2014 MPP Alumni Fellowship Recipient Begoña Guereca, MPP '15

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Begoña Guereca is a double Bruin with a B.A. in Political Science and a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from UCLA. During her MPP program she focused on issues of disparities in child welfare and the social determinants of health, poverty and inequality.

During her fellowship she worked on child sex trafficking issues for the Los Angeles Commission on Human Relations strategizing the policy and programmatic changes LAC needed to effectively reintegrate 3,000 LAC commercially sex exploited children (CSEC).

Before switching to tech, she worked as a Research and Policy Analyst for the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network. There she worked doing research on the state of child care quality and access in California and drove lobbying support for CA A.B. 273 which ensured that eligible families are able to access child care while they take ESL or GED classes. During her time at the Network she learned python while building GIS maps, she saw the tremendous value of programming and decided to pursue a career in tech.

Begoña currently works as Software Engineer at Microsoft where she builds software that  assists internal Microsoft teams solve DevOps problems at scale. She volunteers helping teach children from lower income areas in Seattle how to code and hopes to one day bring her skillset back to the public sector.

Please visit Begoña’s LinkedIn to learn more about their professional experience.

2014 MPP Alumni Fellowship Recipient Jonathan Slakey, MPP '15

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Jonathan Slakey is a Director of Data Analysis and Supports for the California Charter Schools Association. He takes advantage of Stata and Excel skill training (generously provided by Professors Phillips, Reber, Shah, and Yin) every day to increase organization-wide understanding of K-12 enrollment trends and academic outcomes in California. He also supports charter school staff to incorporate data into school decision-making. During his time at Luskin, Jonathan served with the Association of MPP Students and for his summer internship traveled to rural India to evaluate an afterschool tutoring program. His Applied Policy Project team received honors for their project: “Income Supports in Afghanistan.”
Before attending UCLA’s Luskin School for his MPP, Jonathan was an organizer for President Obama’s re-election campaign, an aide in a California Congresswoman’s office, an affordable housing auditor, and a teacher (both of English in Japan and of skiing in Lake Tahoe).

Please visit Jonathan’s LinkedIn to learn more about their professional experience.

2015 MPP Alumni Fellowship Recipient Tae Kang, MPP '16

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Tae Kang (UCLA MPP Class of 2016) serves as the Program Manager of Harbor Freight Tools for Schools and was the first full-time employee of the philanthropic initiative. He manages the annual Prize for Teaching Excellence, which awards more than $1 Millionto outstanding skilled trades teachers and programs across the country. Additionally, he collaborates with grant partners and anchors operations and research projects for the organization.

Prior to attending UCLA, Tae was a middle school social studies and math teacher at St. John Chrysostom School in Inglewood, CA.

Tae is passionate about education policy and looks forward to continuing to impact classrooms across America.

Please visit Tae’s LinkedIn to learn more about their professional experience.

2016 MPP Alumni Fellowship Recipient Delara Aharpour, MPP '17

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Delara Aharpour (UCLA MPP Class of 2017) is a research analyst within Mathematica’s division of Children, Youth, and Families. Delara’s research is primarily concentrated in family support, with some labor, implementation science, and evidence-based technical assistance. Prior to joining Mathematica, Delara worked with Maryland’s Department of Health to strengthen state-wide implementation of local school wellness policies. Delara graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from UCSD, where she focused on affective science. When she’s not commuting into D.C., Delara can be found exploring Baltimore City’s vibrant culinary scene.

Please visit Delara’s LinkedIn to learn more about their professional experience.

2016 MPP Alumni Fellowship Recipient JC De Vera, MPP '17

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JC De Vera is an Associate Director at Hirsch Philanthropy Partners, where he collaborates with philanthropists to develop impactful solutions to issues ranging from basic needs to democracy. JC previously served as Nurturing Equity Movements Fellow at theSan Francisco Foundation, where he led the Rapid Response Fund for Movement Building, granting over $1M to grassroots organizations in the Bay Area advancing racial and economic equity. He has advanced policy change through community engagement and communications as a David Bohnett Policy Fellow for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and as Communications Manager at The Greenlining Institute, a leading California nonprofit in racial and economic justice policy.

JC currently serves as Co-Chair for the Bay Area chapter of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy, and is the Chairperson for Lacuna Giving Circle, a group of queer Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) pooling resources together to democratize philanthropy and helpfill in resource gaps to organizations serving AAPI and LGBTQ+ communities. He is an alum of the Justice Funders Harmony Initiative, New Leaders Council San Francisco, and Front Line Leaders Academy. A proud Double Bruin, he holds a B.A. in Sociology and Asian American Studies from UCLA and a Master of Public Policy from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Please visit JC’s LinkedIn to learn more about their professional experience.

2017 MPP Alumni Fellowship Recipient Estefania Zavala, MPP '18

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Estefania Zavala is currently the Project Lead for Digital Engagement in the City of Long Beach’s Technology and Innovation Department where she works on projects that improve the City’s digital service delivery to residents. She graduated with a Master of Public Policy degree from UCLA Luskin in 2018. In graduate school, she was the Outreach Co-Chair for Policy Professionals for Diversity and Equity,Diversity, Disparities, and Differences (D3) Project Manager, and interned for the City of Santa Monica.She’s focused on building a collaborative, innovative form of local governance that engages and empowers its communities. She is passionate about: data storytelling, equitable policymaking, and Long Beach coffee shops.

Please visit Estefania’s LinkedIn to learn more about their professional experience.

2018 MPP Alumni Fellowship Recipient Marissa Ayala, MPP '19

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Marissa is currently a policy fellow with the Los Angeles County’s Women and Girls Initiative, helping develop county-wide policy recommendations with a specific emphasis on low-income girls of color.

She graduated from Luskin in 2019, where she focused heavily on environmental policy and its impacts on marginalized communities. Her APP team worked with SCOPE, a CBO focused on environmental justice, to analyze how the state can best use cap-and-trade funds to reduce environmental burdens and create economic opportunity in low-income areas. As a student she served as co-chair of Outreach for Policy Professionals for Diversity and Equity (PPDE), facilitating programs to recruit and retain historically underrepresented students to the MPP program. She continues to work with current students as a member of the PPDE alumni committee. While at Luskin she developed a focus on using R to analyze large datasets and visualize data, and loved her time as a TA for public affairs undergraduates.

Prior to joining Luskin, she earned a degree in International Relations and a minor in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning from the University of California, Davis, where she enjoyed long naps on the quad and searching for the elusive arboretum otter.

Please visit Marissa’s LinkedIn to learn more about their professional experience.

2018 MPP Alumni Fellowship Recipient Robert Gamboa, MPP '19

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Robert Gamboa, MPP 2019, is currently Co-Chair of the Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board (LGAB) for the City of West Hollywood and a Senior Policy Analyst for the Los Angeles LGBT Center. He has served on LGAB for 8 years as an appointed city official working to advance policy and programming initiatives for the LGBTQ community in West Hollywood. Since July of 2019, Robert has been working in the Public Policy Department at the Los Angeles LGBT Center focusing on homelessness, housing, infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and COVID-19, and working with his team on other pressing issues such as immigration, seniors, youth, civil rights, the census and so much more.

Please visit Robert’s LinkedIn to learn more about their professional experience.