Progress Indicators
Informing Californians on progress being made to improve quality of life and the functioning of state government.
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Quality of Life indicators reflect how well California is addressing public concerns. Are our communities becoming safer places to live, work and raise a family? Do Californians have access to high quality education and training? Are Californians moving out of poverty and into prosperity? Is it becoming harder or easier for Californians to access affordable healthcare and pursue a healthy lifestyle?
In identifying Quality of Life indicators, California Forward is initially tapping readily available and commonly used data that reflect the best available information on quality of life. We are building upon the considerable work done by others.
Over time, California Forward will explore opportunities to develop additional indicators to better support decision-making. For example, one common indicator of prosperity is California's poverty rate. But in addition to tracking the percentage of California families that are poor, it is important to track the number of families who are able to move out of poverty within a specific time frame, such as five years. A measure that tracks the rate at which poor families attain sufficiency - along with the overall number of poor families - might better inform decisions on how to help more families achieve sufficiency.
Coming Soon:
- Economy and Economic Opportunity
- Public Safety
- Environment
- Housing and Infrastructure
- Education
- Health and Health Care
Quality of Governance indicators reflect whether government is responsive to the needs of residents, is making best use of limited public funding, is professionally managed and engaging the public in decision-making. These indicators will help the public, policymakers and others assess the quality of governance, which supports efforts to deliver high quality public services.
Governance indicators have been used to guide corporate governance, international aid decisions and assessments of emerging democracies in developing nations. But there are fewer applications of governance indicators in modern democracies such as California. Thus governance indicators will be developed over time, through consultation with advisors - and we hope - with contributions from the public and civic leaders on the information they need to understand the quality of governance in California.
Coming Soon:
- Smart Revenue and Budget Systems
- High Quality Public Services
- Publicly Responsive Elected Officials
- An Informed and Engaged Public
California’s Demographics
To understand the progress that California has made, and the challenges facing the state, it is important to recognize how growth and change in the population impacts the need for public services. For example, California's population is aging and a growing number of older Californians is expected to create more demand for health care and related services. To make it easier to understand how California’s population is changing, we have prepared a brief document on California’s demographics.
Public Expenditures
Policymakers must contend with limited public resources and far greater demand for public spending than can be met through available dollars. But just how much money does the state spend each year? How is that money allocated among many competing programs? And where does the money come from? To help answer these questions, we have prepared a brief document that outlines total state spending, the allocation of funding among various programs and the primary sources of that funding.
