Newsforum

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newsforum A PUBLICATION OF THE UCLA MEYER AND RENEE LUSKIN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

ALUMNI PROFILE Hee Yun Lee: Addressing Cultural Barriers to Cancer Screening

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FACULTY PROFILE Todd Franke: Social Welfare Mental Health Researcher

S TUDENT PROFILE John Scott-Railton Lets Egyptian Voices Be Heard P EOPLE Faculty, Students, and Alumni in the News

SPRING/SUMMER 2011

Meyer and Renee Luskin:

Philanthropic Gift Ushers in New Era in Public Affairs FULL COVERAGE STARTING ON PAGE 21

table of contents FEATURES

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2 MILESTONES

� Agreement Opens Door for UP Students, Faculty to Embark on a Passage to India � SW Faculty Unveil New Blueprint for Successful Youth/Young Adult Offender Reentry � Albert Carnesale Elected to National Academy of Engineering � UCLA Social Welfare Alumni Receive Accolades From NASW � New Social Justice Faculty Grant Awardees Announced � Concurrent MURP/MPH Degree Program Approved

6 FINDINGS

� New UCLA Report Finds Nonprofits Still Struggling In Economic Downturn � Latino Lag In Naturalization Time Narrows—A Good Sign for Finances � Educational Attainment of Asian, Pacific Communities: Myth Vs. Reality � Unemployment’s Psychological Scars � New UC Operating Model Proposed by Former Chancellor Charles Young � Discerning Why Perceptions of Youth Violence Are ‘Out of Whack With the Facts’ � Entertainment Media, Lack of Facts Distort Intelligence Discourse

11 Q&A

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� A View From Economic Geography with Michael Storper

13 RECAP

� Highlights from UCLA School of Public Affairs Events

20 MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: Tweet Scene 21 FEATURES

� Cover Story: Luskin Gift Ushers In New Era In Public Affairs � Alumni Profile: Hun Yun Lee Addresses Cancer Screening Among Asian Immigrants � Faculty Profile: SW’s Todd Franke On Measuring the Success of Social Programs � Student Profile: UP’s John Scott-Railton Lets Egyptians Voices Be Heard

37 PEOPLE

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� News, Notes, and Accolades from Faculty, Students, and Alumni

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A PUBLICATION OF THE UCLA MEYER AND RENEE LUSKIN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Dean Franklin D. Gilliam Jr.

EDITOR

Minne Hong Ho, Executive Director of Communications

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Seth Odell

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Mohib Qidwai

CONTRIBUTORS

Robin Heffler, Jack Feuer, Joel Grostephan

PHOTOGRAPHY Rich Schmitt, Reed Hutchinson, Adam Irving, Todd Cheney/ASUCLA Photography DESIGN Escott Associates

© Copyright 2011 UC Regents

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

BY FRANKLIN D. GILLIAM JR. Dean

dean’s message

DEAN FRANKLIN D. GILLIAM JR. Photo from the opening of the West Coast Social Justice dialogues, a convening of West Coast region schools of public affairs/service to discuss incorporating equity issues into graduate curricula.

The event was held in conjunction between UCLA Luskin and NYU Wagner, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

AS THE 2011 ACADEMIC YEAR COMES TO A CLOSE, I AM pleased to be able to report on the progress that we have made as a School and as a community.

First and foremost, I am proud and humbled by the tremendous act of confidence that Meyer and Renee Luskin have bestowed by making a $50 million gift to rename the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. This gift, largely in endowments, is an investment in not just the future fiscal health of our School, but an act of faith in the City of Los Angeles—her people; civic, business, educational, community, and cultural institutions; neighborhoods; and families.

We have received the benefit of great philanthropic largesse, and with that, the responsibility to the city that is our home.

A city, that is a living laboratory, and to and from which our students, faculty and alumni can apply their learnings wherever they go—Egypt, Dubai, India, Shanghai. I know I speak for all our faculty and students when I say that it is a privilege to take on this role, and one we approach with both diligence and passion.

And passion is our business.

This year, Professors Jorja Leap and Michelle Johnson, respectively, brought their passion for justice to their students in organizing successful speaker series on gangs, and on immigration.

Chancellor Emeritus and Professor Albert Carnesale headed a National Research Council committee, which released a study on America’s Climate Choices to help Congress make climate policy decisions based on the best scientific knowledge and analysis.

The Lewis Center and the Luskin Center, both under the direction

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

of J.R. DeShazo, inspired passion to create change on issues of environmental policy, clean energy, and building livable, healthy, and sustainable communities. The Center for Civil Society, under the direction of Bill Parent and Jocelyn Guihama, convened the nonprofit community to disseminate findings on ways to build support for their organizations. The School convened 30 graduate schools from around the country for a series of dialogues in New York and Los Angeles to discuss public service and social justice education. Research by faculty members Fernando Torres-Gil and Lois Takahashi uncovered factual analyses of the Latino and Asian populations that will create a better understanding of the current and future needs of these communities. Professors Bridget Freisthler and Laura Abrams continue to collaborate on the geo-spatial distribution of resources for the reentry of former youth offenders; and professors Johnson, Freisthler, field faculty/ alumna Tracy Colunga and their students worked together to collect data in the Macarthur Park section of Long Beach to improve access to healthy food and exercise for this diverse working-class community.

To these and the many other faculty members who have shared their passion for improving the fabric of our civic life with our students and community, I salute you. The knowledge and experience you impart to our students is immeasurable.

To the many friends, partnering organizations, supportive alumni, and funders who have worked with us this year to make these projects and many other learning experiences possible for our students, I thank you for joining us in pursuing our mission of a just and equitable society.

To our students, especially the Class of 2011, I congratulate you. You made the right decision when you first walked through our doors, and as you leave to turn your passion into a lifelong pursuit, know that our community—UCLA Luskin, some 7,000 alumni strong—stand with you, and behind you, all the way.

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milestones header

Associate Dean Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris (right) signs a memorandum of understanding between the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology University (CEPT) and the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Department of Urban Planning, establishing a long-term institutional partnership in education and research.

Pictured with her is R.N. Vakil, the director of CEPT University.

Agreement Opens Door for Urban Planning Students, Faculty to Embark on a Passage to India A RECENTLY SIGNED AGREEMENT BETWEEN UCLA, AN INDIAN university, and governmental officials in India will enable the Luskin School of Public Affairs’ urban planning students to work as summer interns and participate in hands-on projects at India’s leading architecture and urban planning university. Some UCLA faculty will present lectures and workshops there as well.

On January 10, Urban Planning Chair BRIAN TAYLOR and School of Public Affairs Associate Dean ANASTASIA LOUKAITOU-SIDERIS signed a memorandum of understanding in which their department and the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies will share knowledge and learning opportunities with the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) university, located in the Indian city of Ahmedabad, in the State of Gujarat.

“There has been quite a hunger from Luskin School of Public Affairs students to be exposed to the contexts, issues, and problems experienced in other parts of the world,” said Loukaitou-Sideris. “Like similar collaborations we have with the China Academy of Urban Planning, this agreement will give them that exposure as well as experience with housing, transportation, and infrastructure projects.”

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For Gujarat’s leaders, the agreement is a way to gain expertise they need to establish centers of excellence in these and other areas of urban planning. CEPT students will be able to take urban planning classes at UCLA for a quarter or two, while Gujarat public officials may participate in UCLA urban planning training workshops.

Taylor pointed out that “India has 16 percent of the world’s population and is rapidly urbanizing. One example of our mutual interests is the research I’ve done on bus rapid-transit systems, while Indian planners from CEPT have also developed applications for such transportation. This common interest could result in one of many joint research programs with faculty from both universities that look at comparative issues.”

Taylor and Loukaitou-Sideris were among representatives of 80 institutions worldwide who signed collaborative agreements with academic bodies in Gujarat, the most prosperous state in India. The signings were part of the International Roundtable of Academic Institutions, held in conjunction with the Vibrant Gujarat 2011 Summit, an annual economicdevelopment conference. n —Robin Heffler

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

Social Welfare Faculty Unveil New Blueprint for Successful Youth/Young Adult Offender Reentry TWO FACULTY MEMBERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL Welfare, associate professor LAURA ABRAMS and assistant professor BRIDGET FREISTHLER, recently completed a report for the County of Los Angeles titled the Young Offender Reentry Blueprint, which was presented at a summit on juvenile justice, “Off the Page and Into Reality: A Call to Action to Implement the Los Angeles County Blueprint for Youth and Young Adult Reentry,” held in downtown Los Angeles on February 16.

The blueprint was commissioned by the County of Los Angeles Department of Community and Senior Services and was supported by a $300,000 planning grant from the US Department of Labor.

Professors Abrams and Freisthler presented their research to more than 300 summit attendees, including representatives from the Los Angeles County Workforce Investment Board, the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, the Los Angeles County Probation Department, the Los Angeles City Gang Reduction and Youth Development Office, The California Wellness Foundation, and social service agencies throughout the region.

The blueprint lays out a multidimensional approach to

successful reentry for juveniles and young adults, emphasizing 1) high-quality reentry services for these populations both during incarceration and as they reenter their communities; 2) better coordination among existing agencies to streamline the reentry process, and 3) expanding positive opportunities that provide a better alternative to recidivism, including education, skills training, and jobs.

Prof. Abrams, who has done extensive research in the field of juvenile justice and barriers to reentry, commented that “In order for reentry to work, people from different sides of the table need to start talking to one another. If we want to make a difference, we have to come together in some coordinated fashion.”

Prof. Freisthler, who presented visual data that mapped each County district in terms of service locations, youth and adult probationers, and unemployment, among other highly relevant data, said “When you see problems visually, all of a sudden it becomes real.” The GIS (geographic information system) data is particularly valuable as data on juvenile reentry has not been readily available on a regular basis. “That’s why it’s incorporated into the social work curriculum—we are one of the few social work schools across the country that teaches GIS.”

“In order for reentry to work, people from different sides of the table need to start talking to one another. If we want to make a difference, we have to come together in some coordinated fashion.”

—LAURA ABRAMS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT

The Los Angeles County–sponsored blueprint project also involved Jessica Nolan Daugherty ’10, an MPP alumna of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, who collaborated with Abrams and Freisthler on completing the report.

A complete copy of the blueprint is available online for download at http://bit.ly/youth-blueprint. n L. to r.: Laura Abrams and Bridget Freisthler

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

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Carnesale Elected to National Academy of Engineering THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING (NAE) has elected ALBERT CARNESALE, UCLA chancellor emeritus and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and public policy, as a new member. He is among 68 new members and nine foreign associates chosen for this top honor this year, the NAE announced on February 8.

Carnesale was recognized for bringing engineering excellence and objectivity to international security and arms control and for leadership in higher education, according to the NAE. Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to engineering research, practice or education.

Currently, there are a total of 2,290 US members and 202 foreign associates in the NAE. Albert Carnesale’s research and teaching focus on public policy issues having substantial scientific and technological dimensions, and he is the author or coauthor of six books and more than 100 articles on a wide range of subjects, including national security strategy, arms control, nuclear proliferation, the effects of technological change on foreign and defense policy, domestic and international energy issues, and higher education. He chairs three committees of the National Academies: the Committee on Conventional Prompt Global Strike Capability, the Committee on Nuclear Forensics, and the Committee on America’s Climate Choices. n

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FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Ruth Sugerman, LCSW (Lifetime Achievement in Social Work), Marshall Wong, MSW (Social Worker of the Year), Maria Suarez (Public Citizen of the Year), Tracy Greene Mintz, LCSW (NASW Region H Director), and Everardo Alvizo, MSW (NASW Region H Assistant Director.)

UCLA Social Welfare Alumni Receive Accolades From NASW AT THE 2011 AWARD DINNER OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS (NASW, Region H), the UCLA Department of Social Welfare was well represented by several of the event’s top honorees.

MARSHALL WONG, MSW ’86, was recognized as Region H Social Worker of the Year.

Wong, a native of Los Angeles, has served as a senior human relations consultant with the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations since 1999. He is the commission's hate crime coordinator, has developed human relations curricula for county employees, and established the agency's Hate Crime Victim Assistance and Community Advocacy Initiative.

Wong is a field education instructor with the Department of Social Welfare and serves as cochair of API Equality–LA, a coalition of organizations and individuals who are committed to working in the Asian and Pacific Islander communities in greater Los Angeles for equal marriage rights and fair treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families through community education and advocacy.

Also honored was alumna RUTH SUGERMAN, MSW ’67, LCSW, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award for her lasting contribution to the field of social work, her community and policy work, her mentoring, and her direct service with nephrology patients and other clients.Sugarman spent over two decades working with patients on dialysis and their families, and served as the legislative chair of the Council of Nephrology Social Workers.

During her career, she started a support group for spouses of dialysis patients, the first of its kind in the region.

MARIA SUAREZ, the honoree for Citizen of the Year, also has connections to UCLA Social Welfare. Suarez, a survivor of sexual slavery who was wrongly incarcerated for the death of her abuser, is now working at Women Helping Women, a field agency of the UCLA MSW program, where the clinical director is UCLA alumna Ava Rose MSW ’99, LCSW. n

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

milestones

New Social Justice Faculty Grant Awardees Announced The UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, through the generous support of the Ford Foundation, is pleased to announce the recipients of the first Social Justice Faculty Instructional Improvement Grants, which support faculty in their efforts to enhance social justice themes/foci in graduate course offerings.

