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Seeing Local Policy in Action at Luskin’s Annual City Hall Day Shay Rivera-Bremner, a UCLA Public Affairs undergraduate, reflects on leadership, learning, and local change in Los Angeles.

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On Friday, January 23, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs hosted its twentieth annual Luskin Day at Los Angeles City Hall, in partnership with UCLA Government & Community Relations and Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky. This yearly event gives Luskin students the chance to connect directly with city and county leaders, attend panels on local government reform and immigration policy, and see firsthand how public policy is made. Undergraduate student Shay Rivera-Bremner shares her reflections on her experience attending Luskin’s City Hall Day.

headshot of student shay, undergraduate at UCLA.

Shay Rivera—Bremner

Sitting on the 26th floor of City Hall overlooking Los Angeles was a powerful experience. I was joined by Luskin students, local leaders, and former leaders whose work has left a lasting mark on the city. Listening to the panelists revealed how meaningful local change is envisioned, coordinated, and carried out across both the city and county. Los Angeles is a pioneer in local policy and others look to our city, our efforts, and our people as models for what is possible.

Leaders from across different sectors, with countless years of combined experience, also recognized that we are living in unprecedented times. Like the students at Luskin, they are still learning and applying their knowledge to navigate uncertainty. This created space for students like myself to recognize that our new ideas and lived experiences can contribute to meaningful change at the local level. Seeing that impact reflected in the city below reinforced the role students can play in shaping Los Angeles.

Los Angeles is a unique, vibrant, and vast city that needs students and lifelong learners to bring together the new and the old as a united front to move forward.

In comparing Los Angeles to other counties and cities, panelists highlighted how uniquely the city has developed over time and how it continues to shape local, state, and national politics. Discussion of the recently passed Measure G—including the expansion of the Board of Supervisors and the creation of a county executive—sparked conversation about how these changes may transform county operations and potentially set a precedent for jurisdictions across the nation.

A panel focused on immigrant rights and affairs in Los Angeles particularly captured my attention. While public attention has shifted elsewhere, City Council Member Eunisses Hernandez emphasized that although the cameras have left Los Angeles, federal agents have not. Our communities continue to feel the effects daily through fear and direct harm. Leaders from Los Angeles County and the City’s Office of Immigrant Rights shared how they have strategized, collaborated, and adapted their approaches to address these ongoing challenges across the city and beyond. With new and unexpected problems comes a need for new solutions to uphold rights and protect public safety for all.

Watching students and local leaders question, discuss, and grapple with the issues directly affecting our communities—and explore new ideas alongside lessons from the past—demonstrated how Luskin fosters dialogue and equips students not only to study theory, but to implement real change.

To view more photos from this day, please see photo album.

City Hall Day 2026

Using Data-Driven Solutions to Strengthen Vulnerable Communities Juan J. Nunez, PhD student in Social Welfare, uses research and community engagement to understand inequality

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When Juan J. Nunez began studying sociology, he was driven by a fundamental question: how do social constructs drive inequality? Today, as a fourth-year doctoral student in Social Welfare at UCLA, Nunez is answering that question with rigorous data and a community-first mindset.

Headshot of social welfare phd student Juan Nunez in front of the public affairs building

Juan Nunez

“I began my educational career in sociology because I was always interested in the social structures and systems that shape societies,” Nunez said. “For the first time, I began to truly understand processes and mechanisms that explain complex concepts like inequality.”

That early interest evolved during his master’s studies in sociology at Boston College, where advanced statistics courses introduced him to data analytics and computational methods. The experience clarified his path forward. “I realized I wanted a career that combined social science with data analysis,” he said. “Because I’ve always been focused on the practical impact of my research, pursuing a PhD in Social Welfare felt like the natural next step.”

At Luskin, Nunez studies how child and adult welfare systems respond under stress, particularly during moments of crisis. His work investigates how events like the COVID-19 pandemic and environmental stressors alter reporting patterns and shape the ways institutions respond to adult and child maltreatment.

