Fernando Torres-Gil highlights systemic gaps in long-term elder Torres-Gil describes the U.S. long-term care system as “a huge for-profit industry."

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Fernando Torres-Gil, professor of social welfare and public policy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and director of the Center for Policy Research on Aging, was quoted in a recent Los Angeles Times article examining the rising costs of in-home elder care — which can reach up to $18,600 per month in Southern California. Torres-Gil described the U.S. long-term care system as “a huge for-profit industry,” emphasizing that America remains “behind the curve” compared to other countries that offer universal long-term care support. He described the American care system as “a huge for‑profit industry,” noting that unlike many other developed nations, the U.S. lacks universal long-term care financing—a failure that has left “Americans behind the curve.”

UCLA Luskin Doctoral Student is Finalist in UCLA Health Equity Challenge Qianyun Wang is one of 15 finalists turning ideas into action in the 2025 competition.

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The UCLA Health Equity Challenge is a competition that provides UCLA graduate students the opportunity to turn their ideas into action. Entrants are invited to develop solutions to address health equity issues in Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. Participating students are asked to submit an idea to solve a health inequity that a community-based organization (CBO) can implement and up to 15 finalists are selected to turn their ideas into full project proposals and over the course of 15 weeks, work with a mentor and select a CBO to work with. Each of the 15 selected finalists also receive a $2,500 stipend.

The Health Equity Challenge is run by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, and sponsored by The MolinaCares Accord (MolinaCares), in collaboration with Molina Healthcare of California (Molina), and the California Health Care Foundation.

Finalist Qianyun Wang is a third-year PhD in Social Welfare student at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Her Health Equity Challenge project is an art therapy program that uses Photovoice techniques such as sharing photos and storytelling to help older Chinese immigrants express their experiences with grief and bereavement.

Each of the finalists prepared a description of their project. Read Qianyun Wang’s below.

Visions of Collective Healing: Using Photovoice as a Therapeutic and Advocacy Tool for Grief Adjustment among Older Chinese Immigrants

By Qianyun Wang

The past few years have reminded us, more than ever, of the collective and individual experience of grief, from the losses brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, to the trauma of wars, and the displacement caused by climate disasters. Yet, for some communities — particularly older immigrants — grief remains unspoken and unsupported, shaped by cultural factors and structural barriers. This broader context has made my proposal in the UCLA Health Equity Challenge especially meaningful.

My journey with the UCLA Health Equity Challenge program is deeply transformative, both professionally and personally. Participating in this initiative allows me to combine my academic interests, community engagement, and commitment to social justice in meaningful and practical ways. Specifically, the project I propose — utilizing Photovoice as a therapeutic and advocacy tool among older Chinese immigrants facing grief and bereavement — reinforces my belief in culturally responsive interventions and the power of community-based approaches.

This proposal is also deeply informed by my own community work, volunteering, and research experiences. I have had the privilege of working closely with older Chinese immigrants in both Canada and the United States. Through volunteer roles at community organizations such as the Chinatown Service Center in Los Angeles, I assist older Chinese immigrants in navigating social services, addressing housing issues, and accessing support. My research focuses on understanding their unique aging experiences, social and mental well-being, and their grief and bereavement adjustment. These firsthand interactions provide valuable insight into the strengths and needs of this population and ground my academic interest in real-world contexts.

Throughout my doctoral journey at UCLA in social welfare, I focus on addressing the mental health disparities and unique challenges faced by older immigrants. This focus stems not only from academic interest but also from personal resonance with issues of migration, aging, and cultural identity. As someone who has navigated multiple cultural landscapes, including China, Canada, and the United States, I recognize deeply the nuanced ways cultural context shapes experiences of loss and healing. Thus, the Health Equity Challenge presents a timely and vital opportunity to translate my passion into practice.

“One of the profound realizations guiding this proposal is the gap in culturally tailored mental health resources available for older Chinese immigrants. Despite significant advancements in mental health support broadly, older immigrants often remain underserved due to linguistic, cultural, and systemic barriers.”

“One of the profound realizations guiding this proposal is the gap in culturally tailored mental health resources available for older Chinese immigrants. Despite significant advancements in mental health support broadly, older immigrants often remain underserved due to linguistic, cultural, and systemic barriers.”

This proposal, which uses Photovoice techniques, is particularly significant to me because it aligns with principles of community empowerment, social justice, and culturally responsive mental health support — specifically, culturally tailored interventions such as Tai Chi sessions and Chinese medicine education workshops designed for older Chinese immigrants.

Photovoice, as a method, enables individuals to express their experiences and perspectives through photography and storytelling, and empowers participants by giving them agency to articulate their lived experiences through photography, narrative sharing, and community engagement. It challenges the traditional power dynamics often present in research and/or therapeutic interventions, allowing community members to drive their healing process actively. I admire this method for its ability to capture and communicate complex emotional landscapes and foster collective healing.

One of the profound realizations guiding this proposal is the gap in culturally tailored mental health resources available for older Chinese immigrants. Despite significant advancements in mental health support broadly, older immigrants often remain underserved due to linguistic, cultural, and systemic barriers.

Through the planned project, participants will be invited to share their experiences of grief and loss, articulating feelings that are often left unspoken. Moreover, the proposed organization of educational sessions and a community exhibition will reflect the powerful role of public advocacy. Participants will be seen, validated, and heard in ways that go beyond traditional therapeutic contexts. Their photographs and stories can serve as a collective call for systemic recognition and policy change, highlighting the intersectionality of aging, immigration background, socioeconomic challenges, and health disparities.

Reflecting on my experience with the UCLA Health Equity Challenge, I appreciate how the program supported me to actualize my passion in practical ways. The structured yet flexible environment allowed space for creativity, innovation, and authentic community engagement. This experience has been instrumental in shaping my future goals as an emerging researcher and social work professional. Moving forward, I am committed to expanding this work by exploring further interdisciplinary collaboration and advocating for policies that address health disparities among aging immigrant populations.