Urban Planning professor PAUL ONG developed a new Social Justice Service Learning Course—Affordable and Fair Housing in Transit Oriented Development. This studio course, currently being taught, has a community-oriented client in the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing. The course incorporates social justice literature on affordable housing, fair housing, transit-oriented development and discrimination. It teaches students the skills and analytical methods for evaluating place-based initiatives and will be a model for how to transform a quantitative skills course into a meaningful service-learning course.

Urban Planning professor VINIT MUKHIJA will incorporate a social and spatial justice framework for his class, The Informal City: Research and Regulation. Professor Mukhija will establish a new guest speaker series featuring leading scholars with a social justice bent who can speak on the intersection of social justice and informality. Professor Mukhija and Associate Dean ANASTASIA LOUKAITOU-SIDERIS plan to edit and publish a volume of papers based on this lecture series, which will be a significant contribution on the issue of urban informality and social justice.

Urban Planning professor SUSANNA HECHT is developing a new course called Environmental Justice and Emergent Paradigms: From Sustainability to Survivability. Case studies on the impact of Hurricane Katrina and BP oil spill on New Orleans; US/Mexico border issues and the city of Juarez; and Central American adaptation to climate change, as well as other cases will be developed. This course will challenge students to rethink questions of environmental and ecological justice, and to learn about the various dimensions of environmental justice; impacts of socio-environmental change, distribution of social impacts, and buffering.

Concurrent MURP/MPH Degree Program Approved The Environmental Health Sciences Department in the UCLA School of Public Health and the Department of Urban Planning are now offering a concurrent plan of study providing an integrated curriculum for students interested in interdisciplinary training on the public health consequences of urban planning.

Students in this program study how public health intersects with urban design and land-use patterns, location choices and activity participation, economic factors, equity and social justice, governance and institutional management, and planning for sustainability. Concurrent students pursue studies in both schools/departments and earn both a master of public health degree (MPH) with an emphasis in environ-

Social Welfare professor ALFREDA IGLEHART is infusing a social justice lens in the first-year core course, Theory of Social Work Practice in Organizations, Communities and Policy Settings, which is being taught in collaboration with professors BRIDGET FREISTHLER and TOBY HUR. Professor Iglehart will be developing a new case study on Crenshaw High School’s Fire Academy (a program developed by the school to address some of the challenges facing its at-risk youth). Students will learn to think critically about interventions that address social disparities, evaluate nontraditional programs for at-risk, minority youth, develop program proposals that advance social justice, and formulate evaluation strategies. This new case study will be one of the very few in Social Welfare curricula that is Los Angeles– based.

mental health sciences and a master of urban and regional planning degree (MURP) following three years of full-time study. The program is open to students starting in the fall of 2012. n

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

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findings header

New UCLA Report Finds Nonprofits Still Struggling in Economic Downturn MOST LOS ANGELES NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS CONTINUE TO struggle with declining revenue and increased demand, and there’s no end in sight, according to a new report released by the Center for Civil Society at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Hard Times: Impacts, Actions, Prospects—The State of the Nonprofit Sector in Los Angeles 2010 reveals that for the second year in a row, more than 60 percent of local nonprofits experienced an increased need for their services, particularly among low-income and vulnerable populations, while more than 50 percent reported a significant decline in funding.

The Los Angeles County nonprofit sector includes 18,622 active 501(c)(3) public charities and private foundations. Together they accounted for nearly $38 billion in economic activity in 2008, the most recent year for which data is available.

Highlights from the report’s findings include: • More than half of all local nonprofits reported declining revenues, with more than one-third operating in deficit.

• Thirty-three percent of nonprofits in Los Angeles County reported increased expenditures, while 32 percent reported decreased expenditures—a trend very similar to last year.

• More than 60 percent reported an increase in demand for services over the last year.

• Nonprofits did not do as well as they predicted over the past year. While 75 percent of those surveyed in 2009 forecasted steady or increasing revenue, only 48 percent actually experienced steady or increasing revenue.

• While the nonprofit sector typically lags two to three years behind the private sector when recovering from a “normal” recession, this recovery is more likely to be in the four- to five-year range, and even then the likelihood of a full return to pre-recession economic conditions is doubtful, according to the report’s authors.

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More than 60 percent of local nonprofits experienced an increased need for their services, particularly among low-income and vulnerable populations, while more than 50 percent reported a significant decline in funding.

The report was released November 29, 2010, at the Center for Civil Society’s annual conference on the state of the Los Angeles nonprofit sector, held at the California Endowment.

The conference was cosponsored by Southern California Grantmakers and the Center for Nonprofit Management.

“One of our responsibilities as a public research university is to apply our research and teaching capacity to the needs and challenges facing our region,” said Franklin D. Gilliam Jr., dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. “This report shows just how severe this recession has been on nonprofit organizations in Los Angeles—from homeless shelters and food pantries to cultural institutions.”

Hard Times: Impacts, Actions, Prospects—The State of the Nonprofit Sector in Los Angeles 2010 is published by the Center for Civil Society at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and is available online at http://bit.ly/ UCLA-nonprofits-2010. n

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

Latino Lag in Naturalization Time Narrows— A Good Sign for Finances A recently published study found that Asians naturalize soon after immigration, while Latinos take longer, though the lag is smaller for Latinos in Generation X than among Baby Boomers. The change between the two generations of Latinos is expected to improve the financial well-being of Latino Gen Xers.

FERNANDO TORRES-GIL, professor of social welfare and public policy, was one of the study’s authors, along with CHON A. NORIEGA, UCLA professor film, television, and digital media, and other researchers. The Latino Naturalization Lag: Latino Immigrants Take Longer to Naturalize than Asian Immigrants, was sponsored by the Latinos and Economic Security national research project.

In 2000, the research revealed, 57 percent of Latino and 88 percent of Asian Boomers had immigrated to the U.S. Among these Latinos, 37 percent had naturalized, compared to 57 percent of the Asians. At the same time, the income of naturalized Latino Boomers was more than 60 percent higher than that of their noncitizen counterparts.

The gap in naturalization between Asian and Latino Boomers was found to be five years, compared to three years between Gen Xers of the two ethnic groups.

Previous research has suggested that the act of becoming naturalized improves financial status, prompting the researchers to conclude that promoting early naturalization of new Latino immigrants is important to ensuring the financial well-being of the Latino population.

To read the study, go to http://bit.ly/Latino-Naturalization-Report. n

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

Educational Attainment of Asian, Pacific Communities: Myth vs. Reality California has the largest and most diverse Asian American (AA) and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) populations in the nation. But contrary to “model minority” characterizations of their educational attainment, these ethnic populations contain sub-groups that have disproportionately high rates of dropping out of high school and not receiving high-school diplomas.

That’s a major conclusion of the report, The State of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Education in California. It was released by the University of California Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy Multicampus Research Program, directed by LOIS M. TAKAHASHI, professor of urban planning and Asian American studies.

The report found that Hmong have the largest proportion, 45 percent, with less than a high-school diploma among all racial/ ethnic groups, and that about 40 percent of Cambodians and Laotians have less than a high-school diploma, double the state rate. In addition, poverty and limited English proficiency alone and together heighten the risk for dropping out of high school and college/university among several AA and NHPI subgroups.

At the same time, the proportion of AA and NHPI professional educators—who can help these populations succeed, according to research—is less, and in some cases far less, than the proportion of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander enrolled students.

The report calls for more data on AA and NHPI subgroups, more data to determine obstacles to retention, success, and graduation for these subgroups, and “pipeline” programs to higher education that target AAs and NHPIs. To view the complete report, go to: http://1.usa.gov/AsianEducation-Report. n

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The scars from unemployment,

ILLUSTRATION: CHERYL WARRICK, WWW.THEISPOT.COM

underemployment, and insecure employment, as well as how we respond to others who are facing unemployment, will reverberate throughout society long after the job market recovers.

Unemployment’s Psychological Scars AFTER NEARLY TWO YEARS OF RECESSION, THE UNITED STATES economy entered a period of slow recovery in the third quarter of 2009. However, despite seven quarters of GDP growth, jobs have just barely started to recover.

The unemployment rate in the US fell to 8.9 percent in February, the first time in nearly two years that it has dropped below 9 percent. Nearly 14 million people still remain unemployed, and millions more are working part-time but want full-time hours or are out of work but no longer counted in the official unemployment statistics. Of the officially unemployed, about 6 million or nearly 44 percent have been out of work for six months or more—among the highest levels of long-term unemployment ever recorded, exceeded only at the peak of this recession. And almost one-third have been unemployed for a year or more; the average time to find a job is now about nine months.

We frequently hear about the terrible economic effects of the longest and deepest economic downturn of our lifetimes. Yet,

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these economic impacts are just part of the story. The scars from unemployment, underemployment, and insecure employment, as well as how we respond to others who are facing unemployment—in particular, long-term unemployment—will reverberate throughout society long after the job market recovers.

Many studies over the years have found that unemployment has a negative effect on a large number of outcomes ranging from the physical to the social to the psychological. Decades of research have demonstrated a relationship between unemployment and poor overall health: increases in deaths due to cardiovascular problems, cirrhosis, and suicide; decreases in well-being; increases in depression, anxiety, and mental hospital admissions; increases in alcohol abuse; and increases in violence and arrests.

Unemployment creates insecurity and disrupts plans, both current and future. Unemployment may also lead to limited finances and constraints on personal choices. The time frame for reaching goals and milestones—buying a home, continuing with education, moving out on your own, or retiring—may be altered

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

findings

New UC Operating Model Proposed by Former Chancellor Charles Young in California Policy Options 2011 Following a diminishing trend in state budget contributions, coupled with higher tuition fees, CHARLES M. YOUNG, former chancellor of UCLA, makes the case for California schools to move towards “modified self-sufficiency” in the latest edition of California Policy Options, produced by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Advocating public-private partnerships to support UC schools, Young writes about a recent proposal by the UCLA Anderson School and references the successful transition of University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

Provided are options for short-term contracts that establish a review between philanthropists and universities as they work toward goals of greater planning and financial management.

“Above all, the UC must commit itself to provide institutionally-based aid at a level and type which allows all who are eligible for admission to receive support to enable attendance and graduation without incurring unreasonable amounts of debt,” writes Young, adding, “nothing can be accomplished without strong leadership willing to think ‘out of the box’ at the top levels of the state and UC.” The report also reviews and tackles issues related to the California economy, including the state budget, political forecast, economic recovery, job loss, and unemployment. n

California Policy Options 2011 is published by the Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center 1

at the UCLA Luskin School of Government By (Hot) Checks And (IM)Balances: California’s State Budget From The May 2009 Voter Rejection To The October 2010 Budget Deal

Daniel J.B. Mitchell

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Public Affairs and is available Of Dolphins, Condors, and Snapping Turtles: The 2011 California Political Forecast

Bill Parent

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for download online at California’s Economic Outlook

Christopher Thornberg, Jon Haveman, Jordan G. Levine, Beacon Economics

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—Lauren Appelbaum and Chris Tilly

California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard: The View from the Ground

http://bit.ly/CPO2011 .

5 Max Messervy

Policy Options for University of California Budgeting

Charles E. Young

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Job Loss Issues for California Lauren D. Appelbaum

Both Lauren D. Appelbaum, research director, and Chris Tilly, director, are with UCLA’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. They are the organizers of the conference, “Reconnecting to Work: Consequences of Long-Term Unemployment and Prospects for Job Creation,” held on April 1–2 at UCLA.

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

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The Public Policy of California Competitiveness: A Scorecard Approach Jerry Nickelsburg and Robert Spich

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C A L I F O R N I A P O L I C Y O P T I O N S 2 011

by poor economic conditions. There is evidence that disruptive economic events during the life course can have consequences reaching well into the future.

A relatively unexamined outcome of the psychological trauma caused by living in a world of economic uncertainty is the impact that unemployment and long-term unemployment have on the decisions we make about our life course trajectories—decisions about school, retirement, and family. For instance, polls indicate a recent increase in college applications but also suggest that people working their way through college have had to leave school.

The growth in labor force participation since December 2007 among men 62 or older indicates that people may be delaying retirement and working longer. The number of people over 55 with jobs increased 7.6 percent during the three years from the start of the recession in December 2007 to December 2010. And there was an associated rise in the unemployment rate for this group, indicating that fewer people are retiring.

While marriage can help to soften the blow of unemployment, unemployment can lead to marital dissatisfaction. The strain of unemployment may result in decisions to dissolve marriages or postpone getting married. Polls indicate an increase in dissatisfaction among married couples and a decrease in the number of marriages in areas particularly hard hit by the recession.

Furthermore, there has been a decline in the US birthrate since the start of the recession. The number of births in the US fell by 2.7 percent in 2009, at the height of job loss in the United States.

This was despite an increase in the population of childbearing age.

The decisions we make about our life course affect not only ourselves but our children, our families, and our communities as well. They may have serious implications for the future health of the US economy—even decades beyond the end of this recession.

Attention to the psychological impacts of the job crisis as well as its economic impacts is essential and will allow for a response to the fallout from the economic crisis that better meets the needs of the unemployed and their communities than a narrow concern with financial reform or fiscal prudence.

2011 CALIFORNIA POLICY OPTIONS

Houdini Tax Reform Can California Escape Its Fiscal Straightjacket?

