediate location. The project analyzes variations in transportation resources and accessibility to employment, quality elementary schools, and health care. The study compares two regions in California, one highly urbanized (Los Angeles County) and one more agriculture based (San Joaquin County). This allows us to compare disadvantaged neighborhoods with non-disadvantaged neighborhoods within each region, and to compare disadvantaged neighborhoods in one county versus another. The project uses policy-based definitions of disadvantaged neighborhoods and bivariate tabulations. The project’s empirical findings are partially consistent with the existing literature: residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods suffer from some STM in multiple arenas, especially those in rural areas. The analysis also finds considerable heterogeneity in the magnitude of inaccessibility in the two regions. Residents in disadvantaged San Joaquin tend to fare worse. The diversity of outcomes at the neighborhood level points to the need to be flexible so programs and investments can address the diversity in transportation challenges and investment opportunities of disadvantaged communities.

This brief quantifies COVID-19 death and vaccination disparities between Latinos and whites in NYC and provides a spatial-racial analysis of disparities.

This study reports on the recent past, present, and immediate future public transit finance in Southern California in light of the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. To do this, we draw on transit agency budgets, interviews, preliminary survey results, and other datasets and reports. Initially, the financial situation of transit operators in the region appeared dire, with plummeting ridership and fares and rising subsidies and operating costs. However, the three enormous federal pandemic relief bills brought $4.4 billion to Southern California transit agencies and helped the region weather the fiscal storm, until many of the state and local tax revenue sources on which the region’s transit agencies rely bounced back—and more quickly than most forecasters initially predicted. This is, in other words, the story of successful public policy intervention to the benefit of both the region’s transit riders and workers, though most operators nonetheless cut service and their workforces to varying degrees during the pandemic. The principal dilemma facing the region’s transit operators in 2022 is not a depressed economy, but an overheated one plagued by labor shortages, supply-chain bottlenecks, and inflation—as agencies plan for the end of large-scale federal operating support and an uncertain ridership future.