Understanding the U.S.-Mexican Border

Event Center A & B

Border regions, throughout the world, are areas of connection and conflict. In the U.S.-Mexican borderlands, security is highlighted by the national governments and other interest groups, but this does not tell the full story of the region. This project is set to develop a U.S.-Mexican border indicator dashboard that will be posted on the California State University- San Bernardino webpage. The data includes: population; per capita income; poverty rates; education rates; number of universities and colleges; number of trade schools; employment numbers and sectors; public budgets; taxes collected; voting rates; security expenditures; crossing data for pedestrians, personal vehicles, and cargo; retail sales; wholesale sales; and environmental indicators on air and water. Based on the data collected there are several areas of concern in the region. The lack of higher education, employment, high income jobs begs for new policy directions for the border region. This project will provide an overview of the dashboard along with insights into the complexities in collecting data on the communities along the U.S.-Mexican border.