Kirk J. Stark

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Clean Technology In Los Angeles: Improving The City’s Competitiveness Kristina Bedrossian, Sarah Locher, Frank Lopez, Matthew O’Keefe

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findings

Discerning Why Perceptions of Youth Violence Are ‘Out of Whack With the Facts’

Entertainment Media, Lack of Facts Distort Intelligence Discourse

ALTHOUGH YOUTH VIOLENCE in the United States has declined significantly since it spiked in the mid-1990s, surveys show that Americans still see it as an important problem. FRANK GILLIAM, Luskin School of Public Affairs dean and a senior fellow with the FrameWorks Institute, set out to discover the reasons for, and how to change, that perception.

In FrameWorks e-magazine report, “Out of Whack With the Facts: The Stubborn Case of Youth Violence in Public Perception,” Gilliam documented the findings of research he conducted in collaboration with DIANE BENJAMIN, MPH and a senior associate with the institute.

A key factor, Gilliam and Benjamin found, is the public’s cultural beliefs about youth: that teens grow up in a dangerous environment, are fundamentally different from past generations, and have negative experiences because their values have declined. At the same time, factual rebuttals to these beliefs do not succeed in being persuasive.

Contributing to the stubbornness of the public’s misperceptions of youth violence are views about the roles of race and minority communities in the problem, media portrayals of youth that skew toward the negative, and the public-health community’s failure to effectively explain how programs can prevent youth violence.

To improve communications about violence prevention, the authors made a number of recommendations, including: reminding people of the shared advantages of violence-free communities; talking about youth from a developmental perspective, i.e., that they are still in a formative and malleable stage; introducing race as a factor after presenting the broader context of youth violence; and explicitly explaining how prevention can decrease violence and the role that environment can play. n

AN INCREASE IN FICTIONAL books, films, and television series that depict the world of government intelligence operations, together with a decline in real-world facts about such intelligence activity, are leading the public to be seriously misinformed about what intelligence agencies do and how well they can do it.

At the same time, policymakers are tapping the often-inaccurate fictional media to formulate and implement intelligence policies.

That’s the picture presented in “Spytainment: The Real Influence of Fake Spies,” a study by AMY ZEGART, associate professor of public policy, which appeared in the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence.

Zegart cited the growth of spy-themed books, TV shows , and video games the last two decades. She attributed the decline in factual information about intelligence operations to factors that include over-classification of information as potentially harmful to national security, an often lengthy process to acquire information under the Freedom of Information Act, and a culture of secrecy.

As a result of these trends, she said, “the American public tends to have wildly unrealistic expectations of what intelligence agencies can do, and then becomes shocked and dismayed when they end up falling short.” More insidiously, Zegart added, this “omnipotence-incompetence problem fans the flames of conspiracy theories…”

Equally troublesome, she said, were examples of members of Congress, presidential candidates, and even the CIA director talking about plotlines from the television show 24 while debating policy issues.

“US intelligence agencies,” Zegart said, “have never been more important and less understood…Using intelligence better starts with understanding intelligence better.” n

Download the complete report at: http://bit.ly/youth-violence-report.

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NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

Q&A

Justice and Efficiency A View From Economic Geography, With Michael Storper MICHAEL STORPER HOLDS CONCURRENT FACULTY appointments in Los Angeles, Paris, and London: as professor of urban planning in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs; professor of economic sociology at Sciences Po in Paris, France; and as the Centennial Visiting Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics. An economic geographer by training—the study of the spatial distribution of resources in a given economy—his research concentrates on regional economic development and policy, including such themes as globalization, technological change and global economic development, regional economies, and urban-metropolitan development. Much of his research is comparative, concentrating on western Europe and Brazil.

Currently, he is working on globalization processes and the ways that they are affected by flows of knowledge, at world scale and in the European Union. Newsforum recently caught up with Michael Storper to talk about his recent article, “Justice, Efficiency, and Economic Geography: Should Places Help One Another to Develop?” from the journal, European Urban and Regional Studies.

NEWSFORUM: Let’s talk for a moment about the concept of justice in economic geography. We’ve often heard our faculty talk to students about “winners and losers” in any given scenario. Why is the issue of justice central to planning?

STORPER: In virtually all social science and policy questions, there is a tension between efficiency and equity.

For example, let’s say that in a population of 100 people there is a new policy that results in the creation of $100 in new wealth. If the benefit is distributed equally among the entire population, there is a very small improvement to each member of the the community. If that benefit goes to only one person, he or she might be able to make some type of dramatic change. For example, build a factory, start a business, etc. Suppose that the new economic activity makes everybody better off by $2 per person. But also imagine that the new entrepreneur becomes become much wealthier than all the others, and uses the money to move away from the others in the group—perhaps live in a gated community, or use the new wealth to buy political influence. So this is what drives the conversation about efficiency and equity.

NEWSFORUM: Much of your research surrounds globalization as an example of this dilemma. How are equity questions applicable to this scenario?

STORPER: Most people believe that globalization makes the

economy more efficient. But it tends to concentrate the best jobs and industries in a smaller number of “global regions.”

Moreover, by shifting jobs to places where they are more efficient for the global economy as a whole, it can cause a lot of people to lose out. It also tends to eliminate less efficient companies in favor of the globally strong ones, and in so doing, means that countries and regions can lose their companies. So this raises two issues here: one, should we do anything to help people who are the innocent victims of a transition that benefits wide swaths of the society? Moving beyond that optimistic scenario, however, what if globalization so strongly benefits certain categories of people—those with the right skills—that it creates a class of people who are much richer than the others?

Again, “justice” involves considering whether the losers in a transition deserve compensation, and a component of justice considers inequality. Inequality in turn, has a “hard” side and a “soft” side. The hard side is about the right tradeoffs between maximizing total wealth and whether that wealth can do more good for more people if it is more evenly distributed or not. This maps directly onto cities and regions: is it better to have an economy that is more concentrated in winner regions, or to spread it out more, even if that comes at the price of a loss of efficiency?

The “soft” side has to do with the indirect effects of inequality or injustice. As I mentioned earlier, if we are all better off in absolute terms by some change, but with greater inequality, and the winners use their new wealth to buy power and influence, to make the rest of us feel like losers, or to withdraw from the shared space of society with their wealth, then it is not enough to think about efficiency.

NEWSFORUM: The article you recently published in European Urban and Regional Studies on “Justice, Efficiency and Economic Geography: Should Places Help One Another to Develop?” deals with several concepts—the “distant strangers” problem of us versus them; and the process of agglomeration and who it benefits, both short term and long term. How would you describe these concepts?

CONTINUED ON FOLLOWING PAGE

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

11

Q&A A View From Economic Geography, With Michael Storper CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

STORPER: The “us versus them” question is a classical

problem, but it is particularly potent when thought of as a planning or territorial issue. “We” are the USA; but “we” are also Californians. Still another “we” is Southern Californians.

Still another is “my neighborhood,” or the “West Side,” “the Valley.” Who is us?

This is important, because people are generally only willing to “do justice” or struggle for equality within a “we,” a shared space of political union or identity. If the West Side is considered to be a different country from the East Side, then there’s no basis for being equal or just: we are different and we might even be rivals.

NEWSFORUM: Your article references the World Bank’s 2009 World Development Report, which points to an optimistic convergence of resources. Yet you are skeptical about the likelihood of that occurring. What do you think has been overlooked?

STORPER: In development economics, on a scale of a country

or the world, most of the main classical theories predict that when places open up to one another through trade and investment, in the long run, incomes will become more similar; it’s one of the main justifications for globalization.

In my view, the evidence is very mixed, we don’t see clear results for it. Another factor is the role of cities in this process, as cities are concentrations of people, and economic activity, and they are generally much richer than places that are not cities. So thinking about equity in the world, we see on the one side the successful cities—home to about a third of the global population, have a reasonable level of income and increasing share of concentrated global wealth, and the rest of the world. “Should we help the poorer places in the world?” is a question of territorial equity and justice.

NEWSFORUM: So it’s a moral question?

STORPER: There is a moral side to it—if there are more

people who get rich, there is potentially greater efficiency and less inequality. But now introduce space again: what if this achievement of greater efficiency and equity for people requires greater inequality for territories, because in order to achieve it you have to concentrate most of the new development in major cities, at the expense of other places.

Would you choose more total wealth creation and greater inter-regional inequality, or less wealth and spreading it out

12

over more cities, neighborhoods and nations?

When Obama’s infrastructure plan came out, for example, it was created with the knowledge that it’s more efficient to put spending in 65 metropolitan areas, creating the most benefit for the most people. But the pork-barrel system in Congress tore it apart, throwing disproportionate resources at less populated areas who contribute less to our overall national wealth.

NEWFORUM: From what you have observed, how has the European Union managed the response to globalization and equity?

STORPER: The construction of the European Union itself—

and there has been quite a lot of bloodshed in getting to this point in Europe—has been enormous, and there is a consciousness that without justice, there is no peace. What this translates into is a notion that in order to make the EU work, economic development has to be spread out. If the EU is just a strategy for making the rich cities, regions, and countries richer than the weaker members of the union, it will fall apart. For this reason, the biggest budget item in the EU is for regional development funds.

So the question then becomes, how do we help the poorer regions? Of course, we could just give them money. The problem is that, like our system of pork-barrel here in the USA, that doesn’t work to spread economic development. It just spreads some wealth temporarily. The policy challenge is to redistribute money in a just and mutually helpful way—so that when it is diverted from the richer and more populated places to the poorer or less populated places, conditions are attached that encourage these places to develop their own capacities and hence contribute more back to the whole EU economy. This reconciles justice with efficiency, by using the resources of the better-off places in a way that helps the less favored places to grow and become stronger. It’s the opposite of pork-barrel: it is about development.

We economic geographers are thinking about justice and inequality in terms of people and places. It’s a complex puzzle, but it gives us a way to think forward about how cities, regions, neighborhoods, and countries—all interconnected—can use their new linkages not just for “winner take all” competition, but also for promoting development that spreads its benefits over more people and more places, and in so doing creates more development as a whole.

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

recap

Religion in America has radically changed over the last 50 years, creating a country at once quite divided and quite tolerant.

How Religion Is Transforming America THE RECENT UPROAR OVER BUILDING A MOSQUE AND community center near Ground Zero illustrated an interesting paradox about religion in America.

“America is very religiously devout and religiously diverse,” said Robert Putnam, the groundbreaking political scientist and author of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us. “In most places in the world, that combination produces mayhem—Belfast, Bosnia, Beirut, Baghdad, Bombay.”

But the United States is, he said, “surprisingly tolerant across racial lines.”

In an event copresented by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs’ Center for Civil Society and Zócalo Public Square, Putnam joined UCLA’s BILL PARENT to talk about how religion in America has radically changed over the last 50 years, creating a country at once quite divided and quite tolerant.

One Hour on Sunday to Coed Dorms In the 1950s, Putnam said, America was probably more religiously observant than ever in the nation’s history, at least until the “lightning bolt” of the 1960s. As Americans challenged authority on every front—the anti-Vietnam protests, the Civil Rights movement, feminism—mores changed rapidly. The number of Americans who thought premarital sex was acceptable doubled in four years, with a huge generational difference between baby boomers and their predecessors.

“When I was in college,” said Putnam, who graduated in 1963, “men and women were not allowed to be in the same room ever except between three and four on Sunday afternoon, with the door open and three feet on the floor. Three years later, the same college had coed dorms and coed rooms.”

He joked, “All over America there were a group of men exactly my age who thought, shucks, if only I’d been born three years later.”

These decades saw a drastic transformation of the Catholic Church—as those of Southern and Eastern European descent left the church, Latinos came in, bringing with them socially conserva-

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

BILL PARENT, LEFT, WITH ROBERT PUTNAM

tive views. But in general, the country moved in a secular direction.

Those who were alarmed by that trend, Putnam said, produced an “aftershock,” moving to the most religious end of the spectrum and creating what would come to be known as the Religious Right.

“It did not begin as a political movement, but politicians quickly saw they were there,” Putnam said.

The geography of religion also transformed, Putnam noted in Q&A. Previously, it declined “with a square of the distance to the Mississippi River”—the farther away from the big river, the less religious Americans were. Religion came to be concentrated in the South after the 1960s, largely because of politics.

“American religious leaders are endlessly inventive,” Putnam said. “Jesus said to his disciples, be fishers of men. There is a pool with lots of fish and no anglers. Over the next 10 or 15 years, some religious anglers will be trying different lures in that pond. Some will be failures but some will be successes. Twenty years from now, our religious landscape will change again—that would be perfectly consistent with American history.”

This article is excerpted from a longer piece that is available on the Zócalo Public Square website. To read the full article, visit http://bit.ly/UCLA-Zocalo-Putnam. n

13

recap “In many ways, social justice, even though it is expressed in different terms, is a common value that holds the school together.”

—FRANK GILLIAM, DEAN, UCLA LUSKIN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

UCLA Luskin + NYU Wagner Partnership Forms Cornerstone of Initiative on Social Justice WHEN FRANK GILLIAM BECAME DEAN OF THE LUSKIN SCHOOL three years ago, one of the first things he noted was the deep commitment to social justice issues on the part of faculty and students across the school’s three departments of Urban Planning, Social Welfare, and Public Policy.

