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Wesley Yin Appointed Chief Economist of White House Budget Office

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UCLA Luskin’s Wesley Yin has been appointed chief economist at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Yin heads OMB’s Office of Economic Policy, where he will help formulate President Biden’s budget and work on a wide range of issues, including national tax policy, health care and social insurance, climate policy, labor and student loans. OMB assists the president in meeting administration policy, budget and management objectives across the federal government. “There’s the saying, ‘Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget — and I’ll tell you what you value.’ This saying resonates with me, and now more than ever at OMB,” said Yin, whose research focuses on economic inequality, health care and household finance. During his government service, Yin will be on leave from UCLA during the 2023-24 academic year. He previously served on the White House Council of Economic Advisors and as the U.S. Treasury Department’s deputy assistant secretary of economic policy during the Obama administration.

 

Abrams Co-Edits Book on Social Work’s Reckoning With a Racist History

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A new book co-edited by Laura Abrams, chair of Social Welfare at UCLA Luskin, considers the complex history of social work in the United States, including ways the profession has perpetuated white supremacy even as it works toward an anti-racist future. “Social Work, White Supremacy, and Racial Justice: Reckoning With Our History, Interrogating Our Present, Reimagining Our Future” is a collection of 40 chapters reflecting diverse voices, theories and methods. Published by Oxford University Press, the book challenges readers to acknowledge the field’s history of exclusion, moral superiority and oppression, then work to upend the status quo. “For social work to have a serious and substantive role in contributing to an anti-racist future, we must first commit to ending the practices that maintain our racist present,” including complicity with systems of policing, incarceration and child services that disproportionately punish Black, Indigenous and Latinx families, the editors write. They add, “It is challenging to imagine a future without racism, and yet still, many of the authors of these chapters are thinking outside the box and are working to build such a future. Collectively, this volume provides a foundation for what can become our next steps — to consider ideas, voices and platforms for concrete action that exist outside of mainstream discourse.” The book grew out of a four-part virtual conference on racial justice during the 2020-21 academic year that was organized by the four co-editors: Abrams, Sandra Edmonds Crewe of Howard University, Alan Dettlaff of the University of Houston and James Herbert Williams of Arizona State University.

two men and two women with book

Book co-editors, from left, James Herbert Williams, Sandra Edmonds Crewe, Alan Dettlaff and Laura Abrams.

 

Khush Cooper Named to L.A. County Commission for Children and Families

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Khush Cooper, adjunct assistant professor of social welfare at UCLA Luskin, has been appointed to the Los Angeles County Commission for Children and Families. The 15-member commission advises the county Board of Supervisors on how to improve the delivery of services to create a safer and more secure future for the region’s most vulnerable families. During her two-year term, Cooper will meet regularly with fellow commissioners to review all county-administered programs providing services to at-risk children, and to seek input from individuals and community groups. In addition to providing guidance on program improvements, they will review legislation dealing with child welfare and make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors. The commission also produces an annual report on the status of children’s services in Los Angeles County, to be distributed and discussed throughout the community. “In addition to supporting the existing strategic focus areas of the commission, such as racial justice and support for transition-aged youth, I intend to lift up community-based strategies for parents of LGBTQ+ youth so that they can fully accept and adequately care for their children and prevent them from becoming embroiled in systems,” Cooper said. “Currently, LGBTQ+ youth are overrepresented in child welfare and probation systems across the county, state and nation.” Supervisor Lindsey Horvath nominated Cooper to the commission, which is made up of individuals who have deep experience in child welfare. Cooper earned her master and doctorate of social welfare at UCLA Luskin.

Cooper has also been named to a state task force tasked with reforming California’s child welfare policies.

 

4 UCLA Alumni Inducted Into California Social Work Hall of Distinction

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Four members of the UCLA community were among five individuals inducted this fall into the California Social Work Hall of Distinction, which recognizes pioneers and innovators in the field of social welfare. Adjunct Professor Jorja Leap MSW ’80;  Joseph A. Nunn MSW ’70 PhD ’90, director emeritus of the UCLA Field Education Program; Siyon Rhee MSW ’81 PhD ’88; and Jacquelyn McCroskey DSW ’80 were honored at an Oct. 21 ceremony hosted by the California Social Welfare Archives (CSWA), which launched the Hall of Distinction in 2002. Leap, a triple Bruin who earned a BA in sociology and a PhD in psychological anthropology, was recognized for her advocacy work with gangs and community justice reform. The CSWA cited her “nontraditional teaching approach” that brings students out of the classroom and into the city environment. Nunn was recognized for pioneering a standardized practicum education in the field of social work and for his dedication to promoting diversity and inclusion at the university, state and national levels. In addition to serving in multiple leadership roles in social welfare education, Nunn is the namesake of UCLA’s Joseph A. Nunn Social Welfare Alumni of the Year Award. Professor Rhee is director of the School of Social Work at Cal State Los Angeles, where her research focuses on health, mental health, intimate partner violence and culturally sensitive social work practices with children of Asian immigrant families. Her advocacy has brought hundreds of diverse social workers into the child welfare workforce, and she has received numerous honors for excellence in teaching and outstanding achievements. McCroskey, professor emerita of child welfare at USC and co-director of the Children’s Data Network in Los Angeles, was recognized for her efforts to enhance child and family well-being through improving county and state government systems. This year’s fifth inductee is labor organizer Arturo Rodriguez.

