Abundance Accelerator

Together with a growing network of partners, the Possibility Lab’s Abundance Accelerator initiative is leveraging applied research and community-building to promote government policies that expand California’s capacity to sustainably supply essential resources, goods, and services to its people.

CalMatters Op-Ed

Achieving the ‘abundance agenda’ in California will require more than just efficiency”

Read the Op-Ed by our Executive Director and Director of Projects and Planning

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Abundance Accelerator Summit [REPLAY]​

Beyond Scarcity: The Summit to Advance an Abundant California​

WATCH

Our Research

Approaches to Balancing Meaningful Community Engagement with Increased Housing Production in California
This paper explores the tradeoffs between community voice and the pressing need for increased housing production and considers the question of when and how members of the public should have a say in decisions related to housing production in their communities.
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Community Engagement for the Siting & Permitting of Renewable Energy Infrastructure in California
This paper examines the tension between the urgent need for clean energy and the presence of public input and processes in the development process.




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How Can Supply-Side Reforms Help Build a Stronger, Sustainable, and Equitable Economy?
The Expanding the Supply of Essentials in California report establishes the foundational framework for how the multi-year Abundance Accelerator initiative will seek to answer that question by grounding our work in the broad goals of expanding the supply of, and downstream access to, 12 human essentials.




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California Voters Voice Concerns Over Access to Basic Resources​

Download our findings from a poll administered in partnership with the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) that sheds light on Californians’ struggles to access essential resources. Conducted in January 2024, the survey of 8,199 California voters examined access to 12 fundamental necessities, including housing, food, water, and employment. Over half of those surveyed express difficulty accessing at least some essential goods and services, while nearly three-quarters agree or strongly agree that it is difficult to access housing they can afford in their area.

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Our Consortium

We invited researchers and experts from across California to develop an evidence-based, fundamentals-first policy agenda for California focusing on expanding access to 12 human essentials. Members of the Abundance Policy Research Consortium will produce a research paper in their respective essential area with the opportunity to present their findings at Abundance Accelerator events and to collaborate with others working to build abundance in California. The Consortium will operate within our team’s Abundance framework, which advocates for a shift towards supply-side thinking and policy making to address societal challenges. Each research report will analyze the existing policy domain’s context, identify root causes of scarcity, propose policy levers to improve supply, and discuss potential challenges for implementation.

Consortium Members

Download Consortium Bios

Developing an Abundance Agenda for California

There are a vast array of potential policy interventions, at many different levels and sites of government, that align with an abundance framework. Our approach to moving from conceptual framework to policy agenda is to start with fundamental human needs. We believe every Californian should be able to readily access 12 human essentials.

12 Human Essentials

Abundance Accelerator

Measuring Success

The success of the Abundance Accelerator will be measured in terms of outcomes for the people of California. By operationalizing a supply-side agenda through:

Rigorous Research

Our team of researchers includes subject matter experts across the 12 human essential policy areas in California. Moreover, our team has strong backgrounds in community-engaged research and data-driven policy analysis, allowing us to implement practical and impactful research exploring how to increase the supply of essential resources.

Innovative Pilot Projects

Our team is supporting and evaluating pilot projects testing novel approaches to soliciting and incorporating community input into planning decisions. We are leveraging pilots and research to produce policy recommendations for state and local government on better understanding the tradeoffs between community input and infrastructure buildout.

Collaborative Partnerships

Our team is building partnerships with subject matter experts, policymakers, government agencies, practitioners, and other stakeholders in order to advance an abundance agenda. Through data projects, ongoing collaborative efforts, and common values, these partnerships will help us build abundance in California.