“In many ways, social justice, even though it is expressed in different terms, is a common value that holds the school together,” Dean Gilliam said. “Early on, a number of students, faculty, and friends of the school made strong cases that social justice is one of our strengths, that we should do more, and that we could become a model for other schools like ours that serve diverse urban regions.”

As a result, Dean Gilliam launched a school-wide social justice initiative, which includes a partnership, supported by the Ford Foundation, between the Luskin School and the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. The two schools hosted regional social justice dialogues, one in New York on March 11 and the other on March 28 in Los Angeles.

Building on the initial UCLA/NYU dialogue, “Navigating Complex Conversations in the Era of Obama: New Ways to Address Race and Inequality in Policy and Practice,” that Dean Gilliam and Ellen Schall, dean of the NYU Wagner School, hosted in 2009, this year’s East Coast and West Coast regional dialogues expanded the conversation to include other graduate schools of public affairs interested in developing best practices on how to address issues of inequality and equity in their schools’ teaching, research, and service.

The dialogues attracted 200 participants from 30 graduate schools from around the country, including UC Berkeley, University of Oregon, Columbia, Arizona State, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USC, Brown, Howard, and George Washington, among others.

14

Social welfare student Carlos Amador reports on his group’s recommendations for creating a strategic plan for community engagement during the West Coast Social Justice dialogues at UCLA.

“Graduate education in public service—including the fields of public policy, social work, urban planning, public affairs, leadership, and nonprofit management—seeks to equip public sector policymakers with the relevant analytic tools to deal with a rapidly changing world,” Dean Gilliam said. “A social justice perspective—a lens on the systemic, institutional, and structural conditions that constrain individual and community development—is a necessary and underdeveloped analytical tool in urban and social policy curricula.”

In addition to the Ford Foundation, a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and a portion of the gift from Meyer and Renee Luskin are supporting the initiative, which is intended to prepare Luskin graduate students to better understand and diminish the systemic, institutional, and structural barriers to equality and equity in the United States and globally. n

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

To view the video about this new program, visit http://bit.ly/UCLA-LongBeach-Study.

Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Michael Haas Delivers Talk on Barack Obama IS BARACK OBAMA THE MOST misunderstood president in American history? Political science professor Michael Haas thinks so.

In his new book, The Aloha Zen President: How a Son of the 50th State May Revitalize America Based on 12 Multicultural Principles, Haas

Building a Strong and Vibrant MacArthur Park

argues that 12 multicultural prin-

On March 15, 2011, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Department of

ciples uniquely developed in Hawai‘i

Social Welfare students traveled to Long Beach to deliver the findings

are the source of President Obama’s

of a four-month assessment project tasked with analyzing how collabo-

charismatic personality and centrist

ration and community can work together to build a strong and vibrant

political philosophy.

MacArthur Park/Whittier School Neighborhood.

On March 8, 2011, Haas visited

As part of the assessment project, students partnered with the

the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and spoke with students,

City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services Weed

faculty, staff, and community members about his new book. Joined by

& Seed Program and United Cambodian Community leaders to walk

UCLA visiting professor Michael Dukakis, who wrote the book’s forward,

door-to-door and survey more than 165 residents and businesses in

the pair took questions from the audience and expanded on the idea

the MacArthur Park community. Following the door-to-door survey,

that to understand President Obama you must first understand Hawai‘i.

students analyzed the findings, reviewed relevant literature, and

Michael Haas was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, principally for his book George W. Bush, War Criminal? The Bush Administration’s Liability for 269 War Crimes (2009).

In April 2010, he was elected to the California Senior Legislature for

ultimately produced extensive data and maps that looked at issues of safety, access to healthy food, walkability, and mobility.

“Service learning opportunities like this one in Long Beach give us the opportunity to develop students in their academic training and their

a two-year term. In that capacity, he has proposed several pieces of

skill development,” says Michelle Johnson, who with faculty member

legislation for adoption by the California State Legislature and signa-

Tracy Colunga put together the research project. “It’s also important for

ture by the Governor.

UCLA to have a presence in communities other than Westwood, for us

To view the video of this presentation, visit http:bit.ly/UCLAHaas-talk. n

to give back to these communities and help them meet their goals.”

Attendees at the project presentation included the first lady of Long Beach and representatives from across the Long Beach community. “I can’t thank UCLA enough for their efforts, for working with the city of

In his new book, Michael Haas argues 12 multi-

Long Beach and specifically with the health department and the Weed

cultural principles uniquely developed in Hawai‘i

and Seed program,” said Ronald R. Arias, director of the Department

are the source of President Obama’s charismatic

opportunity to build on what has been presented today in terms of the

personality and centrist political philosophy.

assessment, and I’m looking forward to that.” n

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

of Health and Human Services for the city. “I think we have a good

15

recap

Austin Beutner Economic Development Czar Cites Resources, Steps to Improve Business Climate and Job Creation in Los Angeles

ACCORDING TO LOS ANGELES’ economic development czar, a variety of resources are available to improve the business climate and create much-needed jobs in Los Angeles, which faces a 13-percent unemployment rate and a $350-million budget deficit next year.

Austin Beutner, Los Angeles’ First Deputy Mayor and Chief Executive for Economic and Business Policy, gave that assessment to a gathering of School of Public Affairs students on, February 23, 2011, and said he is beginning to tap those resources.

16

“Our entrepreneurial spirit, educational foundation, and cultural diversity, combined with effective civic leadership, are how we go forward and create jobs for Angelenos,” Beutner said.

Appointed to his post by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in January 2010, Beutner talked about his determination to change City Hall’s leadership culture and approach to business. He said he is taking steps to help city departments work together in promoting business development while incurring little or no additional costs, including: • requiring City Hall staff to make five outreach calls each week to businesses; • using the city’s “convening” power to schedule summits between business leaders and potential partners in the community; and • instituting policy changes, including a businesstax holiday for new businesses for three years.

“Some of this is bearing fruit,” said Beutner, who previously was a partner in a leading investment and advisory firm, owned a private equity firm, and helped Russia transition into a market economy during the Clinton Administration.

One example of results he cited is a pilot program to facilitate two-way trade between the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Shanghai. Another is an agreement between local automobile dealers and community colleges in which the dealerships provide students with internships that lead to permanent jobs; a similar program is planned with the aerospace industry.

Beutner also contended that building a privately

funded football stadium on part of the current site of the Los Angeles Convention Center downtown would be a boon for business and the city, bringing more conventions, tourism, businesses, and hotels to the area.

Responding to a student’s question about how to keep more jobs from going overseas, Beutner said it’s important to create good manufacturing jobs in Los Angeles, which would generate products needed worldwide, such as electric buses. He said this could be done by calling on the city’s existing assets, including high-quality engineering schools and a trained manufacturing workforce. n

“Our entrepreneurial spirit, educational foundation, and cultural diversity, combined with effective civic leadership, are how we go forward and create jobs for Angelenos.”

— AUSTIN BEUTNER, LOS ANGELES FIRST DEPUTY MAYOR AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE FOR ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS POLICY

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

UCLA Hosts The Complete Streets for Los Angeles Conference “THE COMPLETE STREETS FOR LOS ANGELES” CONFERENCE, HOSTED BY THE UCLA Lewis Center, the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health RENEW Program brought together over 250 participants for a daylong-conference on February 25, 2011, at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles. Complete Streets is both a concept and a movement nationally creating culture change, process change, and re-prioritization inside the sophisticated and established profession of transportation planning and engineering to ensure roads are designed, operated, and maintained for all users.

Presenters discussed a host of topics from streets as health and safety issues to effective design for vibrant, multimodal streets to policy and funding strategies to making Complete Streets a reality in Los Angeles. UCLA Professor RICHARD JACKSON and Jonathan Fielding of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health outlined the ways in which land use and transportation systems can encourage physical activity and improve people’s access to better food.

GAIL GOLDBERG, a senior fellow at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and formerly with the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, outlined obstacles to creating a broad, citywide Complete Streets program: the sheer geographical size of the metropolitan region, county, and city; the diversity of communities; and the culture of planning in Los Angeles with its project-by-project approach rather than long-range, comprehensive planning. To overcome these hurdles, Goldberg suggested that single-purpose advocates in Los Angeles should create a coalition. n

Public Affairs Day at Los Angeles City Hall ON FEBRUARY 18, THE UCLA LUSKIN SCHOOL of Public Affairs held its 7th annual School of Public Affairs Day at Los Angeles City Hall.

Hosted each year by City Controller Wendy Greuel, the annual event brings graduate students from the Departments of Public Policy, Urban Planning and Social Welfare, to downtown LA to study an urban social policy issue impacting the city of Los Angeles. This year, the topic was “How should the city of Los Angeles prioritize its renewable energy goals while creating accountability to the DWP ratepayers?”

Over the course of the daylong event, students conducted a series of in-depth interviews with city and county officials, as well as civic and nonprofit leaders. Taking what they learned in the interviews and pairing it with weeks of research prior to the event, students deliberated, discussed, and ultimately presented the city with a proposed policy posi-

For presentations from this event,

tion regarding the issue at hand.

visit http://bit.ly/UCLA-complete-streets.

http://bit.ly/UCLA-City-Hall-2011. n

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

To view a news video of this event, visit

17

By Minne Hong Ho and Robin Heffler

recap

GANGS

Intervention Strategies to Break the Cycle of Violence

LA’s Leading Experts on Gangs Present Strategies to Social Welfare Students THIS ACADEMIC YEAR, THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE presented "GANGS: Strategies to Break the Cycle of Violence" a 2010–2011 speaker series to address gang issues—both in Los Angeles and on a national scale—with special focus on current knowledge of gang operations, intervention strategies, effective support services, and policy recommendations.

Speakers included some of the most highly recognized experts on the issue of gangs, including civil rights attorney and gang intervention strategist Connie Rice, codirector of the Advancement Project Los Angeles and author of the study A Call to Action: A Case for a Comprehensive Solution to LA’s Gang Violence Epidemic, and Father Greg Boyle, founder of the largest gang intervention and reentry program in Los Angeles County, Homeboy Industries.

Rice, who served as counsel to the leaders of the Watts gang truce, is renowned for her unconventional approaches to tackling problems of inequity and exclusion, having teamed up with conservatives on education issues, and in negotiating the Watts gang truce, having enlisted the support of LAPD officers.

“Los Angeles is the gang capital of the developed world,” says Rice. “In our impact litigation, we were winning our cases

on issues of employment, on environmental cases, on excessive force cases, but we were sending our clients back home to neighborhoods where they couldn’t walk home. I realized that without safety, there is no freedom—without the right to be safe, there are no other rights.”

Rice estimated that Los Angeles has between 60,000–100,000 gang members and describes the last 20 years as “an epidemic of youth gang homicide, which means that our kids are killing each other at such a high rate that epidemiologists are classifying it as an epidemic.”

She urged those in the gang prevention and intervention field to seek out new and unconventional perspectives to address gang influence, including anthropological views, cultural and political dimensions, and also using a public health model.

“Why is LA stuck on stupid when it comes to gangs?” she asks. “We can’t arrest our way out of this problem. We lack the scale and intensity to address the problem, and it doesn’t change conditions in the community that create it.”

Using what she describes as the “public health wraparound model,” Rice calls for a “24/7 effort to build up the community so that they are inoculated against the virus that is violence.”

To watch archived videos of the presentations, visit http://bit.ly/UCLA-gang-talks.

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NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

“Why is LA stuck

“Every kid knows

on stupid when it comes

that it will end in

to gangs? We can’t arrest our way out of this problem.”

— CONNIE RICE

death or imprisonment, but doesn’t care.

Joining a gang is not a rational act.”

— FATHER GREGORY BOYLE

Father Gregory Boyle, the third speaker in the series, began his talk by describing the reaction of a young man who arrived for work at Homeboy Bakery in East Los Angeles one day in 1999 and discovered that the building had burned to the ground from an electrical fire.

“Danny came off the bus wearing his uniform, saw the smoke and rubble, and began sobbing,” Boyle told Social Welfare students who packed into a two-room lecture hall in the School of Public Affairs Building on Thursday, February 3.

“It was because the bond he enjoyed with his coworkers was stronger than anything he knew with his family and more powerful than anything he knew with his gang.”

Boyle serves as executive director of Homeboy Industries, a nonprofit organization that offers employment services, mental health services, substance abuse counseling, domestic violence counseling, tattoo removal, and more to gang-involved youth.

The bakery, which was rebuilt, is now joined by four more enterprises: Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy/Homegirl Merchandise, and Homegirl Café.

In seeking to turn youth away from gangs, Boyle said, “It’s important to remember that human beings are involved” and that gang members “have a lethal absence of hope.” Gang violence, he said, “is a symptom of complex problems, including entrenched poverty, racism, and above all, an inability of young people to imagine a future for themselves.”

The profile of a gang member, he said, is one who is mentally ill, deeply despondent, or severely traumatized. Boyle said youth turn to gangs because they are fleeing something, and cited the case of a gang member who recalled playing with matches when he was five years old and having his mother then hold his hand to a flame as punishment. While telling the story, the youth

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

realized that experience was why he joined a gang.

In addition, Boyle said data show that fear tactics don’t work. “Gang violence is the language of the most despondent,” he said, “so whether they are facing one, two, or three strikes [in the legal system], it doesn’t matter… Every kid knows that it will end in death or imprisonment, but doesn’t care. Joining a gang is not a rational act.”

