Posts

UCLA LPPI Fellows in Action ’22-’23

, , , , , , , , ,

Authors: Heidy Melchor (LPPI Policy Fellow, B.A. 2023) & Arianah Rizzo (LPPI Policy Fellows, B.A. 2024)

One key goal of UCLA’s Latino Politics and Policy Institute is to encourage and provide opportunities for Policy Fellows to participate in paid professional development activities to develop the next generation of policy leaders. UCLA LPPI exposes student leaders to policy experts and academic and career resources to build skills that accelerate their trajectories.

During the 2022-2023 Fellowship year, UCLA LPPI sent undergraduate and graduate fellows to multiple conferences and events, including the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Policy Summit, Hispanas Organized for Political Equality Latina Action Day and the Mexican American Bar Association (MABA) gala, among others. Through these experiences, fellows engaged with policymakers and other key stakeholders, developing the skills to become powerful advocates in their own right. Additionally, fellows heard from subject area experts and learned new skills through UCLA LPPI programming, like Policy Diálogos and skills workshops, to continue to empower them to advocate around the most critical issues in Latino communities. With these experiences and the network gained through UCLA LPPI, fellows become equipped with the tools they need to take action on issues in new spaces and roles as they continue their careers.

Our Fellows in Action programming demonstrates the power of coupling skill-building and hands-on research with advocacy and mobilization experiences.

Itzel Vasquez-Rodriguez

Itzel Vasquez-Rodriguez (second from right)

A prime example is Itzel Vasquez-Rodriguez, a graduate policy fellow in UCLA LPPI’s Mobilization Department and a current public policy masters student in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Itzel became involved in the Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard Supreme Court Case. She was one of a handful of students selected to join an amicus brief submitted to the Court. Reflecting on what drew her to participate in this action, Itzel shared, “I became involved in this case back because I believe banning the consideration of race for colleges and universities in the United States limits quality educational opportunities and training for the next generation of leaders, and creates further systemic barriers for BIPOC students.” Itzel also noted the case’s significance and impact, saying, “Affirmative action has opened up many doors for highly talented BIPOC students who, unfortunately, may otherwise be overlooked for admission.”

Itzel sees LPPI as giving her even more opportunities to strengthen her network by introducing her to other students and staff “who care about equity and justice for BIPOC communities at UCLA and beyond.”

Rocio Perez presenting

Rocio Perez presenting

Another of our returning research fellows, Rocio Perez, a Master of Public Policy student at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, has also felt the impact of the firsthand experience UCLA LPPI provides. Rocio is involved with Health Illinois, where she analyzes enrollment data and conducts stakeholder interviews to determine the health impact of two Medicaid expansion programs. Through this experience, Rocio secured sponsorship to attend a national conference as a participant and panelist, where she spoke on the importance of humanizing data and her previous work on hunger and poverty.

Her fellowship at UCLA LPPI provided the skills to further her advocacy and work on novel research projects like the Latino Data Hub (LDH). Working on the LDH project has provided critical exposure to working with data sets and strengthened her quantitative and writing skills. In reflecting on her experience, Rocio credits her current success to the mentorship she received from UCLA LPPI, “I would not be where I am today without Dr. Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas [Director of Research] and Sonja Diaz [Founding Executive Director of UCLA LPPI] who believed in and offered me the fellowship, or without the mentorship I received from Jie Zong [Senior Research Analyst] and Misael Galdámez [Research Analyst] to work towards my career goals.”

Heidy Melchor w Grupo Estudianti Oaxaqueño (GEO) de UCLA

Heidy Melchor w Grupo Estudianti Oaxaqueño (GEO) de UCLA

Heidy Melchor, an undergraduate policy fellow in the Programs Department, is also putting her fellowship to work. While at UCLA LPPI, she founded Grupo Estudiantil Oaxaqueño (GEO) de UCLA, a student-led organization on campus created to bring together the growing community of Oaxaqueños on UCLA’s campus. The student group provides a safe space to share and discuss cultures with one another while offering academic support. Utilizing UCLA LPPI’s network of faculty experts, Heidy connected with Elizabeth Gonzalez, the inaugural Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) director in the Chancellor’s Office at UCLA. Building on GEO’s work to connect Oaxacan students with faculty who share similar identities, Heidy organized a community event for students to personally meet with Dr. Gonzalez and learn about her trajectory in higher education.