Read the full 2025 finalist release.

In Memoriam: James Duncan Lindsey The UCLA Luskin Social Welfare professor emeritus was a pioneering scholar of child welfare.

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James Duncan Lindsey, UCLA Luskin Social Welfare professor emeritus and pioneering scholar of child welfare, died May 18. He was 77.

Lindsey, who joined UCLA’s Social Welfare faculty in 1994, was the founding editor of “Children & Youth Services Review” (CYSR), one of the field’s most influential journals. Under his leadership — and working with his wife Deborah — the publication became the premier platform for research on child welfare practices and policies. CYSR was inaugurated by Pergamon Press in 1979 and later acquired by Elsevier in 1991.

Image of book "The Welfare of Children"Colleagues, friends and former students remember Lindsey as a passionate educator whose commitment to evidence-based practices transformed child welfare systems. His book “The Welfare of Children,” published by Oxford University Press in 1994 (with a second updated edition in 2003), helped reshape child welfare policies nationwide.

In a review of his 2008 book, “Child Poverty and Inequality: Securing a Better Future for America’s Children,” Duncan is described as one of the “leading voices on child welfare. He is not only a notable historian of the evolution of family policy in the U.S., but has particularly focused on the plight faced by vulnerable children, such as those growing up in foster care and poor families.”

Lindsey was the author of numerous scholarly works, including research for which he was awarded the ProHumanitate Medal, the highest award in the field, by a peer jury review.

Darcey Merritt, current editor of CYSR, was a former doctoral student of Lindsey. Merritt recalled Lindsey, who was also on her doctoral dissertation committee, as a true mentor throughout her studies and career. Merritt now serves as chief editor of the publication Lindsey founded and is a professor at the University of Chicago, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice. Merritt wrote in an obituary tribute that as chief editor of CYSR, she is “always mindful of his vision and intentions to disseminate rigorous research, mindful of systemic and structural biases that impact the most vulnerable children among us.”

In a CYSR online open access tribute to Lindsey and his impact, Merritt and colleagues — including Todd Franke, professor of social welfare at UCLA Luskin — wrote:

Throughout the span of his conscientious leadership of the journal, Duncan has mentored and supported the growth of numerous scholars across all ranks, disciplines, and diverse identities, always with generous care. Those of us who knew him well, and perhaps even those who did not, honored his intention and shared his vision to disseminate rigorous, evidence-based research, always mindful of the many systemic and structural biases that impact our most vulnerable children. His tutelage and guidance were impeccable, and his kindness unparalleled. As an educator, Duncan guided his students with patience and a calm, supportive demeanor. He was highly regarded among many, not only for his brilliance, but also for the way he trained future scholars and practitioners. He has had an invaluable, positively meaningful, real-world impact in the field of child welfare.

Merritt, Franke, and colleagues said that Lindsey evinced a strong commitment to family-inclusive practice in his campaigning for social justice for children and their parents.

“His passion and persistence permeated his writing about children and families touched by the child protection system. His voice will be missed.”

“His passion and persistence permeated his writing about children and families touched by the child protection system. His voice will be missed.”

Prior to UCLA, Lindsey held academic posts at the University of Toronto and the University of Oregon. He also previously served as a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley. Other faculty posts include: George Washington University, St. Louis; West Virginia University; and the University of West Florida.

His professional affiliations include membership in the National Association of Social Workers and the Council on Social Work Education.

He earned undergraduate degrees in psychology and sociology from UC Santa Cruz in 1969 and completed an interdisciplinary doctorate in Sociology, Psychiatry, and Social Work from Northwestern University in 1973.

At UCLA, Lindsey held several leadership and administrative posts, including chair and vice-chair of UCLA’s Academic Senate, and chair of the UCLA Graduate Council. UCLA Luskin service included chair of the MSW admissions committee and member of the doctoral committee. For the University of California system, he served as a member of the Coordinating Committee on Graduate Affairs and was a member of the UC Academic Planning Counsel.

In the 1980s, during the early personal computer era, Lindsey co-founded Perfect Software, which for a time was one of the largest software companies in the U.S.

He is survived by his wife, Deborah McDaniel-Lindsey; his twin brother, Thomas “Buck” Lindsey; two children, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and Sierra Kos and their spouses; and his four grandchildren, Audun, Margrethe, Luka and Betty.

Private services were held.

Luskin Lecture on the Ongoing Fight for LGBTQ+ Equality Tony Hoang joins Luskin Lecture Series for a timely dialogue on civil rights and the road ahead.

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Amid rising political polarization and legislative efforts to roll back LGBTQ+ rights and protections, UCLA Luskin brought the conversation home with a powerful event exploring what’s at stake — and what’s possible — in the ongoing fight for equality. 

 

“LGBTQ+ Equality and the 2025 Landscape,” the latest in the Luskin Lecture Series and co-hosted by UCLA Luskin’s Office of Student Affairs and Alumni Relations, took place May 20 at UCLA’s Kerckhoff Grand Salon. The evening featured keynote speaker Tony Hoang, executive director of Equality California and Silver State Equality, who delivered a sobering yet hopeful message about the road ahead. 

 

The son of Vietnamese refugees and the first in his family to attend college, Hoang now leads the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization. Hoang began his presentation with a look back at key moments in California’s legislative history in the fight for marriage equality — from Prop 22 and the Knight Initiative to Obergefell v. Hodges — highlighting how far the movement has come. 

 

The event, moderated by Michael Fleming, president and founding executive director of the David Bohnett Foundation and longtime lecturer in social welfare at UCLA Luskin, brought together students, faculty, alumni, and community members for a timely dialogue on civil rights, civic engagement and the power of community mobilization. 

 

Hoang addressed a troubling trend among major corporations pulling back from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in response to mounting political backlash. He expressed deep concern over what he sees as a growing retreat by once-supportive businesses and national brands, many of which are wary of aligning in opposition to the Trump administration.