“By using these large datasets along with cutting-edge methods in the social sciences, my hope is that the research findings guide policies and practices that assist communities in greater need,” he said. “I think the more we know about a social issue, the more we can improve outcomes for people impacted by it.”

In addition to his doctoral research, Nunez plays a key role at the UCLA Pritzker Center, where he helps bridge academic research and community engagement. Through projects examining educational outcomes following disasters like the Eaton Fire and initiatives such as the ENRICH project — which provides financial assistance to young adults aging out of foster care — Nunez works directly with community stakeholders to ensure research reflects lived realities.

“Going out in the community and meeting the stakeholders has been one of the most enlightening experiences of my life,” he said. “Through this research, we are better able to serve our communities because we are informed of contextual mechanisms and processes associated with well-being.”

Central to Nunez’s work is a belief that community-level supports are often undervalued in policy discussions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he observed how grassroots efforts, from pop-up food pantries to mutual aid networks, played a critical role in reducing household stress and protecting families. “We need to stop viewing these efforts as only during emergencies and start seeing them as essential protective factors that require long-term investment,” he said.

“I couldn’t have made a better choice coming to UCLA for my PhD in Social Welfare — it’s been the best experience of my life”

Looking ahead, Nunez hopes his research will continue to inform policy aimed at reducing social inequality for vulnerable groups. “I’ve always had a dream to be in a position to directly impact policy and practice,” he said. “If we are able to solve climate change and social inequality, then the majority of the problems our generation faces will naturally be resolved.”

Reflecting on his time at UCLA, Nunez credits the faculty mentorship that has been instrumental in his growth as a scholar. “One of the most impressive things about Luskin is how amazing all the faculty are,” he said. “Every day I realize how much I learn by being here.”

“I couldn’t have made a better choice coming to UCLA for my PhD in Social Welfare — it’s been the best experience of my life,” Nunez said, reflecting on the mentorship and opportunities that have shaped his growth as a scholar.

Laws to keep guns away from distressed individuals reduce suicides New research co-authored by UCLA Luskin professor Mark S. Kaplan finds ERPO laws save lives.

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In 2023, more than half of all suicide deaths in the United States involved firearms. “Red flag” laws—also called Extreme Risk Protection Orders or ERPOs—are designed to reduce these deaths by authorizing temporary firearm removal from individuals deemed at high risk of harming themselves or others. ERPO laws had been implemented in 21 states and the District of Columbia as of February 2025. 

But the laws’ effectiveness in preventing suicides was still unclear. 

However, a new analysis led by UC Berkeley School of Public Health research professor of health policy and management Timothy T. Brown and co-author Mark S. Kaplan, professor emeritus of social welfare at UCLA Luskin School of Public affairs, shows that the passage of ERPO laws does reduce suicides by gun.

Published in JAMA Health Forum, researchers looked at data from four states that passed ERPO laws and eight that did not, and concluded that the laws reduced firearm suicides by a mean of 3.79 incidences per 100,000 population, with an estimated 675 suicides prevented across these four states between the year the law was passed and following year.  Non-firearm suicide rates did not change. “We found no evidence of individuals switching to other methods of suicide once firearms were restricted,” said Dr. Brown.

Kaplan noted that despite growing evidence of their effectiveness, ERPO laws continue to face political opposition. “Resistance often comes from gun rights organizations and conservative lawmakers, who argue that such measures threaten Second Amendment rights. It’s time to prioritize community safety by adopting these vital protections,” he says.

Co-author Yunyu Xiao, assistant professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine agrees. “Our findings provide rigorous evidence that ERPO laws can prevent firearm suicides without measurable increases in suicides by other means,” she says. “With only 21 states currently having these protections, there is significant opportunity for other states to adopt similar legislation and save lives.”

Additional author include Zhimeng Yan of Weill Cornell Medicine.

One Year After the Fires, What Comes Next? Professor Minjee Kim on Rebuilding Los Angeles for Equity and Resilience

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by Peaches Chung

One year after the Palisades and Eaton fires, the physical damage still remains — empty lots, foundations without homes, quiet neighborhoods waiting to return. For Minjee Kim, assistant professor of urban planning at UCLA, the devastating wildfires presented a rare chance to rethink Los Angeles’ most fire-prone areas, a chance she says, that was largely missed.