Boyle said that while law-enforcement leadership is more enlightened today, recognizing that “we cannot arrest our way out of this problem,” many rank-and-file police officers still look at their job as “getting the bad guy,” which demonizes gang members. Law enforcement’s and society’s approach should shift to preventing youth from hurting themselves or anyone else, he said, because “gangs have never been a crime issue, but have always been a community health issue.”

At the same time, he likened the decision to leave the gang life to the decision not to be an alcoholic any longer. “Recovery is what it’s all about,” Boyle said. “It may take a long stint in prison to say I don’t want this anymore.”

During the question-and-answer session, one student asked, “What makes your program so successful?” Boyle said that when he first began working with gang youth he thought the answer was the motto on Homeboy T-shirts: “Nothing stops a bullet like a job.” But now he believes it’s about coming to terms with personal issues and healing.

He noted that a condition of employment with Homeboy Industries is that gang members be willing to work with rival gang members. “It’s impossible to demonize someone when you know them,” Boyle said. “They always become friends when they work together. Always. Our deepest longing on this planet is that we be in kinship to each other.” n

19

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Expert Media Commentary by Faculty Follow us at twitter.com/UCLAPubAffairs for the latest.

National News

Politics and Policy

Public Policy Professor MARK KLEIMAN quoted in The Atlantic regarding

Professor PAUL ONG answers questions on Asian American voting power

his thoughts on Obama’s presidency: http://t.co/rrz1M1n New census data reveals California’s slow-growing population and trends, Prof. ERIC AVILA explains why to NYT: http://nyti.ms/censuscapop Prof. FERNANDO TORRES-GIL notes how hidden inflation is affecting seniors and cash flow: http://t.co/gxuWrOn

at Queens College forum: http://nyp.st/g9roq5 What about placing a spending cap on the state budget? Prof. DANIEL J. B.

MITCHELL looks at the Reagan-era proposition: http://bit.ly/dJig6a CENTER FOR HEALTH POLICY RESEARCH discusses new findings behind the largest survey of Californians and their health: http://bit.ly/hU7Sdr

What exactly has contributed to a dramatic decline in homicides nation-

Prof. AMY ZEGART publishes new article, Spytainment: http://bit.ly/gjmbmq

wide? Prof. MARK KLEIMAN explains on NPR: http://n.pr/em0vCM

CENTER FOR HEALTH POLICY RESEARCH looks into growing concerns

Will the economy help save Obama’s job? Professor MARK PETERSON

about policy issues for aging Californians http://bit.ly/fJIy6C

takes a look with CNN Money: http://yhoo.it/bYCImA

Transportation Ever consider flex-price parking? Check out San Francisco’s model and what Parking Guru DONALD SHOUP has to say about it: http://bit.ly/dZFYN2 Prof. BRIAN TAYLOR provides an in-depth explanation of why the Metro Board has made specific changes in service: http://bit.ly/esrOTt Prof. DONALD SHOUP: “We will look back at this time and the flowering of technology as one that transformed parking” http://t.co/7jR9KG8 How do low-income people get around town? Check out the report with research from Prof. EVELYN BLUMENBERG at http://t.co/Ly4SQ1u Associate Dean ANASTASIA LOUKAITOU-SIDERIS comments on mass

Education and Employment “If you go to a school where everyone is poor…the chances that you’ll be ready for college are not good at all” http://bit.ly/i0evTc Forbes talks to Urban Planning Prof. CHRIS TILLY about why retail sector job numbers may not translate to growth: http://bit.ly/gBIakO

DANIEL J. B. MITCHELL: “From the union perspective, you’re better off to settle, especially now” http://t.co/eqwv8Ld A word from Prof. MATTHEW KAHN on how competition will give rise to better universities: http://bit.ly/gtAPtV “When you’re a union in this situation, it’s better to have been a supporter of the incoming administration” http://bit.ly/f4VYpL

transit ridership and crime prevention: http://bit.ly/fQchAA

Community KPCC reports on lecture by ANASTASIA LOUKAITOU-SIDERIS on “Planning the Future of Our Streets” http://bit.ly/f5yuXT Prof. SUSANA HECHT: “It’s time to rethink rural areas” http://bit.ly/ fD0u3a Dean FRANKLIN D. GILLIAM JR. on local neighborhood study “where beautiful theory meets ugly fact” http://t.co/JXE2oMY

Read this page online to use live links:

New census findings show an African American & Hispanic shift in suburbs

http://bit.ly/Media-Highlights-2011 or take

such as Dallas, Prof. GARY ORFIELD explains http://t.co/cdwH4Yz

a photo of this image with your smartphone.

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NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

BY JACK FEUER, UCLA MAGAZINE

cover story

A New Blueprint For Public Life A new shape for the city. New ideas for political discourse. New ways of thinking about social welfare. Armed with a $100-million gift from alumni Meyer and Renee Luskin—the second-largest ever received at UCLA—the School of Public Affairs is building a powerful new resource for reshaping public life in Los Angeles and the country.

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

CONTINUED ON FOLLOWING PAGE

>>>

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cover story

A New Blueprint For Public Life “It’s time to work between theory and practice and take beautiful ideas and confront them with ugly facts, to work at the intersection where scholarship meets the street.

We take up the big problems that confront society: health care, health policy, education, transportation, child welfare, housing, crime, and look at them locally, nationally and internationally. We can be coherent about it. We have our hands on it.

We have people working on all of these problems. We have one of the world’s great [urban] laboratories in our backyard and we have these problems at scale.”

—FRANKLIN D. GILLIAM JR., DEAN

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IT'S EARLY MORNING IN 2031, AND YOU'RE STANDING ON THE corner of Union and Sixth in the urban heart of Los Angeles.

Warm, yellow sunshine spills down, aided by building design that encourages the movement of light to street level.

There are benches and seats where your neighbors gather, speaking every imaginable language. You marvel at the bustling diversity of cultures, cuisines, and couture. Around you, bikeways—more than 1,600 miles of them crisscrossing the City of Angels—stretch out in every direction. Up and down the street, commuters hop onto shuttles that take them to clean, rapid buses that drive them to all parts of the city, where they disembark and take another shuttle to their offices.

Elsewhere, the city's Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan has restored and enhanced the neighborhoods, wildlife, environment, and public spaces along the Los Angeles River.

And everywhere, there are trees and little pocket parks to give the cityscape a shimmering emerald sheen.

Downtown. Westside. Mid-City. Every neighborhood is like this in 2031. Welcome to LA. Fantasy? Perhaps today. Tomorrow? Reality, if the innovative academics at UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs make even some of their dreams come true.

"It's time to work between theory and practice and take beautiful ideas and confront them with ugly facts," declares Public Affairs Dean FRANKLIN D. GILLIAM JR., "to work at the intersection where scholarship meets the street. We take up the big problems that confront society—health care, health policy,

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

“To me, the gift expresses the ultimate ideal: People deserve a better life.”

—MEYER LUSKIN, ‘49, BENFACTOR, UCLA LUSKIN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

education, transportation, child welfare, housing, crime—and look at them locally, nationally, and internationally. We can be coherent about it. We have our hands on it. We have people working on all of these problems. We have one of the world's great [urban] laboratories in our backyard, and we have these problems at scale."

But ideas alone can't build a better tomorrow. You need considerable resources to bring ideas like our hypothetical 2031 street scene to life. Or to develop innovative social welfare programs that actually change things. Or even to break out of the shrill silos that currently imprison political discourse and construct a pathway to effective and meaningful policies.

Now Gilliam and company have those resources, thanks to an extraordinary $100-million gift from visionary philanthropists Meyer ’49 and Renee ’53 Luskin.

“Our commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder to transform our city is one where we give life to democracy by engaging at every level.”

—MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA ’77

Supplying the Living Laboratory The gift, the second-largest ever received at UCLA, will go toward academic programs and capital improvements that bolster the university's efforts to harness intellectual capital, engage the public, and serve as a resource in addressing civic and societal challenges.

Both the school and the center will be named after the Luskins. The philanthropists are longtime supporters of UCLA and tireless advocates for their community. Public Affairs already houses the Luskin Center for Innovation, established with support from the Luskins in 2008. The center has done pioneering work in many public-policy areas, including smart water, sustainable cities, and other initiatives.

For the Luskins, this philanthropy is intensely personal. In the ’40s, Meyer commuted to Westwood from Boyle Heights, working toward his bachelor’s degree in economics, and he still cherishes the opportunity that UCLA gave him. But while the Bruin benefactor believes strongly in UCLA's traditional role as a way up for deserving Californians regardless of status or income, he just as intensely insists that a public university has an ongoing obligation to give back to the community that supports it.

"To me, the gift expresses the ultimate ideal: People deserve a better life," says Meyer, president, CEO and chairman of Scope Industries. "The old role of [providing] a liberal arts or professional school education remains absolutely necessary, but it is equally necessary to devote the university's assets to the community in which it exists. [And LA] has looming problems."

The gift adds to Chancellor Gene Block’s ongoing efforts to bring the university's resources to bear on the issues of the city in which it lives. He said in a statement that the gift "reflects both our strength as a public asset and our optimism for the future."

City Hall likes the idea of a deepening partnership, too.

"UCLA will take a giant leap forward to being a great institution of higher learning that sees itself as tied to the future of Los Angeles," says Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ’77 about the Luskin gift. "Our commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder to transform our city is one where we give life to democracy by engaging at every level. It will go a long way to ensuring our destiny as a beacon of American hope and promise."

Los Angeles Councilman Ed Reyes ’82, MA ’85 points out that "UCLA is coming into the most challenging neighborhoods, communities where you have 40-percent poverty or 50-percent unemployment. When you look at that $100 million, the challenge is, how do you create leadership that has not only the vision but the skill sets to implement the type of cityscapes that create relief from the pressures of poverty and density?

I’m a product of UCLA, and I took a bus two hours each way to get there. I'm the son of immigrants. And I'm very excited because with this kind of resource, we can create a framework for how we address these areas."

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cover story

A New Blueprint For Public Life CONTINUED FROM THE PREVIOUS PAGE

Two Partners, One City "Government rarely looks ahead to anticipate problems and is often caught flat-footed when problems arise," adds alternative energy investor and project developer Seth Jacobson MPP ’03, MBA ’05, a senior vice president at Palmer Capital. "Universities can help in at least three ways: identify emerging policy problems and advise government on potential solutions; train the next generation of leaders to address these problems and implement solutions; and advance interdisciplinary collaboration across traditional academic departments and with industry to develop more innovative solutions. UCLA is leading the way in these roles and is becoming more effective at fostering dynamic relationships with the public sector in Los Angeles, as a living laboratory."

That point of view is echoed on Spring Street in LA, home of City Hall, where Eric Garcetti, president of the Los Angeles City Council, notes that "at a local level, we need to be thinking about strategic planning for our future. How do we continue to evolve as a city? How do we do it in a manner that can sustain our population? Already, research at the Luskin Center for Innovation is helping policymakers think about approaching these kinds of forward-looking questions in areas such as preparing our city to accommodate electric vehicles and increasing our capacity to generate solar power. Particularly at a time when public resources are scarce, it becomes even more critical to make choices as a city that will maximize taxpayer dollars—and this gift will help fund the innovative thinking and analysis to help us do that."

Besides, "politicians can point the finger at each other, but it's hard to argue with the facts," Garcetti adds, "especially when

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they come from a well-respected institution like UCLA…There are so many challenges facing our city where we could use impartial, credible analysis to help us make decisions. Transportation, housing, and the clean-technology economy are examples of issues that will have a huge impact on our future…Unbiased research from a trusted source can help parties on all sides reframe the debate to move forward together to find solutions."

In fact, "the legacy of [the School of Public Affairs] is progressive planning grounded in the experience of LA," says Cecilia Estolano MA ’91, chief strategist of state and local initiatives for Green For All, a national green-economy organization.

"If we use [the Luskin gift] wisely, we can redefine the role of public policy and urban planning, not just here but nationally.

It can make UCLA the cutting edge of thinking about the urban form and cities generally."

There’s fertile ground to grow that mission. For example, last year, in response to a request from President Obama for the public to send innovative ideas to the White House, urban planning graduates Georgia Sheridan MA ’08 and Amber Hawkes MA ’07 brought together planners, economists, and architects to imagine what Los Angeles could be in the future. The interdisciplinary gathering, dubbed LA 2.0, was organized in collaboration with Good magazine and the Public Studio. It drew more than 150 applicants for 30 slots. Those who applied "were all filled with love for LA," Sheridan says. "They were really positive about what it could be."

Several themes emerged during the afternoon, including the need for flexibility as cities change and grow, and the need for social cohesion and for places that allow for spontaneous moments of gathering and community. Perhaps even more important, the event spawned a larger, national initiative, City R + D (Reinvent and Develop), also sponsored by Good magazine, to inspire cities to focus on community-based, actionable solutions and build stronger local networks of engaged professionals. Eight cities across the country—from San Francisco to Chattanooga—were selected to host events to brainstorm creative solutions to pressing urban challenges.

Some of the ideas that resulted truly intrigue: "bike boulevards," "street furniture" (so folks can stop and interact), storm water recapture in planters, and so on.

So many aspects of American society begin in Southern California and spread eastward across the continent. Why

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

“Politicians can point the finger at each other, but it's hard to argue with the facts, especially when they come from a well-respected institution like UCLA…Unbiased research from a trusted source can help parties on all sides reframe the debate to

Dean Frank Gilliam

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

move forward together to find solutions.”

