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Manuel Pastor is a trailblazer in making a critical connection for the citistate age — between the interests of minority and disadvantaged communities on one hand, and the economic and social future of entire metropolitan regions on the other. He is presently Professor of Geography and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California and director of the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) at USC’s Center for Sustainable Cities. Earlier, he founded and chaired the Latin American and Latino Studies department at the University of California-Santa Cruz and now co-directed the University’s innovative Center for Justice, Tolerance and Community, Pastor is increasingly sought out as one of America’s most acute observers and dynamic speakers in his fields of expertise.
Pastor’s research includes topics such as community development, environmental justice, and working poverty. In 1997, he headed a team of academics that produced a major report — Growing Together: Linking Regional and Community Development in Los Angeles. The report received wide press coverage (click here for Peirce column), and was subsequently published by the University of Minnesota Press under the title Regions That Work — How Cities and Suburbs Can Grow Together. In 2006 Pastor authored a major new survey of equity initiatives in America’s regions, based on a two-year national survey and analysis sponsored by the Ford Foundation. The publication, Edging Toward Equity — Creating Shared Opportunity in America’s Regions, is available as a PDF for downloading. His most recent book, co-authored with Chris Benner and Laura Leete, is Staircases or Treadmills: Labor Market Intermediaries and Economic Opportunity in a Changing Economy (Russell Sage, 2007). Prior volumes include Searching for the Uncommon Common Ground: New Dimensions on Race in America (W.W. Norton, 2002; co-authored with Angela Glover Blackwell and Stewart Kwoh) and Regions That Work: How Cities and Suburbs Can Grow Together (University of Minnesota Press, 2000; co-authored with Peter Dreier, Eugene Grigsby, and Marta Lopez-Garza). Pastor speaks frequently on issues of demographic change, economic inequality, and community empowerment and has contributed opinion pieces to such outlets as the Los Angeles Times , the San Jose Mercury News , and the Christian Science Monitor. He served as a member of the Commission on Regions appointed by California’s Speaker of the State Assembly, and in January 2002 was awarded a Civic Entrepreneur of the Year award from the California Center for Regional Leadership. Last updated March 16, 2008 |