 

“There are a lot of challenges ahead,” Hoang said. “But know that this community has been here before. It’s about how we show up — organizing, coalition-building — that will make all the difference in how we continue to move forward. That’s how we keep our eyes ahead of us.” 

View event photos.

From Social Work to City Hall: Luskin Alum Nikki Perez Breaks Barriers in Burbank Nikki Perez, MSW ’18, is the youngest mayor to serve the city in its history —  and that's only the start.

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By Stan Paul

As mayor of Burbank, Nikki Perez, MSW ’18, represents a few firsts.

She’s the youngest mayor to serve the Southern California city in its history as well as the first Indigenous and openly LGBTQIA+ mayor.

Perez won a seat on the city council in 2022 with a record-breaking 17,958 votes. Then in December 2024— during the city’s annual reorganization meeting — she was elected mayor by her fellow council peers. She previously served as Burbank’s vice mayor.

“It is a great honor to be selected to serve as Burbank’s Mayor, and I appreciate the City Council’s confidence in me,” Perez said upon being elected to the one-year term.

The daughter of immigrants from El Salvador and Guatemala, Perez attended local public schools in Burbank, developing a deep commitment to public service and to the city she calls home.

She now serves as an associate clinical social worker with youth and families and most recently worked as program manager for Kids First, a City of Los Angeles program that she developed to bring nonprofit, government, and Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) partners together in to increase academic success for unhoused students in the San Fernando Valley. She also served as an education and workforce development coordinator for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, program manager for New Economics for Women, and as chair of the Burbank Library Board of Trustees.

“Born in raised in Burbank, this community has shaped who I am, and I am committed to building upon a city where everyone has a voice and opportunity to thrive,” she said. “I look forward to working with the entire City Council and our community on the issues that matter most to our residents and businesses.”

For Perez, becoming Mayor can feel a bit surreal at times, she said, but, she enjoys the policy work associated with her role on the council and as mayor, especially the ability to make meaningful change. She recalled an experience as city councilmember on an issue that was contentious and drew a crowd of people to the council meeting.

“They were really impassioned, and one gentleman came forward and said, ‘This is what you have to do!” But, in the remaining seconds of his time, he said, “Hi Nikki, so good to see you.” The man was her fifth-grade teacher.

Perez earned undergraduate degrees in psychology and music performance from UC Riverside. But it was her experience as a graduate student at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs that helped her envision a life in public service.

“Being at Luskin was what really got me into wanting to work in macro social work and the policy or advocacy side of things.”

“Being at Luskin was what really got me into wanting to work in macro social work and the policy or advocacy side of things,” she said, explaining that the MSW program requires two one-year internships outside of UCLA.

“They try to place you somewhere where you probably will be a little uncomfortable because you need to get your sea legs,” she said.

She was placed on a Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) contract to be a social worker for children and families at a Head Start program.

“My client base was really one- to four-year-olds,” she said. “It was a really diverse group of folks and I realized that regardless of what any of these families face — some of them were foster families, some of them were single moms, some of them were facing issues of immigration — regardless of what it was, at some point they all ran into a similar issue with a bureaucracy or a system that just didn’t make sense.”

That experience led her to think critically about the people making decisions in Sacramento and Los Angeles for children and families.

“I started looking at their backgrounds and wondering why we didn’t have somebody like a social worker in there.”

Perez said that sparked her thinking about wanting to work in government, “…and really do the macro social work piece when you take what you’ve learned working one-on-one with folks and apply it to policies so that we can have a system where the goal of a policy actually matches the application.”

She later joined the state legislature, where she began as a field representative for a state assembly member and later became communications director.

“It was really interesting because I got to serve him in his first term. So, when he was getting his feet wet and learning about the state, I was also learning about it through the lens of a staffer,” where she said she learned about committees where money moves.

“This is how cities can actually advocate for things. This is how residents should ask for legislation to be passed.”

Another thing she learned is that legislators also listen to constituents and sometimes get their ideas for bills from constituents.

“And I think that’s one of my favorite things to do in my role because as someone who came from working in the state and who was really motivated to run for my city council because of how I saw the state give out grants, how bills affect your localities.”

Perez said that a major focus of her turn as mayor is, “making sure that I’m now advocating for my city, to our state, to our federal elections in the right way…bringing those dollars back.”

She recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with other mayors from across the United States, and to meet with California’s representatives there and to advocate on a number of common local issues for city leaders including municipal bonds, water and power.

Her background in social welfare continues to influence her work as mayor.

“I think in multiple ways I can say it’s been helpful in the fact that as a social worker, as somebody who knows how to work with people to, to reach a goal, we have a council that is not only diverse in age and race and where they come from in the city, but also diverse in politics. She added, “I have to say, we keep decorum and many times we reach a middle ground all together. It’s my job to steer all five of us to consensus.”

“My social welfare training has been very helpful in that…I really do think more social workers should run for office,” she said, citing fellow 2018 Luskin social welfare alumna Caroline Menjivar, who serves in the California State Senate representing the Burbank and San Fernando Valley area.

Upon becoming Mayor, Perez said received a lot of support. In response to a congratulatory social media post, Perez replied, “Thank you so much for the recognition! It’s an absolute honor to serve as Mayor of Burbank and I couldn’t have done it without all the amazing folks I met at Luskin and the amazing faculty who encouraged me!”

Perez also recently made another historic first as mayor of the city.

“I’m youngest mayor we’ve ever had. And now the first pregnant mayor we’ve ever had.”

A View from the Top UCLA Luskin students get a look at policymaking, public service work and life in Los Angeles city government

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by Stan Paul

The view from the top of the iconic Art Deco-style tower of Los Angeles City Hall provides a unique, 360-degree prospective of the sprawling Southern California city — vast, complex and in constant motion. 

On April 11, a contingent of UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs graduate students gathered inside the tower’s 27th floor to gain perspectives from top city and county leaders, including UCLA and UCLA Luskin alumni, about their work with city government and their insights on important and pressing daily issues that drive the bustling city below.  