—ERIC GARCETTI, PRESIDENT OF THE LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL

not civic innovation as well? Because "it's very important that [the Luskins' gift] not be seen as just a Los Angeles approach," concludes urban thought leader Estolano. "We need to look at all of the issues facing public-policymakers in urban centers across the country. It's a rare moment to invest in the best thinking at a time when planning and cities are at a crisis point."

The Price of Excellence A doctoral student studying urban flooding in Senegal's capital city of Dakar couldn't afford thousands of dollars to rent satellite time to take pictures of the city. So he turned to a centuryold technology and put a camera on a kite and made it work.

An acclaimed professor from Europe noticed that nobody walks in LA and that bus shelters were often badly lit. So she studied how something as simple as a sidewalk could make urban life better for everybody and how design and physical changes could encourage bus ridership.

A doctor and Iraq War veteran saw that pressing publicpolicy issues like health care were going unresolved because of the ferocious polarization that afflicts the country. So he went into politics—to take politics out of the discussion. This trio of unconventional thinkers—Bruin PhD graduate student John Scott-Railton (who gained national notice using Twitter and audio feeds to bring protestors' voices to the world when Egypt shut down the Internet and cell phones during the recent unrest), UCLA Professor of Urban Planning Anastasia LoukaitouSideris, and Manan Trivedi MPP ’07 — knows that sometimes

From left to right: Rhea Turteltaub, Jacquelean Gilliam, Carol Block, Gene Block, Meyer Luskin, Renee Luskin, Scott Waugh.

CONTINUED ON THE FOLLOWING PAGE Left to right: Kitty Dukakis, Michael Dukakis, Antonio Villaraigosa, Gene Block, Meyer Luskin, Jacquelean Gilliam, Frank Gilliam. Front row: Carol Block, Renee Luskin.

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

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A New Blueprint For Public Life CONTINUED FROM THE PREVIOUS PAGE

the best way to solve a problem is to take the road less traveled.

But there is heated competition among top-tier academic institutions for agile minds like these, as well as other top public affairs experts such as spy-agency critic Amy Zegart or health and aging expert Fernando Torres-Gil, to name just two.

Meeting that challenge is a critical need the Luskin gift will go a long way to filling.

Indeed, public affairs graduates are probably not going to accumulate mountains of money in their careers. For sure, the state is not going to ante up funds to keep public affairs competitive.

"Our students are working for the public good and not making big salaries like lawyers, doctors and MBAs," says Loukaitou-Sideris. "Our alumni are extremely faithful, but all they can afford are small gifts."

Moreover, the very best graduate students typically are offered a free ride at institutions like Harvard, MIT, and the other elite schools. A public university often cannot match that.

"I had one potential student in my office in tears because she desperately wanted to come to our school, but she did not come from a wealthy family and another university was offering her money," recalls Gilliam. "At the time, there was nothing we could do."

Now there is, and Gilliam predicts that the vast majority of the money will be used for endowments to support efforts to attract the best graduate students. Endowments will also go to recruitment and retention of public affairs faculty—a juicy target for cuts as UCLA struggles to address an unprecedented budget crisis.

"This gift gives the university and all of us a chance to not only make the school preeminent, but attract excellent people, many of whom I hope, like me, will be practitioners," adds Michael Dukakis, the former governor of Massachusetts and the

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Democrats' standard-bearer in the 1988 presidential campaign, who is a visiting professor in public affairs. "We do that already with our senior fellows program, but this will give us an opportunity to bring people here for an extended length of time."

Dukakis notes that the gift has particular resonance here because of California's historic role as a model or, unfortunately now, a harbinger for the rest of the nation. Trivedi agrees that if one is going to power up the education and development of public policy experts, California is where you want to do it.

"Now more than ever, with 24-hour cable news and the constant rhetoric, there's a need for a clearinghouse, a place that can strip away some of the heat and bring the evidence to the table in an organized fashion," Trivedi says. "I spent a little bit of time politicking in California. There's politics and then there's California politics. So there's no better place than California and UCLA to bring in critical thinkers and teach proper policy analysis."

When he's not treading through flood waters in urban Africa or tweeting about the Cairo streets, Scott-Railton finds himself "tremendously impressed by the ethos that seems to be growing around the school. What I find most satisfying are the opportunities for collaboration within Public Affairs and other schools on campus. UCLA at its best is a kind of loose-jointed operation that opens up tremendous opportunities for collaboration, and I have confidence that this endowment will help support that."

Life, Like You’ve Never Seen It Before Sheridan and Hawkes aren't resting on their LA 2.0 laurels. The two are busy "rethinking street space," as they describe it, and working with urban planning graduate students to develop toolkits that offer design strategies, ideas, and resources for making incremental improvements in livability within cities.

Now that he's finished helping to bring democracy to Tahrir Square, Scott-Railton is returning to his dissertation, helping to prepare cities for the consequences of climate change. (And in case the kite can't fly because of lack of wind, his Plan B is a typical how-did-he-ever-think-of-that solution: a 10-foot balloon equipped with a camera rig. Or, as Scott-Railton calls it, "another technology to explore.")

Loukaitou-Sideris is back at work, researching a new way of

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

“Now more than ever, with 24-hour cable news and the constant rhetoric, there's a need for a clearinghouse, a place that can strip away some of the heat and bring the evidence to the table in an organized fashion. There's no better place than California and UCLA to bring in critical thinkers and teach proper policy analysis.”

—MANAN TRIVEDI MPP ‘07

looking at public life and such issues as housing affordability, safety and security, and other groundbreaking explorations into the urban experience.

All around us, in fact, the students, faculty, and graduates of the School of Public Affairs are out there, working sometimes in public and sometimes behind the scenes to bring all of us a new vision of urban society.

A Better World "Often, big-city planning agencies and politicians focus on flagship buildings and cathedrals," says Loukaitou-Sideris. "They give a city its visibility for marketing purposes. But for millions living in those cities, the everyday spaces, from sidewalks to neighborhood parks, are much more important. These small, everyday places are where you and I and most people in cities spend most of our lives."

And Trivedi is still determined to make politics deliver on promises. "How do we continue to make this nation even more prosperous, make our cities stronger and our businesses more competitive?" he challenges. "Let's put politics aside and think about real solutions. Because they are few and far between."

It's early morning, 2011, and you're standing on the corner of Union and Sixth. What do you see? If you're one of any number of nimble minds connected to the UCLA School of Public Affairs, you see the promise of a more workable city.

The potential for more livable neighborhoods.

The first faint glimmerings of a more civil civic culture.

And if you look hard enough, with ample imagination, maybe even the perfect place for a bike boulevard. n

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

“If we use [the Luskin gift] wisely, we can redefine the role of public policy and urban planning, not just here but nationally. It can make UCLA the cutting edge of thinking about the urban form and cities generally.”

CECILIA ESTOLANO MA ’91, CHIEF STRATEGIST OF STATE AND LOCAL INITIATIVES FOR GREEN FOR ALL, A NATIONAL GREENECONOMY ORGANIZATION.

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Clockwise from top left: the Luskin family in Boyle Heights; Meyer Luskin (right) on the UCLA boxing team; on travels through Asia and the Middle East; Meyer and Renee Luskin in private, and on the UCLA campus ; Meyer Luskin, chairman of Scope Industries.

Meyer and Renee Luskin THE LUSKINS ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT IMPROVING OPPORTUNITIES FOR THEIR FELLOW CITIZENS; they are generous with their time and their spirit in addition to their philanthropy—true examples of the Bruin way. In many ways, the Luskins typify the stories of many families in Los Angeles.

Meyer is a native of Boyle Heights. He came to UCLA on a $30 dollar scholarship, rode the bus and carpooled with five other students to get to classes, and was a scholar-athlete, representing the UCLA boxing team, which was then called the “Fisticuffers.” He interrupted his studies to serve his country during WWII (in the US Army Air Corps, later known as the Air Force) and returned to finish his degree in economics in 1949. Shortly after college, he met his future bride and partner in life, Renee—also a UCLA graduate, a sociology major in the class of 1953—who had moved to Los Angeles from Massachusetts. Together they built a family and a life, sharing their core values of improving the lives of others and contributing to the civic fabric of the city that is their home.

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NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

cover story

In Conversation:

Frank Gilliam and Meyer Luskin When Meyer Luskin—together with his wife of more than 50 years, Renee— made a $100 million gift to UCLA, very little was publicly known about the self-made businessman who made the second largest financial contribution to UCLA in its history. A savvy investor, native of East Los Angeles, child of immigrants, and devoted family man, Meyer Luskin recently sat with Dean Frank Gilliam for an in-depth conversation about the values he holds—values that motivated him to give away the fortune he spent a lifetime building.

FRANK GILLIAM: You’ve been a successful businessman and you’ve done it by making smart investments throughout your life. Why put your money in UCLA, especially now as we face

a lot more for them, trying to make society better. Leaving them an extra few bucks won't really mean that much.

This is the best investment I could make.

unprecedented state cuts?

places. Brains don’t necessarily come from wealth and money. Investing in a public university means you can tap the great talent that’s out there, never knowing where it is, and that’s important to me.

FRANK GILLIAM: What does it MEYER LUSKIN: When times

really mean to you that UCLA is a

FRANK GILLIAM: At our school,

are tough, the smartest and best companies continue to invest in research and development. These companies are the ones that last and become the better. For us to cut back on investing in human beings, it means you are not going to have as good a society later on.

I’m making an investment for what I think is important—society, the future, a world that my grandchildren will live in.

I know the world I’d like to see them live in, so I’m doing

public university, that it’s owned

we've really been trying to ad-

by the people of California?

dress the important public prob-

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

lems of our day. How do we live MEYER LUSKIN: It means that

in a sustainable environment?

the person who doesn’t have the money to go to a private university, who’s struggling, but has talent and energy and drive and ambition, has an opportunity to utilize all that they have and get that great education and do a lot for themselves, their family, and for society. Some of the great geniuses of the world were discovered in the least likely

How do we provide transportation for millions of people? How do we provide health care? How do we provide education? How do we think about affordable housing? What do we owe the public as we study of all these issues and create human capital?

MEYER LUSKIN: These issues that you just enumerated are really new to the history of

universities. If you go back to the idea of a university going back hundreds of years in Europe, the university concerned itself with its studies. There wasn’t any care about the peasants, the working class, or the middle class public.

The concept that a university should be integrated with the problems of society is a relatively recent one, and one that needs to be encouraged. The university is not in a vacuum, particularly a public university that needs funds from the public. So if it needs funds from the public, it should return something that is necessary and important right now for the public.

UCLA is leading the way in doing it—the gown must work with the town.

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cover story “The university is not in a vacuum, particularly a public university that needs funds from the public. So if it needs funds from the public, it should return something that is necessary and important right now for the public. UCLA is leading the way in doing it—the gown must work with the town.”

—MEYER LUSKIN, ’49, BENFACTOR, UCLA LUSKIN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

FRANK GILLIAM: I know you’ve always been adamant that we can’t look at these prob-

looked the history behind the issue. You’ve got to look at a problem from all aspects.

lems from one perspective, that we need urban planners and

FRANK GILLIAM: Let’s talk

psychologists and doctors and

about another of our favorite

policy analysts, all sort of tug-

topics—young people. As you

ging on the same rope. Why is

and I have gotten to know each

this multidisciplinary, interdisci-

other over the years, you’ve

plinary perspective so significant

talked to me about how your

to you?

own life as a young man was transformed by coming to UCLA.

MEYER LUSKIN: That really

I often think about how to make

comes to the core of what I strongly believe. The problems we have these days are so complex, there needs to be all kinds of disciplines to thoroughly understand a problem. If you're talking about air quality, you can’t really do anything unless you know the chemistry of what’s happening in the atmosphere.

When you get through the science of the problem, you have to study what can we change from an economic point of view. And how does it come across politically? What does it do to the psychology of the people involved?

If you’re going to convince the public and the legislature, you’ve got to study the entire problem and not come up short because you over-

it possible for our students to

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have that epiphany. How has your own path in life moved your desire to see young people

rial things, but you do need some of it to lead a reasonable life, and education did that for me.

So I empathize with any young person who is facing the future, doesn’t have any assets, doesn’t have much support. If that person has an opportunity to get an education, he or she could have a life. Education is the fountain of a good life. It’s what we should be looking for—when an individual has a good life, this makes for a better society.

going forward, and led to the support for them?

FRANK GILLIAM: One of the things that you and I have

MEYER LUSKIN: Well, Frank,

spoken about over the years is

my parents were immigrants.

They came here after World War I, around 1919 or 1920.

They didn’t have any education. This wonderful country enabled them to earn a living, raise a family, and talk about the importance of education.

When you don’t have much by way of material wealth, you learn to appreciate other things: a great love for education, love from your family. Those are wonderful assets. You don't have to have much mate-

this concept of social justice, of

FRANK GILLIAM: I have.

MEYER LUSKIN: So you know

what I mean when something has been really unjust for no good reason. There’s no decent reason for it, and it would be nice—it’s just an idea—for no one to have to experience injustice. If you empathize with a human being, with people, you don't want them to be treated unjustly. You know the pain that’s involved.

