Nov. 23, 2020 – The Jesuit Social Research Institute (JSRI) on Nov. 18 hosted a press conference on Zoom to release the 2019 JustSouth Index, a social justice report focusing on the states along the Gulf of Mexico – Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. All five states scored poorly on key social justice measures relative to all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Alabama occupied the bottom four spots in the rankings. Florida was ranked 37.
JSRI releases the JustSouth Index annually in order to provide policymakers, businesses, nonprofits and residents with a barometer of how the five Gulf states are faring on issues of social justice and human rights such as poverty, racial disparity and immigrant exclusion. The report is compiled using nine quantitative measures.
JSRI Executive Director Fr. Fred Kammer, SJ, JD, and JSRI Economic Policy Specialist Dennis Kalob, Ph.D. presented during the press conference. Two community members impacted by the Index’s most salient issues also spoke. The 2019 index is available now.
Founded in 2007, JSRI is a collaboration between the Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province and Loyola University New Orleans. Anchored by the Jesuit ideal of “the faith that does justice,” JSRI conducts, gathers and publishes research on social and economic conditions of marginalized communities in five states along the Gulf of Mexico.