The 19th annual Luskin Day at Los Angeles City Hall was held in partnership with UCLA Government and Community Relations and the Office of City Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky. Students from UCLA Luskin’s three graduate programs, Public Policy, Social Welfare, and Urban and Regional Planning, engaged in conversation with the group of experienced leaders and high-level city officials and experts in various fields on topics including housing, homelessness, sustainability and transportation.  

“I hope today gives you an honest look at the complexity of city government, and I hope you walk away with the understanding of the deep sense of the purpose of mission driven work that we do here in L.A. and especially in this time of difficulty,” said guest panelist Kristin Torres Pawling, a 2009 UCLA and 2012 UCLA Luskin urban planning alumna. 

“I also entered the working world in a time of global uncertainty…know that the relationships that you make here today, the relationships that you’ve made with each other, will drive you forward,” she said. “Your ideas and energy, the fresh conversation that you’re bringing to City Hall today, are important to us.” 

The day began with formal recognition of the students and the Luskin program during a live city council meeting — a chance to witness local government in action — followed by an opportunity to take what they have learned in the classroom and apply it in the day’s discussion. 

Lourdes Castro Ramírez, a 1994 UCLA and 2003 UCLA Luskin urban planning alumna, led the day’s first expert policy panel including Nancy Sutley, Los Angeles Deputy Mayor of Energy and Sustainability; Laura Rubio-Cornejo, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and also a 2003 Luskin urban planning alumna; and Zev Yaroslavsky, UCLA alumnus and former longtime member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and former Los Angeles City Councilmember. Each shared their journey into public service and their various roles and responsibilities. 

Castro Ramírez currently serves as president and CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA), the second-largest housing authority in the nation which serves more than 200,000 people. The first-generation college graduate said she was encouraged to see students pursuing degrees in public affairs programs as well as careers in the public sector. 

“I am deeply grateful to UCLA for investing in me and deeply grateful to UCLA Luskin for giving me the tools necessary to be able to address some of the most complex issues impacting not only our city and the state, but also equip me to serve at the federal level and work on these issues,” said Castro Ramírez, who also has served on UCLA Luskin’s board of advisors. 

“Government has the opportunity to be transformational – to improve the quality of life for residents, to be innovative, and also to be nimble all the times,” she said adding, “I think government gets a bad rap – that it’s not creative, that we’re very bureaucratic, that we don’t really care.  My experience has been the complete opposite.” 

Yaroslavsky said that whether working for the city or county, or a smaller jurisdiction, “Get into to the game…don’t underestimate how your superiors and others will see you for your work product, for your competence, for your vision and for all of the things that make you who you are and part of that is having your Luskin education.” 

A lunchtime session with City of Los Angeles personnel experts also provided a deep dive into navigating the city’s application processes and best practices and tips for gaining employment.   

UCLA alumna Wendy Greuel, former L.A. city councilmember, and current vice chair of LAHSA Commission and co-chair of the Los Angeles Unified School District Task Force, kept the momentum of the day going.  

Greuel, who helped launch the first UCLA Luskin Day at Los Angeles City Hall and who has supported the program since, moderated a panel including 1996 UCLA alumnus Todd Sargent, who leads the global organization development team for Walt Disney Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products and who has served as a Senior Fellow in the UCLA Luskin’s mentorship program. Matt Szabo, Los Angeles city administrative officer, joined Pawling, who also serves as deputy chief of staff for councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, and fellow Luskin planning graduate Edgar Reyna MURP ’23, a climate resilience senior analyst for the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Energy and Sustainability. 

 The panelists shared their own experience working in the fast-paced daily life serving the city and its residents, as well as advising them on what work and life are like in city government at the local level to interactions at the state and national levels. Greuel asked what ultimately drew them to working at the local level. 

“When I got involved in local work, in city commission work, the impact was so much more real. You could literally see the work you did manifest in the local community,” said Sargent, who previously worked in Capitol Hill where he said things moved at a much slower pace. 

Szabo, appointed to his current position in 2023 and who formerly served as deputy chief of staff to former Mayor Eric Garcetti, remarked, “If you’ve been out on the ledge here, if you just look outside, everything that you see that isn’t privately owned is pretty much the responsibility of the city, the streets, the sidewalks, the trees on the sidewalks…it’s all the things you can touch and feel immediately and that for me is more gratifying now.” 

A final question for the panel was, “What gives you hope?”  

“Hope for me is all of you in this room,” said Greuel. 

The day concluded with a round table policy and career session with Los Angeles City Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, a UCLA Law School graduate, who was elected in 2022 to serve the city’s fifth district. 

Yaroslavsky talked about managing a public service career, serving her constituents and the city while taking on many new roles since being elected, including chair of the city’s Budget and Finance committee and the task of running the city more efficiently. 

 “There’s lots of ways to make things better, to make ourselves more efficient, to attract business, to support people who need help to, to work on homelessness and public safety and holistic ways,” she said.  

As a member of LA Metro’s Board of Directors, Yaroslavsky said she is excited about projects underway including Metro stations opening across the city’s Westside region, “…the first time since the Red Car in the 1950s and 60s that the Westside will be linked to downtown by mass transit,” she said. For Yaroslavsky, the station openings represent an incredible opportunity for more people to get onto the system who might not know about it and to know what public transit is all about. 

Yaroslavsky also dispensed public service career advice to the students including being open to both constructive and unconstructive criticism as part of an important skill set.  

“I think it’s hard to do. It’s hard to give constructive feedback. It’s also really hard to take. Both are really important.” 

Also difficult is taking risks like changing careers and pursuing public office, she said.  

“Once in a while do something that really scares you,” she said recalling daunting decisions as “the best choices I’ve ever made in my career.”  

“And, if you give yourself some space and you’re willing to take chances that you are able to take, I think that’s where you grow the most,” Yaroslavsky, concluding with thanking the students for attending the Luskin Day event and taking an interest in — and aspiring to — public service roles.  