 

Journal’s Special Issue Is Devoted to the Berggruen Governance Index

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Global Policy, an interdisciplinary journal pursuing public and private solutions to global problems and issues, today released a special issue focusing on the Berggruen Governance Index, a collaborative project between UCLA Luskin and the Berggruen Institute. The index is a tool for analyzing the Governance Triangle — democratic accountability, state capacity and public goods provision — to better understand how governments can create a more resilient future for their people. Based on an analysis of 134 countries over a 20-year period, the index aims to demystify the intricacies of governance and shed light on how countries meet the needs of their populations over time. Helmut Anheier, adjunct professor of public policy and social welfare at UCLA Luskin and professor of sociology at the Hertie School in Berlin, is principal investigator of the Berggruen Governance Index. The special issue of Global Policy is organized into three parts. Part I offers an overview of the index and its implications, followed by regional and country-specific insights. Part II delves into detailed country and regional reports, examining key global powers and significant regions. Part III concludes the issue by summarizing a conference on governance indicator systems, surveying contributions from other projects, and presenting thoughts on the future of global governance indicators in an ever-changing and uncertain world. Articles in the special issue are open access and of interest to policy analysts, social scientists, and experts in government and international organizations.

 

Researchers Equip Policymakers to Protect Students From Extreme Heat

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Extreme heat is a growing problem for California’s schools. Classroom and schoolyard temperatures can reach unhealthy levels and prevent students from learning, playing and thriving on hot days — especially in certain school districts, as illustrated in a heat mapping tool created by the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) and the Public Health Alliance of Southern California. To present a simple starting point for policymakers and the public to understand the problem and potential solutions, researchers at LCI put together a resource kit that includes accessible fact sheets and infographics. In addition, the kit highlights five recommended actions for the state:

  1. Collect data to track how schools experience extreme heat and the status of cooling interventions to understand needs.
  2. Establish a statewide indoor temperature limit for schools based on children’s risk and effects on learning.
  3. Mitigate heat exposure in schoolyards through evidence-based engineered and nature-based solutions.
  4. Manage heat exposure in schools through informed behavioral interventions.
  5. Identify funding gaps and inconsistencies that should be addressed for effective, targeted heat mitigation.

Read LCI’s policy brief about how extreme heat affects students, and find related research on the center’s Heat Equity page.

 

$7.5 Million Federal Grant to Establish Mobility Center of Excellence at UCLA

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The Federal Highway Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation, has awarded a five-year, $7.5 million grant to establish the Center of Excellence on New Mobility and Automated Vehicles. The award will support research on the impacts of new mobility technologies on the evolving transportation system when deployed at scale. “Digital connectivity, automation and electrification have dramatically changed the way we transport, both in terms of how people travel and how goods are delivered,” said Jiaqi Ma, who will direct the new center. “We will study the impacts of these new technologies and how they can be better leveraged to improve equitable access to transportation and job participation.” Ma is faculty associate director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, where he leads the New Mobility program area. He is also an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, where the new center will be based. Scheduled to launch in November, the Mobility Center of Excellence, as it will be informally known, will assess the anticipated long-term impact of new mobility technologies and services on land use, real estate and urban design; transportation system optimization including resilience, security and reliability; equitable access to mobility and job participation; and the cost-effective allocation of public resources. The center will include researchers from UCLA Samueli, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, along with other universities and government and nonprofit groups.

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UCLA’s New Latino Data Hub: A Catalyst for Change

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The Latino population in the United States has long been viewed as monolithic, with little acknowledgement of its rich tapestry of identities and experiences, and this mischaracterization has persisted despite tremendous growth in both the numbers and diversity of Latino communities in recent years. Because these communities — from Mexican and Puerto Rican to Venezuelan and Panamanian — are impacted by social, political and economic factors in different ways, the “one-dimensional” stereotype has obscured the significant barriers many groups face in accessing opportunities and achieving political representation and social mobility. Now, there is a new resource to help foster a better understanding of these diverse populations: the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute’s Latino Data Hub, a digital platform offering a broad range of reliable and actionable data on Latino communities across the country. Available in both English and Spanish, the free digital tool offers customizable visualizations in key areas such as family wellness, access to health insurance, access to education, employment and income. The data is available at the national, state and county level and provides granular information in areas such as nativity and citizenship, sex, gender, age, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education level and employment. The Latino Data Hub, developed with funding from Casey Family Programs and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, will “empower advocates, policymakers, community leaders, philanthropic organizations, researchers, media and other change makers to develop data-driven solutions to create stronger communities,” said Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas, research director of UCLA LPPI. — Alberto Lammers 

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Essays Capture Legacy of L.A. Historian Mike Davis

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The journal Human Geography published a collection of essays curated by UCLA Luskin Urban Planning to honor author, activist and Los Angeles historian Mike Davis. Ananya Roy, the professor of urban planning, social welfare and geography who directs the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy, wrote an introduction to the collection, which arose from a convening of L.A. scholars at the Luskin School a few months after Davis’ death in October 2022. As Roy writes, “the gathering continued late into the evening as scholars of different generations, from distinguished professors to undergraduate students, celebrated all that we have each, and collectively, learned from Mike Davis.” The essay collection emphasizes that while Davis “saw and found struggle in the many terrains of catastrophe that he analyzed so prophetically,” he was neither a pessimist nor a defeatist. Roy’s essay “A political autopsy of Liberal Los Angeles” also appears in the collection, along with “Planetarity and environmentalisms: the invention of new environmental histories from the Ecology of Fear to Victorian Holocausts” by urban planning professor Susanna Hecht; “The poet of L.A.’s urban” by urban planning professor Michael Storper; “Old school socialist” by UCLA history professor Robin D.G. Kelley; “To Los Angeles: United in Grief, United in Struggle” by post-doctoral scholar Deshonay Dozier; and “Lessons in accumulated rage and rebellious scholarship” by USC professor Juan De Lara.