“The destruction was so massive,” Kim says. “It presented the city and the county with a chance to think big and to think differently. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”

Headshot of Professor Minjee Kim

Professor Minjee Kim

Kim’s perspective comes from a long career that spans architecture, planning, and real estate development. Trained as an architect in South Korea, she later shifted to urban planning to have a bigger impact, earning her master’s and doctoral degrees at MIT while she worked in the planning department in the city of Cambridge.

For Kim, the problem extended beyond the speed of recovery to the framework guiding it. In the aftermath of the fires, there were widespread discussions about reimagining fire-prone neighborhoods and designing them to better withstand future climate-related disasters. But as rebuilding moved forward, those conversations failed to materialize into actual, on-the-ground changes.

“We’re essentially rebuilding exactly what was there before,” she says. “We’re not realigning streets, creating meaningful fire breaks, or rethinking evacuation routes in a comprehensive way. We’re not moving away from the most vulnerable areas or increasing density in safer locations.”

For Kim, resiliency is not just about fire-resistant materials, it’s about neighborhood-scale design and coordinated planning.

“Fire resiliency is about systems,” she says. “How infrastructure works together. How people move. How communities are protected as a whole.”

Kim served on the UCLA team of experts advising the Los Angeles County Blue Ribbon Commission, which recommended creating two intergovernmental, quasi-governmental entities: one focused on rebuilding and recovery, and another on fire prevention and management. These agencies were envisioned as vehicles for coordinating across jurisdictions, pooling resources, and acting at a regional scale.

“The destruction was so massive. It presented the city and the county with a chance to think big and to think differently. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”

Those recommendations have not been implemented.

“The root of the problem is lack of political will and administrative capacity,” Kim says. “Neither is built to support large-scale reimagination.”

Looking ahead, Kim anticipates construction activity accelerating in years two and three, plateauing by year four, and ultimately resulting in many residents returning.

However, who returns, and how quickly, hinges on who has the coverage and capital to do so.

Kim points out the biggest differential is homeowners’ insurance. In Altadena, many families were underinsured, leaving them without the financial resources to rebuild. In the Palisades, however, demand remains so strong that land parcels are selling for prices comparable to those of homes that once stood on them, giving homeowners far more flexibility in how they recover.

“This is where inequity really shows up,” Kim says. “Two communities experience the same disaster, but their paths to recovery look very different.” Kim is careful to acknowledge the work of public agencies and the state, noting that progress has been made, albeit slowly. Despite her critiques, Kim remains cautiously optimistic. She sees strong demand among residents to return, particularly in Altadena, and believes Los Angeles will recover.

“Los Angeles is a very resilient city,” she says. “It will recover from this horrific disaster.”

The larger question, she argues, is what kind of city emerges.

“One year out, we should be asking not just how fast we’re rebuilding,” Kim says, “but who the system is working for — and who it’s leaving behind.”

As climate-driven disasters become more frequent, Kim believes those questions must move from academic discussion into actual policy change.  For Los Angeles, the fires were not just a tragedy — they were a test.

Whether the city learns from it remains an open question.

Q&A with Diana Liu, Masters in Real Estate Development (MRED) Student With nearly two decades of experience in real estate, Diana Liu brings a global, executive-level perspective to UCLA

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You came to UCLA Luskin with senior leadership experience at companies like Tesla and Walmart. What made this the right moment to step back into the classroom, and why UCLA’s MRED specifically?

I have spent most of my career in corporate real estate, primarily focused on execution — new site selection, store openings, service facilities, and office locations. At Walmart in particular, I was fortunate to gain broad exposure across construction, project management, commercial leasing, and asset management, which gave me a very comprehensive understanding of how large-scale real estate organizations operate.