Heidy expressed her gratitude for having a space like UCLA LPPI and the phenomenal mentors it has connected her too. She noted how their care for her and her passions have pushed her even further and given her the building blocks to grow into the future leader she hopes to become. Heidy said, “LPPI has allowed me to learn and gain confidence in professional spaces. I am eternally grateful for this experience that has built my confidence in professional settings.”

Mirian A. Palacios Cruz is another undergraduate fellow in the UCLA LPPI’s Communications Department, who recently published her political science departmental honors thesis, “Tu Luchá es Mi Luchá” (Your Fight is My Fight): Transgender Visibility and Latinx Solidarity.” This remarkable research centers the lives of transgender Latinx immigrants, setting it apart from many traditional research spaces. Mirian shared why her work is so critical, “Investigating the political attitudes of the Latinx community through a gender-responsive framework will not only allow us to raise awareness about the issues impacting cisgender women and LGBTQ Latinxs but also improve our understanding of the factors that influence the political mobilization of this community to inform political engagement campaigns.” Mirian expressed gratitude for the mentorship and support of her faculty mentor and UCLA LPPI expert, Dr. Efrén Pérez.

UCLA LPPI believes in investing in Latine scholars to develop the leaders of tomorrow. The policy fellows at UCLA LPPI continue to overachieve and show passion in every project they are involved with. As graduating policy fellows move on to the next step in their careers, we’re excited to highlight the next steps in their journeys.

Rocio Perez accepted a summer position with the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality, focusing on economic security issues. Heidy Melchor will be taking her next steps in her career in Washington, D.C. as a public policy fellow with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. And Mirian Palacios Cruz will continue working with Women’s March Action. Her long-term goal is to pursue a Ph.D. in history or political science.

We applaud the Class of 2023, and thank them for their efforts and contribution to the success of UCLA LPPI.  With leaders like these four young women, the future of Latine policy and leadership looks bright.

/by

UCLA LPPI Student Fellows Have a Direct Stake in Latino Policy Research

, , , ,

By Alise Brillault, Communications Manager, UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative

November 29, 2021

Young Latino leaders are key to America’s future. As California’s plurality and the nation’s second largest ethnic group, Latinos were responsible for 51% of U.S. population growth in the last decade and represent an increasingly youthful and diverse population. More than half of young Americans are people of color, and six out of ten Latinos are Millennials or younger.

Yet, Latinos are underrepresented in leadership positions and overrepresented in low-wage jobs. Latinos only account for 1.2% of elected officials in the country. During a pandemic in which Latinos have been nearly three times as likely as non-Hispanic whites to die from COVID-19, it is imperative that Latino communities see themselves and their needs reflected in political decision-making. Further, the pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing economic inequities, even while Latinos serve as the economic drivers of America. In fact, if U.S. Latinos were their own country, they would have the 7th largest GDP in the world. Ultimately, the nation’s success is predicated on Latinos’ success, and these numbers remind us how critical it is to invest in young leaders of color.

UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative (UCLA LPPI) recognizes the need to harness the talent and potential of young Latino leaders to bring us to a future where we all can thrive. Through its flagship student fellowship program, UCLA LPPI is training the elected officials and organizational leaders of tomorrow to center historically marginalized communities at decision-making tables. But the policy challenges that student fellows tackle are not just résumé boosters. The issues at hand are often deeply personal to them.