“It’s really heartening to see so many folks who care and want to be part of the solution, so don’t be strangers.” 

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

UCLA Grants Deepen Ties to the L.A. Community Projects by Luskin faculty will build collaboration among scholars, students and local partners

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The first goal of UCLA’s Strategic Plan is deepening collaborations and connections with Los Angeles. This academic year, several UCLA Luskin faculty are helping the university meet that mark.

As recipients of grants from the UCLA Center for Community Engagement, these faculty will explore ways to strengthen ties between community partners and UCLA students and scholars, with the goal of finding solutions to L.A.’s most pressing issues.

This year, the UCLA Community-Engaged Research Grants will fund exploratory projects including:

Achieving and Implementing Abolition in Los Angeles

Co-Principal Investigators: David C. Turner III, assistant professor of social welfare, and Kelly Lytle Hernandez, professor of history, African American studies and urban planning

Community Partners: Justice LA; Check the Sheriff’s Coalition; Police-Free LAUSD Coalition; People’s Budget LA Coalition; PUSH LA Coalition; LA Youth Uprising Coalition

Million Dollar Hoods is a UCLA research project that advances the labors of activists and advocates working to change how public dollars are spent in Los Angeles. In particular, it advances the work of those seeking to reduce criminal justice budgets while expanding health services, housing options, welfare benefits and employment opportunities. This grant will fund a deep strategic planning and research process focused on implementing community-led policy initiatives that reallocate public resources to supporting human-centered services.

Aligning Housing Policy With Popular Demand for More Housing

Co-Principal Investigators: Zachary Steinert-Threlkeld, associate professor of public policy, and Paavo Monkkonen, professor of urban planning and public policy

Community Partner: Abundant Housing Los Angeles

Angelenos understand the scarcity of housing and want to see more constructed. According to a November 2020 survey by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, 64% of Angelenos call increasing housing supply a top or high priority. Support for more housing is one of the few bipartisan policy issues in the country, yet new housing construction in Los Angeles remains at multi-decade lows and rents and housing prices continue to rise. Untangling this puzzle is the focus of this community research.

Building Urban Soil Networks in Los Angeles for Research and Action

Co-Principal Investigators: Kirsten Schwarz, associate professor of urban planning and environmental health sciences, and Jennifer Jay, professor of civil and environmental engineering

Community Partners: TreePeople; Physicians for Social Responsibility – LA; Communities for a Better Environment; Watts Labor Community Action Committee – Better Watts Initiative

Urban soils are an important regional and national equity concern that shape the health and well-being of urban dwellers. They also represent a paradox of sorts, as contaminated soils are a hazard and clean soils are beneficial to the ecosystem. This project brings together community groups active in urban soils work in the L.A. region to build relationships, identify potential collaborations, and begin the process of coalescing around a common set of research priorities and actions.

Building Worker Power: Support for Low-Wage Worker Leadership With the Los Angeles Worker Center Network

Co-Principal Investigators: Chris Zepeda-Millan, associate professor of public policy, Chicano/a and Central American studies and political science, and chair of UCLA’s Labor Studies program; and Tobias Higbie, professor of history and director of the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment

Community Partners: Los Angeles Worker Center Network, including: CLEAN CarWash Worker Center; Garment Worker Center; Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance; Los Angeles Black Worker Center; Pilipino Workers Center; Restaurant Opportunities Center Los Angeles; Warehouse Workers Resource Center

The UCLA Labor Center, a founding member of the Los Angeles Worker Center Network, seeks to document best practices around multi-racial, multi-industry, multi-language organizing in support of labor standards, immigrant rights and anti-discrimination enforcement. In this project, researchers and worker centers will determine the best methods — such as popular education, storytelling, academic journals and social media — to document successful and replicable L.A. worker campaigns since 2009. They will also implement legal clinics and provide technical assistance to local agencies enforcing fair labor laws.

Healing Within While Incarcerated: The Role of Credible Messengers in Transformative Justice in L.A. County

Co-Principal Investigators: Lauren Ng, assistant professor of psychology, and Laura Abrams, professor of social welfare

Community Partner: Healing Dialogue and Action

Incarcerated youth experience a multitude of poor social, emotional and physical health outcomes after detention. To address these concerns, Los Angeles County has adopted a “rehabilitative, care-first model” of juvenile justice that is being implemented by Credible Messengers — leaders with the lived experience of incarceration. There has been limited academic collaboration investigating Credible Messenger programs. This partnership with an organization working in county juvenile justice facilities will advance the science behind the Credible Messenger approach with the aim of promoting healing of justice-involved youth.

Housing and Homelessness Justice Research Collaborative

Co-Principal Investigators: Chris Herring, assistant professor of sociology, and Ananya Roy, professor of urban planning, social welfare and geography

Community Partners: LA Tenants Union; Union de Vecinos

This grant supports a recently established collaborative partnership between UCLA faculty and the Downtown local of the LA Tenants Union. The funds will allow the partners to broaden a study of Los Angeles’ Permanent Supportive Housing initiative to address homelessness. Despite billions of dollars recently committed to this initiative, no research to date has examined its success or weaknesses. The UCLA grant will allow additional community partners to participate and aid the collaborative in envisioning a multi-year tenant justice research agenda.

Interdisciplinary Center on Housing and Homelessness

Co-Principal Investigators: Till von Wachter, professor of economics; Michael Lens, professor of urban planning and public policy; and Elizabeth Bromley, professor in residence of psychiatry and anthropology

Community Partners: Individual community members; Los Angeles Homelessness Services Authority; L.A. County Department of Health Services; L.A. County Department of Mental Health; L.A. County Department of Social Services

L.A.’s housing and homelessness crises are caused by a complex web of factors ranging from lack of housing production and zoning policies to structural racism in labor markets and justice systems. This project focuses on developing an interdisciplinary center that brings research communities together with people with lived experience of homelessness and policymakers from Los Angeles government and nonprofit agencies. The project emphasizes structural reforms needed to reduce homelessness and aims to inform the public debate by replacing misconceptions with data and research.