At this point in my career, I felt ready to step back and think more deeply about the why behind development — not just how to execute projects, but how to plan commercial real estate for the long term in a way that is sustainable and resilient. UCLA Luskin stood out because the MRED program is grounded in public impact. It focuses on preparing future real estate leaders to think beyond short-term returns and consider sustainability, resilience, and community outcomes as central parts of development.

The MRED program emphasizes sustainability and affordable housing. How does this approach differ from how real estate has traditionally been taught or practiced?

Traditionally, real estate education and practice have focused heavily on profitability and transactional returns. While financial performance is still critical, the MRED program challenges us to think about how sustainability can be thoughtfully integrated into long-term financial goals rather than treated as an afterthought.

Headshot of Diana Liu in front of Royce Hall

Diana Liu

Two aspects of the program really stood out to me. First, sustainability as not just a concept but a central tenet of the curriculum. Second, the curriculum prioritizes applied learning. Many of our courses are built around real case studies, and we frequently connect with senior real estate leaders throughout the program. For someone with extensive industry experience, this approach allows me to stay connected to market leaders and continue to grow my professional network. Approximately 70% of our courses are taught by senior industry leaders, not just academic lecturers.

As a member of the inaugural MRED cohort, what has your experience of the program been like so far?

The school has made a significant investment in our cohort and is deeply committed to our success. As members of the inaugural class, we are actively shaping the culture of the program. Our cohort is highly diverse, with peers from backgrounds in development, finance, design, and policy, which makes our discussions really interesting and informative. The experience closely mirrors a professional environment — you are constantly coordinating different perspectives, like a conductor, bringing together construction, design, finance, legal, and policy considerations into a cohesive whole.

You bring a global real estate perspective from China and multinational firms. How has studying real estate in Los Angeles expanded or challenged the way you think about markets and development?

Coming from China, I was accustomed to faster development timelines and more centralized decision-making. Studying real estate in Los Angeles has challenged me to think much more deeply about community engagement, regulatory complexity, and the intersection between the public and private sectors.

This experience has shifted my perspective from simply thinking about getting a project to the finish line to thinking more holistically about long-term community value. It is not just about speed and scale, but about inclusion, collaboration, and sustainability. This type of learning has prepared me to approach development with a more global and holistic mindset.

How do you hope to carry forward your commitment to inclusive leadership as you continue your real estate career after UCLA?

I strongly believe that better outcomes come from listening to diverse perspectives. Real estate remains a male-dominated industry, and women’s voices are still underrepresented in leadership and decision making. We need to be seen and heard.

As I move forward, I hope to mentor younger women who are building their careers in real estate. I also want to continue balancing professional success with social responsibility, ensuring that development decisions reflect inclusive leadership and long-term impact.

Any final thoughts or advice for prospective MRED students?

The MRED program offers an exceptional level of support and real-world engagement. Each student is paired one-on-one with an industry mentor, which provides invaluable guidance and perspective.

One of the most impactful experiences for me has been our capstone project. We were tasked with identifying a real property, visiting the site, engaging brokers, developing a proposal, and pitching it to real investors. That experience truly placed us in a real-world development environment and reinforced how closely the program is connected to industry practice. For anyone considering MRED, this program is deeply practical, highly engaged, and designed to prepare you for the realities of today’s real estate landscape.

New Analysis Reveals Sharp Rise in ICE Detention of Immigrants With No Criminal Convictions Report by UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge and Unseen finds that the Trump administration has dramatically reshaped immigration enforcement

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A new analysis by the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge and Unseen finds that immigration enforcement under the Trump administration has shifted dramatically toward detaining Latino immigrants with no criminal convictions.

Using ICE detention data from February 2024 through September 2025, the report shows that noncriminal Latinos have become a central target of enforcement, despite claims that policy prioritizes serious offenders. Monthly detentions of Latinos without criminal records increased sixfold compared to the final year of the Biden administration, driven largely by aggressive workplace and public-space arrests.

Detention periods also grew significantly longer and more disruptive, with more frequent transfers between facilities. Most notably, deportation has overwhelmingly replaced release: nearly nine in ten noncriminal Latino detainees were deported, while only a small fraction were released back into their communities. The report warns these trends signal a shift toward mass confinement with far-reaching consequences.