Another reason is you can get the best society when you get the best people. A person might be extremely poor but have a wonderful mind, and if you have real social justice, that mind gets a chance to flower.

working toward a just society.

FRANK GILLIAM: What do you

We need to make sure that

hope will be your legacy from

everyone has an opportunity to

making this commitment to

succeed in this society. Why is

UCLA?

this concept of justice so central to who you are?

MEYER LUSKIN: There’s

several reasons. One is that there are times that I felt some injustice from society, and it hurts you. It makes you feel really bad. Perhaps you’ve experienced it.

MEYER LUSKIN: That some

other former student someday has the same feeling about giving back. That would be just wonderful if more of our people had a feeling of “let’s support and improve the society.” That’s really the only thing I would want. Keep the ball rolling.

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

alumni profile

BY JOEL GROSTEPHAN

Hee Yun Lee

MSW ’99, PhD ’06 Addresses Cultural Barriers to Cancer Screening Among Asian Immigrants

FIRST HER HUSBAND DIED FROM LUNG CANCER, THEN A CLOSE friend from her native Korea succumbed to stomach cancer, and just recently her best friend from graduate school died from breast cancer. Social Welfare alumna HEE YUN LEE PhD '00, currently an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota School of Social Work, saw her community receiving cancer diagnoses and dying quickly because the disease was caught too late.

“I’m still grieving,” she said, adding that perhaps research is her way of coping. Why, she wanted to know, are some communities hit so hard by cancer while others get treatment?

Lee’s recent publications have stemmed from this question: Why do different groups of Asian immigrants fail to utilize cancer screening?

Lee’s Findings In a study published this year in the Journal of Women’s Health, Lee analyzed three years of data from the California Health Information Survey (CHIS), which over-samples Asian immigrants of different ethnicities, including Japanese, Koreans, South Asians, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Filipinos. She wanted to know how different groups embraced or avoided preventive measures like mammograms and pap smears.

What Lee found from the CHIS research was that South Asian and Korean women were the least likely to get a mammogram. She also found that Japanese women were the second least likely to get screened for cervical cancer, CONTINUED ON THE FOLLOWING PAGE

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

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alumni profile

Hee Yun Lee Addresses Cultural Barriers to Cancer Screening Among Asian Immigrants Lee found that South Asian and Korean women were the least likely to get a mammogram and that Japanese women were the second least likely to get screened for cervical cancer, despite being more likely than non-Latina whites to get screened for breast cancer. The data showed a 30-percent difference between the highest and lowest rates of breast cancer screening, highlighting distinct attitudes toward cancer screening between subgroups.

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

despite being more likely than non-Latina whites to get screened for breast cancer.

The data showed a 30-percent difference between the highest and lowest rates of breast cancer screening, highlighting distinct attitudes toward cancer screening between subgroups.

She also found that factors such as acculturation, immigrant status, level of educaHee Yun Lee tion, and private health insurance all affected use of screening across ethnic subgroups. Immigrants with more education, private health insurance, and who have been living in the US longer were more likely to utilize screening.

In similar research, Lee has found Hmong women to be another group very unlikely to utilize Pap smear screening: Only 28 percent report having undergone the test, compared to 95 percent of whites.

With these results in mind, Lee has tried to identify barriers that keep women from taking advantage of preventive medicine. For each group, the answer is different—and that means interventions need to be specific to the group’s culture, Lee said.

Lee suggests that one barrier may be related to a cultural groups’ belief in traditional medicine. For example, one of

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her papers has noted that shamanism holds real power for many Hmong. Acupuncture, herbal medicine, and rituals such as spoon rubbing—in which the body is scraped with a silver spoon—are believed to bring the body into balance or health.

A Hmong woman might go to see the oncologist once, but then not follow up—likely because she has more faith in the shaman’s treatment.

Most Koreans in the United States are Christians, so their religious beliefs don’t conflict with Western medicine in the same way that Hmong spirituality can. But Lee has found that Korean women have other barriers. Like other Asian cultures, Korean women have deep-seated cultural beliefs against others examining their bodies, so they avoid what they see as unnecessary medical exams until they feel pain or symptoms.

Additional barriers for both groups are more practical. If women need to travel across town to go to the clinic, they won’t take the time to go, due to more urgent demands on their schedules.

With these barriers in mind, Lee plans to create a cellphone based intervention to educate underserved immigrant women on the benefits of cancer screening and encourage them to be screened regularly. Lee recently received a National Cancer Institute research grant to study what would be the most effective way to encourage these women to be screened. She will begin her efforts in the Korean community, with aims of using positive outcomes there to then inform future culture-specific interventions for other underserved immigrant and refugee populations.

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

To view the video interview, visit http://bit.ly/Brian-Wren-video.

Social Work Focused on Health Cancer screening is not a popular topic in social work research, Lee notes. Lee, who worked as a therapist in Los Angeles before pursuing her PhD, seldom discussed cancer screening with clients. But social workers are everywhere, in hospitals and medical clinics as well as mental health settings, she points out, and health needs should not be divorced from mental health concerns.

Medical social workers can educate clients about cancer screening, Lee said. They can also advocate for clients in medical settings to receive culturally sensitive treatment, she said, recalling how offended she felt by one doctor’s words when her friend was in hospice.

Lee’s dissertation research on elder mistreatment in immigrant populations remains a concern and interest, but creating culture-specific cancer screening interventions among recent immigrant and refugee communities has become Lee’s focus.

This research, Lee said, has become her calling.

“We work with immigrants and refugees who don’t know what to do or where to go in terms of preventive care,” Lee said. “My hope is to equip and empower them, and to support their health and well-being.”

Adapted from an article authored by Joel Grostephan in the Minnesota Center for Social Work Research E-newsletter, 1(3). n

Brian Wren MSW ’10, Medical Social Worker

SOCIAL WELFARE ALUMNUS BRIAN WREN is a medical social worker at Providence St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Burbank, California. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Brian came to the LA area shortly after earning his undergraduate degree in psychology and spent a year volunteering with a social service organization. His work in the field eventually led to his enrollment in the MSW program at UCLA. “In hospital work, one of the more challenging things is reconciling many different philosophies for patient care,” says Brian. “For example, from a nurse’s perspective, getting a patient physically stabilized is the main focus. For social workers, our concerns surround what’s going to happen to the patient after he or she leaves here. If they are homeless, where are they going to live? If they have mental health issues, are they are going to get treatment?”

Brian recently wrote about one of his experiences with a client during his second year in the MSW program, a case involving a severely autistic patient whose care was improved with involvement and information from his primary caregiver—his mom. The article,

Lee has noted that shamanism holds real power for

“When Medical Protocols Fail, A Hospital Social Worker Turns to A

many Hmong. Acupuncture, herbal medicine, and

California chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, Vol.

rituals such as spoon rubbing—in which the body is

37, No.1), emphasized the benefits of putting together a plan of care

scraped with a silver spoon—are believed to bring

environment.

the body into balance or health. A Hmong woman

Different Approach” (originally published in the newsletter of the

that brings in perspectives from the patient’s entire care history and “One of the most rewarding aspects of social work is the interaction with people,” he comments, “and just the way someone who’s

might go to see the oncologist once, but then not

in a bad place can receive just a nudge in a helpful direction, or a

follow up—likely because she has more faith in the

small interaction or intervention, and it can made a great change in

shaman’s treatment.

but it definitely gets me coming back day after day.” n

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

the trajectory of that person’s life. Social work can be challenging,

33

faculty profile

Social Welfare’s Associate professor of social welfare TODD FRANKE has built his career evaluating and researching the effectiveness of social programs. The recipient of over $10 million in grants over the past seven years (making him one of the most successful grant-funded faculty in the school), Franke’s current efforts have him working hand-in-hand with Homeboy Industries, evaluating the effectiveness of California’s Mental Health Services Act, and helping measure success of an LA-based initiative to improve communities by providing better support for new mothers.

34

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

BY SETH ODELL

Todd Franke Measuring the Success of Social Programs TRAINED IN SOCIAL WORK and educational psychology, associate professor of social welfare Todd Franke has spent his career working to help make communitybased organizations better.

Utilizing a practice known as evaluative research, Franke works with area non-profits, foundations, and government agencies, to define success, measure it, and ultimately provide results that can assist in improving the organizations’ efforts.

recognize they work really hard, but at some level maybe it’s not working as well as they might think it is.”

Using a framework known as utilization focused evaluation, where you design the evaluation with the goal in mind that all stakeholders involved will utilize the results, Franke manages multiple research projects at a time, thanks in part to the support of a highly skilled team of researchers.

One of his most recent

Franke works with area non-profits, foundations, and government agencies, to define success, measure it, and ultimately provide results that can assist in improving the organizations’ efforts. “You don’t have to have all the answers,” Franke tells his students. “You have to have the questions.”

“One of the hardest things I have to do,” says Franke “is go into a group of people whose program I’ve been funded to evaluate and get them to understand that I

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

efforts has him working with Homeboy Industries, a Los Angeles-based gang prevention and intervention organization. Franke has teamed up with UCLA

adjunct associate professor of social welfare Jorja Leap to conduct a 5-year longitudinal study of the program’s effectiveness. Marking the first-ever longitudinal evaluation of a gang intervention program, Homeboy is hopeful analytical research provided by Franke and Leap will assist their efforts to procure future funding.

Franke also recently received two $1 million grants to perform evaluative research projects related to California’s Mental Health Services Act (MHSA). Initially established in 2004 through a voter initiative, the MHSA was crafted to support a system-wide change in the public community mental health system of California.

Between the two grants, Franke will work to examine the effectiveness of the MHSA and look at what the ultimate impact has been on consumers.

In addition to these and numerous other projects he

currently has underway, including work with the Best Start LA initiative, which aims to build stronger communities by engaging and supporting new mothers, Franke is also passionate about his time in the classroom.

“When you go out to analyze data that you collected in the community, that data is never as clean or as easy to work with as the data in the back of the text book,” says Franke, who teaches primarily research methods and statistics to UCLA MSW students.

Whether it’s in-class instruction or helping a student with research in the field, Franke works to impart not just analytical theory, but also a passion for how one can utilize evaluative research to engage with the community and help make social programs more successful.

“You don’t have to have all the answers,” Franke tells his students. “You have to have the questions.” n

35

header profile student

Urban Planning Student Lets Egyptians’ Voices Be Heard An urban planning doctoral student in Los Angeles helped Egyptians bypass the news blackout imposed by the Egyptian government during the initial days of the protests and rioting.

Using the only means of communication left—telephone land lines—JOHN SCOTT-RAILTON, who has done research and studied in Egypt, decided to begin tweeting and sending out audio reports directly from Egyptians via Twitter and YouTube when the Egyptian government shut down Internet and cell phone service on January 28, 2011.

Calling his contacts, Scott-Railton sent out word that he wanted to help get their land line messages out to the broader world. Using the Twitter handle @Jan25Voices, word spread via friends, their contacts, and journalists in the country, and his network of correspondents grew rapidly.

Over the course of just a few days, Scott-Railton posted 366 tweets (including links to audio clips which have been played 272,000 times) and nearly 4,000 people subscribed to his tweets, among them Blake Hounshell, managing editor of Foreign Policy magazine, and reporters for the BBC, NPR, Al Jazeera, and The Wall Street Journal.

“Egypt has tried to prevent Egyptians from speaking by shutting off the Internet,” said Scott-Railton in an email message. “But these events are made up of individuals, smart people with aspirations and voices. I am letting them speak as people to the world, unsilencing them.”

This is not the first time that Scott-Railton, a student in the Luskin School of Public Affairs, has come to the aid of people on the other side of the world. A student of urban vulnerability to climate change and the obstacles that communities face adapting to these changes, he has coordinated with politicians,

36

climate scientists, academics, and the local community to design a plan to protect slums in Senegal from flooding. By combining the maps with data he obtained from NASA and using sophisticated modeling formulas that he developed, he was able to create a model to help solve this problem.

To map out the areas of flooding in Senegal, he rigged a remote control camera to kites that he then flew to take aerial photos.

“One man, a student from UCLA…became a catalyst for an entire country to figure out how to tackle a devastating problem. John has been able to create detailed topographical maps of the flooded areas of Senegal,” said UCLA alumnus Brian Rishwain, who presented two $2,500 awards to Scott-Railton and Ava Bromberg, another student, for their work in social justice entrepreneurship.

It also clearly won’t be his last time working to enable democratic practices in global environments. Scott-Railton took on the same task to bring Libyan voices to the world, through the Twitter handle @Feb17voices, creating a team of microbloggers to bring reports of the Libyan protests to the world.

Read additional coverage of this story online, including a Time magazine profile, at http://bit.ly/JSR-Egypt. n

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

people

In light of infamous Westside

including Columbia University,

Social Welfare Professor

Evaluation’s Prevent Research

congestion and in pursuit of

UC Berkeley, University of

YEHESKEL “ZEKE” HASEN-

Center and funded by a grant

advocating cycling as a viable

Maryland at College Park, and

FELD was recently selected by

from the National Institute on

option for transportation,

USC, among many others.

the Society for Social Work and

Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism,

OMARI FULLER, MUP ’11,

Research to be the recipient of

examined reentry information

recently organized an event

the 2011 Distinguished Career

for some 4,400 juvenile offenders

known as “Lovebirds to LAX.”

and Achievement Award. The

who had served sentences in

The event, which took place

award recognizes Professor

one of Los Angeles County’s 18

in February, involved cyclists

Hasenfeld’s social work over

probation camps and who had

riding from Westwood to LAX

the years, his level of innova-

been released in 2007.

in an effort to raise awareness

tion and research, and his

of bike access and infrastructure

impact on others in the field.

reentry rates were greater in

Dr. Hasenfeld’s research

those ZIP codes characterized

issues in Los Angeles.

