About Prop. 209
California voters passed Proposition 209 in 1996, enacting a ban on the use of race-conscious equal opportunity programs in public education, employment. The initiative, which was rejected by a majority of the state’s African American, Latino and Asian American voters, went into effect without significant empirical research on the potential social and economic effects on California.
In 1996 and today, much of the public dialogue over Proposition 209 has been driven by rhetoric divorced from social science research. Additionally, the state of California has not assessed the effects of this dramatic policy change, especially in light of the dramatic demographic shifts that have taken place since Proposition’s passage.
Social and racial justice advocates have been concerned about learning the true impact that Proposition 209 had on the state of California and decided to begin articulating a vision for statewide policy solutions that bring about fair and equal access to opportunity.