Previous awards from the UCLA Center for Community Engagement supported the development of two courses designed to immerse undergraduates in community-engaged research. The grants went to Associate Professor of Public Policy Meredith Phillips, who developed a course on data analysis for educational research, and Associate Professor of Social Welfare Lené Levy-Storms, who developed a course on human aging through an interdisciplinary lens.

Read about all of the 2024-25 Community-Engaged Research Exploratory Grants.

Rapid Research Provides Vital Context to Address L.A. Wildfires UCLA Luskin data informs recovery efforts and counters misinformation during times of crisis

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By Stan Paul

During a natural disaster such as the recent devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, information is needed — in real time — to assess and predict what will be required to help and rebuild communities. That information can be vital to address practical problems, to answer questions and even to counter false narratives that were fanned and spread as fast as the flames that destroyed entire neighborhoods.

That’s where UCLA Luskin and its research centers come in. In addition to responding to media and becoming a go-to source for expertise from day one of the fires, researchers quickly collaborated with their campus colleagues and beyond to create rapid responses to address pressing issues in the moment.

Rapid Response and Luskin’s Legacy of Community-Based Research

UCLA Luskin has a long legacy of community research. Even before L.A.’s most recent disaster, the School’s researchers have worked to collect and analyze data on issues that impact neighborhoods, individuals and businesses, especially those on the margins.

For researchers in the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge (CNK) and the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute (LPPI), information is needed to help communities they know well. For them, it’s personal.

Silvia González, LPPI’s director of research, said the concept of rapid research response really grew during the COVID-19 pandemic. The institute was very proactive in providing data for policymakers and community-based organizations working to prioritize equitable recovery in any type of disaster or crisis.

“We learned from COVID-19 that people of color are not well represented in data points that inform crisis response. … That is where our community gets left behind in terms of getting their needs met,” González said.

pine sprout on burned ground

Read more about the rapid research produced by UCLA Luskin scholars to understand the causes and impacts of Los Angeles’ catastrophic fires at luskin.ucla.edu/fire-research

These communities have needs that are different from the broader community, including a higher exposure to environmental hazards, language barriers, and disproportionate health, economic and social risks, she said. “And so that really was the motivation for responding with original research on the L.A. wildfires.”

A team, including Paul Ong, research professor and director of CNK; Chhandara Pech, the center’s deputy director; and other contributors from LPPI, the UCLA Asian American Studies Center and the UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, produced a number of key research projects.

Among them was a data brief examining the impacts of wildfires on Black households in Altadena, a historically Black, middle-class and culturally vibrant community that was devastated by the January 2025 Eaton fire. The brief provides a starting point for considering what an equitable recovery should include, the researchers said.

It also provides new information on the historical trajectory of Altadena’s Black community and the impacts from the wildfires, using multiple data sources. Using existing trends in the Altadena housing market and Black settlement patterns, combined with damage and destruction created by the Eaton fire, the researchers were able to demonstrate the disproportionate impact of the fires on Black households in that community.

The report also underscores the urgent need for disaster response and long-term recovery efforts tailored to the unique needs of Altadena’s Black community, the researchers wrote.

“Altadena is a litmus test about how committed we are to racial justice,” Ong said in an interview with CBS Evening News in February.

This is also true of Latino communities. In another research project, Ong and his team note that wildfires in California are not just a seasonal concern, but have far-reaching effects that go beyond the burn zones.

Together with CNK, the LPPI research team plans to develop ongoing analyses that examine the short- and long-term consequences of the wildfires on Latino communities with a focus on health vulnerabilities, economic disruptions and gaps in preparedness.

“As researchers of color, the pandemic showed us the invisibility of our community in data … but it also helped train us to do this research now,” said Pech, adding that the team wants to ensure that elected officials have a clear and more nuanced understanding of the wildfires’ impacts across different racial and socioeconomic groups.

“One of the things we do know is that these events are very complex. They’re embedded in complex structures,” Ong added. “So, part of what we try to do is understand some of the hidden dimensions of this complexity. We try to understand the rippling effects, a sort of cascade, beyond the most immediate and obvious impacts.”

Wildfires, Water and Transportation

Rapid response from other areas of Luskin, as well as cross-campus partners, include expertise on water and climate from the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI). At the same time, experts from the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies and UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies quickly initiated research projects while providing media with context about how transportation planning plays a role in how communities and regions can plan for disaster.

Research projects include:

  • Understanding mobility challenges for vulnerable communities with limited vehicle access —Tierra Bills, UCLA assistant professor of public policy and civil and environmental engineering
  • Improving evacuation plans for transit riders —Madeline Brozen, deputy director of the Lewis Center
  • Bridging gaps in evacuation and resilience strategies for older adults with disabilities — Yeonsu Song, UCLA assistant professor of nursing and medicine
  • Exploring community-driven approaches to infrastructure rebuilding —Megan Mullin, faculty director of LCI

“We’re supporting research that can help us to be prepared for a future emergency, and to plan for rebuilding in an equitable, resilient manner,” said UCLA ITS Director Adam Millard-Ball, emphasizing that the wildfire threat in Los Angeles is not going away.

In January 2025, Millard-Ball and a team of UCLA researchers published an article in the journal Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives that lays out a collaborative approach that puts people and equity at the center of transportation research. One section identifies auto dependency as a challenge for cities.

“Dependence on cars … leaves cities vulnerable to crises,” the researchers write. “For example, it leaves few options for evacuation in case of fuel shortages or road blockages, or for people who do not drive.” During the L.A. fires, that was a reality that could be seen in news coverage of abandoned and burned vehicles.

Media and Misinformation

From the beginning of the fires, Greg Pierce, LCI’s co-executive director and the director of UCLA’s Human Right to Water Solutions Lab, responded to media outlets looking for facts behind emerging narratives. False and misguided fire story frameworks spread out of control, so in addition to quickly responding to news outlets, Pierce and his team provided a Question and Answer resource for the media and public.