Read the full report here, and view all briefs in this series here.

UCLA student wins fourth consecutive national transportation prize Nick Giorgio’s award-winning analysis of traffic-calming treatments highlights how thoughtful street design can improve safety, equity, and livability in Los Angeles

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UCLA graduate student Nick Giorgio MURP ’25 has been named a recipient of the Council of University Transportation Centers’ (CUTC) Neville A. Parker Award, marking the fourth consecutive year a UCLA student has earned the national honor. The award, presented Jan. 10 in Washington, D.C., recognizes outstanding master’s research in transportation, and Giorgio’s win brings UCLA’s total recipients to 15 since 2002.

“This award means a great deal to me, especially considering how strong many of the other capstone projects were,” Giorgio said. “It was a tough competition.”

Giorgio earned the recognition for his capstone project, Intersection Traffic Calming Treatments: A Comparative Analysis, which evaluated residential intersection improvements across Los Angeles in partnership with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. Examining more than 30 intersections, Giorgio analyzed how all-way stop controls, traffic circles, and mini-roundabouts affect vehicle speeds and safety outcomes. His findings emphasize that context and design matter—and that no single solution fits every neighborhood.

“Roads are the largest share of public space in Los Angeles, and how we design them reflects our values,” Giorgio said, underscoring the link between traffic safety, equity, and livability.

Faculty advisor Brian Taylor praised the work’s practical impact, noting, “Nick’s analysis brings much-needed clarity to the question of what types of intersection treatments actually make neighborhoods safer.”

Read the full Institutes for Transportation Studies article on UCLA student Nick Giorgio’s national transportation award.

U.S. Inequality Through the Housing Lens: A Conversation with José Loya How race and policy continue to shape access to homeownership

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by Peaches Chung

Homeownership is often framed as the American dream. For José Loya, it is also one of the clearest windows into how inequality is reproduced in American society. As an assistant professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, Loya examines how race, ethnicity, and structural inequities shape who has access to opportunity — and who doesn’t.

Loya’s interest in housing was sparked as an undergraduate at Brown University during the Great Recession, when countless families faced foreclosure.

“I was trying to understand why people were going into foreclosure and potentially losing everything,” he recalls. Working with a faculty mentor who specialized in homelessness and housing instability, he encountered the question that has guided his research ever since: How do we explain, and ultimately address, racial and economic inequality in the housing market?

Loya describes himself as a social stratification scholar. The patterns he uncovers aren’t new, discrimination in mortgage lending has been proven for decades, but his methods are.

Jose Loya stands smiling in front of the Public Affairs building at UCLA.

Professor José Loya

“I’m using modern statistical tools and richer, more comprehensive datasets than previous generations of researchers had,” he explains. “The findings may not be surprising — that whites and Asians tend to be the most advantaged in the mortgage market — but the nuance is different. I can show how inequality persists today, not necessarily in the same form as 50 or 70 years ago, but still present.”

Much of his recent work examines barriers that prospective homebuyers face in the post–Great Recession era, as well as the ways Latino subgroups experience the mortgage market differently. Traditional research often treats Latinos as a homogenous category, something Loya argues conceals important differences.

“Latinos are an ethnic group, not a racial group. There is tremendous diversity,” he says. “By drilling down into subgroups, we start to see how different racialized experiences among Latinos shape their access to homeownership.”

A Wealth-Building Tool That’s Slipping Out of Reach for Many

Homeownership remains the single largest vehicle for building wealth in the United States. But Loya’s research shows that the tool is becoming increasingly out of reach for the very communities who could benefit from it most.

“In the last decade and a half, home prices have grown much faster than wages or any measure of labor success,” he says. “Middle-class and lower-income families are being squeezed out.”

Add in rising interest rates, limited housing inventory, and skyrocketing demand, and a central question emerges: If homeownership is no longer accessible, how do families achieve upward mobility?