Bryanna Ruiz, Undergraduate student; Area of study: Major in political science, minor in Chicanx studies and public affairs; Expected graduation: 2022

For example, Bryanna Ruiz, an undergraduate fellow, had real worries about the health of her family members who were frontline workers. “My mother is a house cleaner, and at the beginning of the pandemic I was scared for her,” Ruiz reveals, also noting that her family did not qualify for the first rounds of CARES Act stimulus payments due to their mixed status. “In the pandemic, frontline workers were the largest impacted yet were treated as disposable.”  So, for fellows like Ruiz, it has been significant to be at UCLA LPPI as they conduct research on the effects of the pandemic on essential workers of color and convene advocates and policy leaders to identify solutions for protecting those workers.

Ruiz, who is now in her fourth year as a fellow, has also gotten hands-on experience with a variety of career paths that she never previously considered — from assisting co-founder Dr. Matt Barreto with mixed-methods research on automatic voter registration to aiding the communications team with report rollouts. “As a first-generation college student, it’s hard to picture oneself in roles not exposed to growing up,” says Ruiz. “I’ve discovered, for instance, that uplifting research through strategic communications is just as crucial as the research itself.”

The work has been so rewarding that Ruiz even decided to continue with her fellowship remotely while she studies abroad in Italy during UCLA’s Fall Quarter. “I didn’t want to miss out on important research around the 2022 midterm elections and the chance to engage in a collaboration between UCLA LPPI and the University of Florida’s Samuel Proctor Oral History Program,” said Ruiz. The latter project seeks to uplift diverse Latino stories at this historic tipping point by collecting 1,000 oral histories.

Paula Nazario, Graduate student; Area of study: MPP (Master of Public Policy); Expected graduation: 2022

Graduate Fellow Paula Nazario also feels a direct stake in shaping a new Latino narrative with her work focusing on Latino economic issues. While contributing research to a report demonstrating that Latinas exited the workforce during the pandemic more than any other group, Nazario saw the same story playing out in her community, with women being disproportionately burdened by caretaking duties as schools went remote and childcare centers closed. “I saw how the pandemic hit women particularly hard in my neighborhood — everyone was relying on them for cooking, taking care of the children, etc., so, I was able to provide my own personal insight into that report,” said Nazario.

Nazario describes how support from Latina peers and role models at UCLA LPPI is guiding her own career path. She notes, “Seeing Kassandra Hernández getting a PhD in economics is inspiring, because I had never heard of a woman of color doing that before.”

Undergraduate Fellow Moris Gomez started a beauty salon business alongside his mother during the pandemic to support his family. During the process, Gomez began learning web development so that he could create a website for the salon, which ultimately sparked a passion for programming and design. Now as UCLA LPPI’s webmaster, Gomez describes how building on these skills in his fellowship is powerful for tackling policy issues that directly affect him and his community. He explains, “The connection to the data is very important because my community members are literally in LPPI reports. Knowing this information and disseminating it in a meaningful, accessible way can help the community.”

Moris Gomez, Undergraduate student; Area of study: Major in international development studies; Expected graduation: 2022

The community at UCLA LPPI also speaks to Gomez, who is undocumented. He reveals that he does not feel excluded or isolated. “I feel at home. Being surrounded by Latino professionals motivates me, and seeing Latinos with master’s degrees and PhDs makes me want to take it a step further,” said Gomez.

After graduation, Gomez wants to bring the skills he’s learned at UCLA LPPI to work that has a social justice perspective and direct impact on his community.

As America emerges from the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, going “back to normal” will not be sufficient for achieving true equity. “Going back to normal for Latinos is marginality,” states Juana Hernandez Sanchez, UCLA LPPI’s director of programs. “What is needed is to disrupt the status quo by leveraging existing resources for a new pipeline of young leaders of color who can return to their communities with the relevant tools to tackle long-standing policy challenges.”

UCLA LPPI plays a key role in identifying and preparing this pipeline. Student fellows are supported with technical research training and the development of interpersonal leadership skills around communication, teamwork, professional network building and setting post-graduation goals. While encouraging students to lean into their lived experiences, UCLA LPPI is helping them find their place in the policy arena and identify ways to make a tangible impact that uplifts Latino communities and expands equity and opportunity for all.

/by