A common question was, “Can urban water supply systems put out wildfires?” The quick answer is no. “Urban water supply systems are not designed to fight large wildfires or large-scale fires that start in wildland areas and spread to urban areas,” according to the Q&A.

“I don’t know that any place in the world has a system like that,” said Pierce, who explained to media that such a system for fighting wildfires would be extremely expensive as well as come with potentially negative climate impacts that could create further fire risks.

Pierce became the de facto go-to expert for media outlets including POLITICO, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, Reuters and LAist on the wildfires and related issues such as water.

The fires touched almost every aspect of living in Los Angeles, from cars, work and land use to housing and rent — and UCLA Luskin had researchers on hand to respond.

Liz Koslov, assistant professor of urban planning and an expert on climate retreat, told the New York Times, “Rather than dream we can retreat our way out of the crisis, we must relearn, and learn anew, how to live with fire.”

Michael Manville, chair and professor of Urban Planning, commented in the media, saying, ‘The upshot is that a lot of people who had been housed … have just been thrust into the housing market, and they’re going to push up prices and rents, and also compete for contractors in an already tight labor market to get things rebuilt.”

Environmental issues also intersected with health for those affected by smoke from the fires. According to a recent UCLA report, smoke produced by California wildfires kills more people than fire, with thousands of premature deaths attributable to exposure to toxic particles. Rachel Connolly, a project director at LCI, served as the lead author of the study published in the journal Science Advances.

Recovery and the Road Ahead

UCLA Luskin researchers are also partnering with local government for the long recovery ahead, leading research for a blue ribbon commission launched by Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.

Horvath and UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk announced that UCLA will provide its world-class research expertise and programmatic support to the independent commission tasked with developing policy recommendations to guide a safe and resilient recovery.

Mullin, the LCI faculty director, is leading UCLA’s advisors in consultation with Julia Stein, deputy director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law, and in partnership with Alex Hall, director of UCLA’s Sustainable LA Grand Challenge.

“Our region has always lived with fire, but our communities weren’t built for the climate-induced mega-fires we see now,” Mullin said during a press conference. “We have a short window of opportunity to not only rebuild homes and businesses but also to create more resilient and equitable communities.”

In addition, this year’s Luskin Summit quickly pivoted to focus on the L.A. fires. The summit will provide policymakers and nonprofit leaders with the latest research and guidance from UCLA Luskin experts, community groups and government agencies to guide the effort to expedite recovery equitably.

In the years ahead, the work of UCLA Luskin researchers will continue to be an important resource as Los Angeles and the region recover.

A First-Hand Look at How a Public Affairs Education Translates Into Real Action The second annual UCLA Luskin Sacramento Briefing immerses students into research that shapes policy

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This year, UCLA Luskin hosted the 2nd Annual Sacramento Briefing, an event that informs state legislators of the breadth of research happening within the school. The gathering featured two panel discussions coordinated by esteemed UCLA Luskin faculty members and their affiliated research centers in collaboration with elected officials, government agencies and other policy experts. This year, the Institute of Transportation Studies presented on reducing vehicle miles traveled on California’s roads, and the Luskin Center for Innovation presented on creating heat-resilient communities. 

Ten public affairs undergraduate students and 14 master of urban planning students received scholarships to attend the briefing, and also meet with legislative staffers, receive a private tour of the Capitol building, and sit down with Assemblymembers Mike Fong and Josh Hoover, both UCLA alumni.

We asked Mai Vu, a public affairs major who will be graduating this June, to reflect on her experience as part of the first undergraduate cohort to attend the event. Next year, Mai will be working in-house in the private sector for a global consumer goods company, focusing on government and regulatory affairs.

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By Mai Vu

The 2025 Luskin Sacramento Briefing was an eye-opening experience that brought policy to life in ways I hadn’t imagined. As part of the first cohort of Public Affairs undergraduate students to receive a travel grant for this two-day professional development event, I had the opportunity to step inside the heart of California’s state government and witness firsthand how decisions are made at the state level. More importantly, I was able to connect with UCLA alumni — now staffers, policymakers and legislative aides at the state Capitol — who had once been in my shoes and could share their experiences and career paths from Westwood to Sacramento in a way that felt especially relatable.

“As a student researcher, this experience challenged me to think about how I can ensure my own work is accessible, actionable and relevant beyond the academic setting,” says Luskin undergrad Mai Vu.

Engaging with State Governance

On our first day in Sacramento, we met with UCLA alumni at the Capitol who discussed their work in state policymaking. Sitting in the very spaces where decisions are made, I saw how the issues we study in Public Affairs — from infrastructure to education — translate into real governance. Touring the Assembly and Senate galleries reinforced this connection, as we engaged with elected officials, policy analysts and professionals in administrative and judicial roles, making me realize the many pathways into state government and broadening my perspective on career opportunities in Sacramento.

Like many of my peers at Luskin, I am drawn to public service by the desire to create meaningful change. My time in Sacramento showed me how state government can be a direct and impactful avenue for that work, particularly in my home state of California. Speaking with policymakers and legislative staff, I gained a clearer understanding of how California’s Legislature functions within the broader political landscape and how it differs from the intense partisanship that often defines U.S. politics.

While political divisions certainly exist, my discussions in Sacramento helped me realize that California’s legislative majority allows for a greater focus on policy implementation rather than ideological debate, leading to more effective governance. This became clear in our discussion with Assemblymember Josh Hoover, who explained how working in the Republican minority requires a strong focus on bipartisan collaboration. His approach to coalition-building challenged my assumptions about politics, reminding me that progress relies more on negotiation, adaptation and shared priorities than strict party alignment.