Loya points to a paradox at the heart of U.S. housing policy. “Our banks want you to be a homeowner. The tax system incentivizes it through the mortgage interest deduction, one of the largest subsidies in the U.S. tax code. But the financial risk is growing and making it less achievable for lower and moderate-income households. Today, those subsidies are being largely utilized by higher socioeconomic households.”

According to recent data, the homeownership rate for non-Hispanic white households sits around 73–74%, while Black households own homes at roughly 45–46%, and Hispanic/Latino households at about 50–51%. “Progress has been made,” Loya says. “But the gap is nowhere near closed.”

Why Research Matters Now More Than Ever

For Loya, UCLA Luskin offers the ideal environment to confront these challenges because the school engages students in opportunities for intersectional learning, bringing together perspectives from multiple specialties to tackle social, economic, and environmental challenges.

“Society doesn’t operate in silos,” he says. “If we’re talking about access to homeownership, we’re also talking about labor market insecurity, education access, local zoning, transportation, climate change — all of it.”

“Good research doesn’t always give you an answer. It shows you how much more work is needed to get to an answer.”

At a time when federal research funding faces threats and universities nationwide are navigating political pressures, Loya is direct about why research still matters.

“Universities don’t just study the problems of today,” he says. “We’re trying to anticipate the problems 20 or 30 years from now.”

His own work, he says, is less about providing immediate fixes and more about documenting how historical patterns of inequality still shape outcomes today — and will continue to shape them in the future if left unaddressed.

Preparing Students for Real-World Challenges

When asked what he hopes his students take away from his classes, his answer is clear but hard to explain.

“Problems are complicated,” he says. “Good research doesn’t always give you an answer. It shows you how much more work is needed to get to an answer.”

Rather than rushing toward solutions, Loya encourages students to sit with uncertainty and ask better questions about the systems shaping outcomes. “In my classes, it’s not necessarily about finding the solution,” he adds. “It’s really about understanding the problem.”

For Loya, that’s often where the work begins — with examining the forces that are often hidden in plain sight — and equipping students with the tools to question them.

Oil and Gas Companies Sacrificing Plastic-Burdened Communities

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The UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation has released a new report examining the links between plastics, fossil fuels and inequitable exposure to environmental hazards. Titled “What Defines a Plastic-Burdened Community? — Part II,” the report is authored by Veronica Herrera and Daniel Coffee.

The analysis highlights how communities located near refinery infrastructure face disproportionate exposure to pollution, despite California’s reputation for climate leadership. Emissions from fossil fuel drilling and refining have been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular disease, adverse birth outcomes and increased cancer risk. These impacts fall most heavily on Latino and Black residents, who are more likely to live in neighborhoods closest to refineries.

The report also points to the Plastic Pollution Mitigation Fund established under Senate Bill 54 as a potential tool to reduce health harms and prevent plastic-burdened communities from being treated as sacrifice zones.

A sixth-generation Altadena resident presents a community recovery roadmap after the fires Sam James and the Altadena Recovery Team meet survivors’ needs and push for policy-informed advocacy

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by Peaches Chung

For Samantha “Sam” James, fire recovery and equitable rebuilding isn’t just a policy debate; it’s the reality of the community she and her family have called home for six generations.

The Eaton Fire destroyed homes across her entire extended family, including part of her own childhood home. James, a first-year master’s candidate in public policy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, channeled her grief into action, transforming her family’s loss into a blueprint for community-driven advocacy.

It started with one simple text message to a group chat.

“I said I was going to Costco to buy hygiene supplies and asked if anyone wanted to help distribute them,” she said. That small idea turned into a full-scale supply distribution event on her cousin’s front lawn. This sparked a group effort that laid the foundation for the Altadena Recovery Team, which the founders describe as a collective of four Black women who were born and raised in the Altadena and Pasadena area, and now work to restore the spirit of their community.

Savannah Bradley, Sam James, Makai Ward and Allison Moore group photo against a white wall

Courtesy of Sam James Clockwise, from top left: ART Chief Operations Officer Savannah Bradley, CEO Sam James, Chief Wellness Officer Makai Ward and Chief Impact Officer Allison Moore.

