Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
California commission pairs CHIS data with community forums; plans Redding session Nov. 19 (preliminary)
Loading...
Summary
At a joint meeting of two subcommittees, the California Commission on the State of Hate reviewed CHIS survey findings showing youth exposure to hate, discussed centering survivor voices and community reporting, and preliminarily scheduled a Redding forum for Nov. 19 while flagging resource gaps for community partners.
The California Commission on the State of Hate used a collaborative meeting of its community forums and patterns, trends and prevention subcommittees to push for closer ties between the commission’s research and its public forums and to spotlight data showing high youth exposure to hate.
Chair Brian Levin introduced new CHIS-derived findings and framed them as the basis for policy and outreach. “So 1 in 11, 9 percent of Californians directly experienced hate in the past year,” Levin said, citing survey results tailored to California. He also noted that adolescents are roughly twice as likely as adults to experience hate and that “83 percent of California adolescents who experienced hate in the past year encountered it at school.”
Dr. Alec Goodsell, who summarized the commission’s research portfolio, told commissioners the commission has held 10 community forums since 2022 and has two more planned this year. “So far, we’ve held 10 forums… and we have 2 more planned for this year, so by the end of the year we’ll have 12,” Goodsell said. When asked during public comment about the Redding forum, staff reported that details are preliminary but that the event is currently scheduled for the evening of Nov. 19.
Commissioners used the meeting to align forum content with ongoing research. Commissioner Che and others urged the commission to pair quantitative findings with anonymized qualitative interviews so communities’ experiences inform recommendations. Commissioners also pressed for survivor-centered planning, noting that asking victims to testify publicly can be retraumatizing and that anonymized narratives or engagement through trusted local partner organizations may be more effective.
Several commissioners raised concerns about funding and capacity for community partners that help run forums and provide services. Commissioner Salcedo said some initiatives lack sustained resources and recommended stronger legislative or executive branch support to ensure long-term impact; staff noted resource constraints when proposing additional events.
Staff and commissioners flagged several topics for future forums, including online hate prevention, law-enforcement responses to hate, restorative-justice approaches and presenting the commission’s research findings back to communities. Commissioners asked staff to arrange an initial presentation of the CHIS qualitative interviews; staff indicated they would consult contracted partners about timing.
Levin also cautioned against conflating peaceful protest with extremist violence and urged careful use of timeframes and event classification when presenting research to the public. The meeting concluded with Levin thanking commissioners and staff; the session adjourned at 10:41 a.m. on Oct. 22.
What’s next: staff will release more details about the Redding forum and follow up on commissioners’ requests to better integrate research findings and survivor narratives into upcoming community forums.