Equally inspiring was our meeting with Assemblymember Mike Fong and his chief of staff, Sophia Kwong Kim, who spoke about their roles in the California Asian & Pacific Islander (API) Legislative Caucus. As a Vietnamese American student interested in government, seeing leaders who not only shared my API background but were actively working to amplify API voices in policy and create pathways for diverse representation was incredibly meaningful.

Bridging Academia, Policy and Local Communities

The second day’s policy briefing challenged me to think more critically about how research translates into action. As an undergraduate student researcher, it was particularly meaningful to see UCLA faculty — many of whom have taught my classes — present their work in front of legislators and policy practitioners. It reinforced that academic research doesn’t exist in isolation; when framed effectively, it has real-world implications. One of the biggest lessons I learned was that there is real benefit in research, no matter how rigorous or theory-driven, being communicated in a way that policymakers and the public can engage with. As a student researcher, this experience challenged me to think about how I can ensure my own work is accessible, actionable and relevant beyond the academic setting.

Another key takeaway I had from the policy briefing was realizing the power of collaborating beyond just my immediate peers. Seeing faculty, policymakers and community stakeholders engage in discussions — not always agreeing, but always exchanging perspectives — was a reminder that policymaking is rarely black and white. It requires negotiation, compromise and an open acknowledgement of competing priorities.

As I prepare to graduate and begin my career in regulatory and government affairs for the private sector, this experience reaffirmed the importance of cross-sector collaboration. The briefing exposed me to a range of perspectives — from legislators to policy researchers and advocacy groups — mirroring the diverse stakeholder landscape I will navigate. Like policymakers balancing competing priorities, I will need to negotiate between corporate interests, regulatory requirements and public concerns. This experience also provided an early foundation in state government processes and expanded my UCLA network, making future opportunities in public policy, consulting or regulatory agencies more accessible.

 

Mapping a Just Way Forward for L.A. As Los Angeles grapples with the impact of catastrophic fires, experts in public affairs provide context and insight

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Experts from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs are providing context and insight to news outlets covering Los Angeles’ catastrophic wildfires and the road to recovery. Here is a selection of their comments:

  • Liz Koslov, assistant professor of urban planning, on the need for humane and reasonable policies for recovery after the fires: “Rather than dream we can retreat our way out of the crisis, we must relearn, and learn anew, how to live with fire.” — New York Times     |     More from Koslov:  Bloomberg, Irish Times, The City
  • Megan Mullin, professor of public policy and faculty director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, on the importance of setting community-driven priorities for post-fire recovery: “Without forethought and without coordination, we’re going to risk a rebuild that amplifies the region’s inequality.” — Marketplace     |     More from Mullin:  Vox
  • Paul Ong, director of the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, on the challenges of recovery in diverse neighborhoods: “Altadena is a litmus test about how committed we are to racial justice.” —  CBS Evening News      |     More from Pierce:  Los Angeles Times
  • Veronica Terriquez, professor of urban planning and director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, on the loss of Chicano historian Juan Gómez-Quiñones’s archives in the Palisades fire: “The loss of his papers, the loss of other people’s archives. … We’re losing something really precious.” — Los Angeles Times
  • Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, interim dean of the Luskin School and distinguished professor of urban planning, on the inequalities arising from Southern California car culture, including wildfire risks heightened by climate change: Smog-producing cars became so central to life in the region because of “transportation policy that has quite favored the automobile and given a tremendous amount of investment to build the freeways.” — The Atlantic
  • Michael Manville, chair of UCLA Luskin Urban Planning, on the fires’ stressors on the Southern California housing market: “The upshot is that a lot of people who had been housed — who do have, for the most part, strong incomes — have just been thrust into the housing market, and they’re going to push up prices and rents, and also compete for contractors in an already tight labor market to get things rebuilt.”  — Commercial Observer    |    More from Manville:  Reason, New York Times
  • Chhandara Pech, deputy director of the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, on research showing that language barriers prevented some Asian American residents from easily accessing emergency information during the fires: “Government agencies should not only focus on reaching the largest population that’s affected by the wildfires, but it should also prioritize supporting the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities.” — Los Angeles Times
  • Paavo Monkkonen, professor of urban planning and public policy, on streamlining the bureaucracy of home-building, a reform long-sought by affordable housing advocates and now coming to pass only in fire-affected areas: “Now suddenly we’re going to get it — but just for this.”  — New York Times     |    More from Monkkonen:   Libération
  • Michael Lens, professor of urban planning and public policy, on L.A.’s elevated housing prices: “Folks who haven’t had to really think about where they’re going to live next — who may have been living in, fortunately, stable housing situations for the last couple decades — are going to see a lot of sticker shock.” — LAist    |     More from Lens:  Los Angeles Times, Fortune
  • José Loya, assistant professor of urban planning, on the likelihood that more affordable housing options can be found farther from the fire zones: “L.A. is still a very, very large place.” — Los Angeles Times, Washington Post
  • Stephen Commins, associate director of Global Public Affairs at UCLA Luskin, on the challenge of cleaning up homes and neighborhoods: “Every home has potential hazards — from older homes with asbestos to any home that contained paint cans, lithium batteries and other standard but toxic when incinerated household items.” — UCLA Newsroom
  • Zev Yaroslavsky, veteran public servant and director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin, on the city’s preparations for the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics: “What we cannot allow to happen is for the Olympics to take away the government’s attention from the most important thing, which is to rebuild after the fire.” — New York Times      |     More from Yaroslavsky:  L.A. Times Today, New York Times
  • Adam Millard-Ball, director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, on disconnected streets and disaster preparedness: “We’re seeing that the least-connected streets are in places that have historically been affected by fire. We know that the places that have burned in the past are also likely to burn in the future, and that’s true even in urbanized areas as well.” — Bloomberg     |     More from Millard-Ball:  Streetsblog, Next City
  • Minjee Kim, assistant professor of urban planning, on political rhetoric surrounding government requirements for rebuilding damaged or destroyed homes: “For any rebuilding that needs to happen, there shouldn’t be any additional ‘development permit’ that needs to be secured.” — Politico