City Rising | KCET
City Rising is a multi-platform documentary series in partnership with The California Endowment that has examined gentrification — its historical roots, economic role and social consequences. In this season, City Rising investigates informal economies — how workers who labor off the books, sometimes hiding in plain sight, are organizing to find pathways for legalization and protection.
City Rising illuminates the journey of California's neighborhoods advocating for responsible development. The documentary series highlights individuals facing discrimination but fighting to change policy and improve upward mobility for their communities. The effects of these movements are far-reaching, and their voices will ultimately impact the social health of communities across the country and beyond.
Funded by
Full Episodes
-
City Rising
City Rising
City Rising: The Informal Economy
California is the world's fifth largest economy — yet, hiding in plain sight are workers who labor off the books, unprotected and unregulated. Follow four California workers organizing to find pathways for legalization and protection.
-
City Rising
City Rising
City Rising: Gentrification and Displacement
City Rising shows how gentrification is deeply rooted in a history of discriminatory laws and practices in the United States.
Clips & Segments
-
City Rising
As an independent contractor, Daniel “Seko” Uaina drives merchandise for some of the largest corporations in the world yet he struggles to make ends meet.
-
City Rising
For decades, many immigrants — primarily women — have been criminalized for supporting their families with street vending income.
-
City Rising
In Eastern Coachella Valley, Santos and Juana Barajas discuss immigration policy that funneled them into low-wage jobs and the challenges they have faced as entrepreneurs.
-
City Rising
In Oakland, where residents are still recovering from the crack epidemic and disinvestment that hit the city in the 1980s, formerly incarcerated residents struggle to establish sustainable careers to sustain their families.
- 1 of 4
- next ›
Upcoming Airdates
Articles
-
City Rising
City Rising
Voices of Resilience: Stories from Women Navigating Informal Labor
Many women immigrants are often forced into informal jobs that take advantage of their precarious situation, yet their contributions often go unrecognized and their labor is exploited and undervalued.
-
City Rising
City Rising
When Nail Salon Workers Organize, Customers Also Benefit
An organization based out of a community health clinic in Oakland has pioneered the way for safer conditions for nail salon workers.
-
City Rising
City Rising
Social Agency: Art, Gentrification and Reclaiming in Northeast L.A. Neighborhoods
"Taking Back the Boulevard,” a new book by Jan Lin, not only documents the current situation in Eagle Rock and Highland Park but it tells a bigger story of the artists and activists that have called Eagle Rock and Highland Park home for over a century.
-
Informal Economy
City Rising
Making it Official: How L.A. Street Vending Became Legal
After being criminalized for decades, street vending in Los Angeles has finally gained legitimacy thanks to an active community of fearless street vendors and their allies.
-
Informal Economy
City Rising
Docking Paychecks: The High Cost of Working as a Port Truck Driver
Since April 2014, port truck drivers have held 16 strikes at the L.A./Long Beach ports, often demanding to be reclassified as regular employees.
-
economic development
City Rising
The Scale of Informal Labor and Its Impact on the Economy
Measuring the nature and impact of the informal economy is difficult due to the lack of a common understanding of its meaning.
- 1 of 8
- next ›
Suggested Shows
-
Nicknamed “Architect to the Stars,” African American architect Paul R. Williams was one of the most successful architects of his time. But at the height of his career he wasn’t always welcome in the buildings he designed because of his race.
Has Episodes -
Join Huell Howser as he travels the state to share California's rich history, cultural diversity, natural wonders, and amazing denizens.
KCET Original Has Episodes -
"Tending Nature" shines a light on the environmental knowledge of indigenous peoples across California by exploring how the state's Native peoples have actively shaped and tended the land for millennia.
KCET Original Has Episodes -
KCET's weekly news documentary series investigates and reports on the issues that affect Southern California, from the economy to the environment.
KCET Original Has Episodes
Popular Videos
-
Three residents in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas find their lives upended by plans to build a US-Mexico border wall.
KCET Original -
In the 1950s, Giant Rock became a UFO airport, according to George Van Tassel, who claimed to be contacted by aliens there.
KCET Original -
In this episode of "Artbound Presents Studio A," Soul songstress Roberta Flack performs "Angelitos Negros" during an intimate session at KCET in the 1970s.
KCET Original -
Rosey visits Anacapa Island and the Ventura Harbor, rides her bike to Ojai, and checks out Thacher Observatory.
KCET Original -
A Humboldt town is polarized over allegations of racism and police incompetence surrounding the death of college student Josiah Lawson.
KCET Original
Expiring Soon
-
Listen to the magic of mariachi music and follow its origins from Jalisco, Mexico to its present-day sounds on the streets of L.A.
-
Three residents in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas find their lives upended by plans to build a US-Mexico border wall.
-
Also visit the pride of Sonora: "The Red Church," a picturesque landmark in the center of town.
-
As she uncovers a past crime, Phryne reveals the lengths some men will go to for the sake of a game.