“We were devastated and feeling helpless,” she said. “Being able to have a place to channel that energy that was productive, and help channel that rage, it was truly healing.”

James co-founded ART, which centers the financial, physical and mental well-being of fire survivors through distribution drives, healing spaces and on-the-ground support. As ART’s CEO, she drives grant and fundraising strategies and ensures the organization’s programs are trauma-informed and community led. Policy conversations with partners at the state level — on issues ranging from rebuilding and long-term displacement support to mental health access — are grounded in her own experience as a community member impacted by the Eaton Fire. Her commitment makes one thing clear: When communities drive their own recovery, healing is possible.

After graduating from UCLA in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in political science, James came back in 2025 to UCLA’s MPP program with a clear purpose. After completing the highly competitive California Senate Fellowship, where she worked in state Sen. Josh Becker’s office on criminal justice reform, James went on to serve as a community engagement manager for Rising Communities, a nonprofit that works to eliminate disparities in health and social welfare in South Los Angeles. There, she trained the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on inclusive, trauma-informed community engagement practices and worked on reform initiatives grounded in equity and justice.

“Everything I had learned was on the job,” she said. “I wanted the research background, the theoretical understanding that the MPP offered. Being back on campus has been incredible. I graduated during the pandemic, so returning now and sharing space with my cohort has been deeply meaningful.”

At UCLA, James is also a graduate student researcher with the Black Policy Project in the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies. Her research focuses on whether landlords are following the law and giving formerly incarcerated tenants a fair and lawful screening process. She also serves as the first-year representative for the Public Policy Leadership Association, strengthening student advocacy and community within the program.

She had no idea that a bill she helped draft in Becker’s office would one day directly affect her own family. James helped advance SB 1008, the Keep Families Connected Act, which made phone calls free for incarcerated people and their families. At the time, California’s prison telecom industry was worth $1.4 billion, and more than one in three families were being pushed into debt just to stay connected with incarcerated loved ones.

Years later, now with a family member experiencing incarceration, her own family is benefiting from the policy she helped pass. Seeing that impact up close reinforced her belief in community-centered policy and fueled her decision to pursue her master’s at the Luskin School.

“It was incredible to have that full-circle moment,” she says. “It showed me what’s possible when we push against the systems that keep people down in the incarceration space. It confirmed that criminal justice policy is where I want to be. After Luskin, I want to keep driving that change forward, especially as California continues to lead the way.”

James’ story recently reached a broader audience through TEDxAltadena, where she delivered a message about the unprecedented tragedies that have shaped Gen Z, and the powerful way her generation has transformed that collective rage into action.

“We’ve experienced tragedy after tragedy — 9/11, mass shootings, climate disasters, the pandemic, a mental-health crisis,” she said. “But we’re channeling that frustration into resilience and action.”

Her talk also spotlighted the origins of the Altadena Recovery Team, founded by James, Savannah Bradley, Allison Moore and Makai Ward. Together, they coordinated donations, distributed supplies, started yoga and meditation programs and pushed policy reforms, including support for mortgage relief legislation that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in September. They also raised nearly $400,000 through crowdfunding and grants. James framed ART as both a recovery model and a preview of what future climate disasters will demand: localized leadership, shared power, culturally competent support and policy-informed advocacy that ensures longtime residents aren’t pushed out of the neighborhoods they helped build.

“What we know is that climate disasters are only going to intensify,” she said. “We want ART to become a resource for other communities — offering mentorship, seed funding and a roadmap so they can lead their own recovery.”

James’ advice for anyone feeling overwhelmed by the state of the world mirrors the ethos she lives by today.

“Breathe. Take space for yourself. You can only show up for others if you’re showing up for yourself,” she said. “Then get involved. Being on the ground with my community has been profoundly healing. Being in community rarely makes things worse — it almost always makes things better.”

Rooted in her love and care for her community, she is turning her rage, as she puts it, “straight into power.” And she’s just getting started.