ANASTASIA LOUKAITOUSIDERIS, associate dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, coedited Companion to Urban Design, an authoritative and comprehensive publication that serves as a valuable guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students, future Lewis Center postdoctoral scholar and Access magazine associate editor MICHAEL MANVILLE MA ’03, PhD ’09 recently accepted an offer for a tenure track faculty position as assistant professor of city and regional planning at Cornell University. Manville, a scholar of transportation policy and local public finance, joins other recent transportation faculty appointments of the Urban Planning doctoral program at prestigious research institutions

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

professionals, and practitioners interested in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning. The comprehensive volume includes more than fifty original contributions from internationally recognized authorities in the field. Topics covered include major methods and processes that influence the practice of urban design, current innovations relevant to the pedagogy of urban design, and how urban design can respond to contemporary challenges such as climate change.

The study found that

focuses on the dynamic relations

by higher levels of community

between social welfare policies,

violence (measured by per capita

the organizations that imple-

assaults) and greater densities

ment these policies, and the

of off-premise alcohol outlets

people who use their services.

and vacant housing. The study

The study of these relations

also found a greater rate of

enables policymakers and practi-

reentry in ZIP codes with lower

tioners to understand how social

levels of education services and

welfare policies and services are

mental health services, including

actually delivered by workers

substance-abuse programs.

and experienced by clients, and the resulting impact the policies have on the well-being of their recipients. His current research focuses on the role of nonprofit organizations in the provision of social services. He has recently completed an analysis of the impact of welfare reform.

BRIDGET FREISTHLER, assistant professor of social welfare, and LAURA ABRAMS, associate professor of social welfare,

ALBERT CARNESALE, UCLA

coauthored a study on the role

Chancellor Emeritus and

neighborhoods play in juvenile

professor of public policy and

offender reentry. The study,

mechanical and aerospace

produced in partnership with the

engineering, chaired the

Pacific Institute for Research and

National Research Committee

37

on America’s Climate Choices,

a project, group, or individual

Communications Associate

a committee comprised of

for promoting diversity or

SETH ODELL presented at

renowned scientists, engineers,

demonstrating a sustained social

the 2010 CASE District VI

economists, business leaders,

commitment to advocacy within

conference in Kansas City. He

policymakers, and policy experts

the planning field. The award

gave multiple talks on topics

that released a much anticipated

honors the late APA member

including the role of emerging

report in May 2011 on the risk

Paul Davidoff for his contribu-

technology in media relations

of dangerous climate change

tions to the planning field.

and real-time campus event

impacts. The nation’s options for

“During his 25-year career,

coverage.

Alvaro has been a constant

by climate change are analyzed

agent for positive social

in the newest and final volume

change,” said Marie L. York,

in a series of studies requested

FAICP, APA board member, and

COLLEEN CALLAHAN, deputy

by Congress. “The goal of

2011 National Planning Awards

director of the UCLA Luskin

the America’s Climate Choices

Jury Chair. “Not only has he

Center for Innovation, is the

studies is to ensure that climate

played a role in organizing

recipient of the 2011 Neville

decisions are informed by the

campaigns in Los Angeles to

A. Parker Award for the best

best possible scientific knowl-

help immigrant populations

transportation policy and

edge, analysis, and advice, both

and defeat a polluting power

planning master’s capstone

now and in the future,” said

plant project, he has also been

project in the US.

committee chair Albert Carnesale.

generous with his time and

PHOTO: VICTOR PINEDA FOUNDATION

responding to the risks posed

Callahan won for her

wisdom, serving as a mentor

analysis of air pollution mitiga-

for low-income students.”

tion strategies in Southern

Urban Planning doctoral

California entitled, The Plane

alumnus VICTOR PINEDA PhD

The Directors Guild of America

Truth—Air Quality Impacts of

’10 was awarded the Mark

(DGA) has promoted veteran

Airport Operations and Strate-

Bingham Award for Excellence

executive JOYCE BARON MPP

gies for Sustainability: A Case

in Achievement by a Young

’00 to the post of assistant

Study of the Los Angeles

Alumnus/a by the California

executive director of research

World Airports.

Alumni Association.

and strategic analysis. Baron

The award marks the

Pineda, who is also a

joined the DGA in 2000 as

eleventh time in the past

recipient of the Jefferson

director of research and policy

fourteen years that a UCLA

Award, has worked on the

analysis and has focused on

Urban Planning student has

UN Disability Treaty and the

issues related to collective

won an award for the best

World Bank’s Disability and

The American Planning Associa-

bargaining, government and

transportation policy and

Development Team. In 2005,

tion (APA) has selected Urban

international affairs, strategic

planning master’s project,

he founded the Victor Pineda

Planning Alumnus ALVARO

planning, communications, and

thesis, or dissertation from the

Foundation, a nonprofit organi-

HUERTA to receive the 2011

member services. Before joining

Council of University Trans-

zation that inspires, educates,

National Planning Achievement

the DGA, Baron worked as a

portation Centers (CUTC) in

and informs the global

Award for Advancing Diversity

TV producer and writer in

Washington, DC.

audience on the capabilities

and Social Change in Honor of

health and medical programming

and potential of people

Paul Davidoff. The award honors

and commercials.

with disabilities.

38

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

header people

The board of the American Academy for Social Work and

transmission, and his studies

tions Committee last year—

Diagnostic and Statistical

have been conducted in

are scholars with experience

Manual of Mental Disorders

sites as disparate as a small

leading more than 200 research

(DSM)—who was inducted into

soup kitchen, street outreach

studies with local, state, or

the academy in 2010.

programs, sexually transmitted

federal funding from scores

disease clinics, emergency

of government agencies and

departments, and primary care,

private foundations. These

detoxification, and methadone

new fellows have consulted

clinics. His research has been

all across the country and

funded by the National Insti-

globe. They bring extraordinary

tutes of Health, the Centers for

capacity to assist the academy

Disease Control and Preven-

with the tasks that lie ahead:

tion, and private foundations.

continuing to nominate and

Quoting Richard Barth,

elect new members to the

Social Welfare has announced

PhD, president of the AASWSW

academy, but more signifi-

its list of 2011 inductees into

board, “the board of the

cantly, to shape the academy’s

the organization; among this

American Academy of Social

agenda for advancing our role

select group is UCLA Social

Work and Social Welfare

as a contributor to national

VC POWE, executive director

Welfare professor and chair

is more than delighted to

debate on issues critical to

of external programs at the

ROBERT SCHILLING. In his

welcome eleven new and very

social work and social welfare.”

UCLA Luskin School of Public

research, Rob Schilling seeks

distinguished fellows to the

to develop, adapt, and test

academy. This lifts the number

Department of Social Welfare

month program in the African

socio-behavioral interven-

of fellows to forty, in all.

faculty member, STUART

American Leadership Institute,

KIRK—a scholar whose work

one of five Leadership Institutes

tions designed to ameliorate

In this exceptional entering

Schilling joins fellow

Affairs, will soon begin a five-

social problems of low-income

class—the first to have under-

focuses on the interplay of

offered by the UCLA Anderson

populations. The bulk of Schil-

gone the strict selection

science, social values, and

School of Management. In

ling’s research is focused on

procedures created by the

professional politics in the

collaboration with the Chancel-

substance abuse and HIV

Academy Board and Nomina-

creation and use of the official

lor’s Office, the school’s dean, Judy Olian, recently formalized the program that encourages

Have good news?

Questions? Comments?

Give us your feedback and/or share your recent news with us at

UCLA’s senior staff to apply for one of seven full scholarships in Anderson certificate classes: five in the Diversity in Leadership Institutes and two in the Anderson School’s Executive Education Program.

http://bit.ly/Luskin-alumni-feedback or contact Paul Phootrakul, Luskin School Alumni Relations, alumnirelations@publicaffairs.ucla.edu, (310) 825-3589.

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

39

support Faces of Fellowship

By Robin Heffler

Garett Ballard-Rosa, MA UP ’11

Carlos Amador, MSW ’11 THE MARJORIE HAYS FERTIG AND RALPH D. FERTIG Fellowship In Social Justice is awarded each year to the socialwelfare graduate student who best reflects a commitment to redressing social inequities and promoting justice. In 2010, that recipient was CARLOS AMADOR, organizer and advocate for immigrant rights in the US as well as educational access for students of color.

For Amador, an immigrant himself, these issues hit home.

Born in Mexico, he came to the United States with his parents and two siblings at the age of fourteen.

“It was difficult to pay for tuition as an undergraduate because being undocumented I couldn’t qualify for grants or student loans,” said Amador, who added that he is now in the process of obtaining documentation. “As a graduate student at UCLA, the fellowship has helped me to pay for student fees and enabled me to stop working so I could focus much more on academics and field projects, a crucial part of my academic career.”

Amador is an active member of two community organizations: DREAM Team Los Angeles, an advocate for undocumented students being able to obtain financial assistance for their education; and Graduates Reaching a Dream Deferred, which provides resources and guidance to undocumented college students who would like to attend graduate school, as well as support for those already in graduate programs. He also sits on the School of Public Affairs’ Social Justice Ad-Hoc committee and is an intern with the UCLA Labor Center. n

A RECIPIENT OF THE LEON HOFFMAN FELLOWSHIP IN URBAN Planning, GARETT BALLARD-ROSA, MA UP ’11, received a Congressional Award and the President’s Volunteer Service Award for his work to rebuild homes in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

Currently the director of the Sustainable Urban Network (SUN), Ballard-Rosa also has experience working for the city of Sacramento and the state of California in community redevelopment, and assisting with environmental planning response in China.

“Getting the scholarship and being able to enter the program has allowed me to do many things,” BallardRosa said. “They include being involved with SUN to help advance issues of environmental sustainability, both on campus and in the community; organizing, co-writing the curriculum for, and co-teaching a course on integrated environmental assessment this spring; and conducting my own research on environmental and economic inequities in the low-income Pacoima area of Los Angeles.”

To work on that research for his master’s thesis, he also received a second financial award, a W. K. Kellogg Foundation Social Justice Research Fellowship. “I love my time here at UCLA, and I’m really grateful to the department, the faculty, and especially my thesis advisor, lecturer Goetz Wolff,” said Ballard-Rosa. After receiving his degree, he plans to focus on international environmental-planning work. n

The Hoffman Fellowship allowed Ballard-Rosa to conduct his own research on environmental and economic inequities in low-income Pacoima.

40

NEWSFORUM | SPRING 2011

“[Receiving the fellowship] lifted a huge burden and allowed me to really focus on learning.”

Why I Give Patty Ramirez, BA ’08 MSW ’10 “I give back to UCLA and the Luskin School of Public Affairs because the school did so much for me. Right after graduation I started working as a children’s social worker at the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (LA DCFS). I work with children in need every day, a

Chanell Wheeler, MPP ’11 AS AN UNDERGRADUATE AT UCLA, CHANELL WHEELER, MPP ’11, served as a peer counselor for students in the College of Letters and Science, and as a mentor in the Career Based Outreach Program. It was these experiences—along with work as an after-school tutor—that helped inspire Wheeler to pursue her studies, which focus on municipal management, crime policy, and education policy.

Wheeler credits the Betty and Hans Lorenz Fellowship with helping to make her education experience possible.

“I’m not sure if I would be here without it,” said Wheeler, explaining that the fellowship covered her first-year graduate student fees. “I would have had to work three jobs if I didn’t get it. So, it lifted a huge burden and allowed me to continue my studies and really focus on learning.”

During her MPP studies, in which she also received the W. K. Kellogg Foundation Social Justice Initiative Fellowship, Wheeler discovered an interest in city government. Last summer, she saw up close how local policy is implemented while interning with the Community Redevelopment Agency.

By spring quarter this year, she had come full circle, serving as a teaching assistant and then a graduate research assistant for Michael Stoll, professor and chair of public policy; he taught the undergraduate “Introduction to Public Policy” course that first sparked her interest in the field. n

www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

role I would not have found without the help of my Senior Fellowship and my experiences at the School of Public Affairs. When I heard that state budget cuts were threatening classes and my favorite field faculty at this prestigious institution, I knew I had to do something. If we all give back, even just a few bucks, we’ll really make a difference for our school.”

Celebrate the Luskin Legacy This year our public policy, social welfare, and urban planning alumni and friends are making a significant difference for current and future students of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Together we are collectively showing our support for the new Luskin School with a gift of $30 or more in celebration of Meyer Luskin’s first scholarship in 1943. If each alumnus gives just $30, we will raise more than $200,000 for student scholarships and more.

Make your gift today at www.luskinlegacy.ucla.edu.

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE 405 Hilgard Avenue

PAID UCLA

Los Angeles, CA 90095 www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu

events

Celebrating A Historic Gift TOP ROW, LEFT: Meyer Luskin and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa meet during the historic renaming ceremonies. TOP ROW, CENTER: UCLA Chancellor Emeritus and professor of public policy Albert Carnesale addresses the Luskin School community. TOP ROW RIGHT: Luskin Center director J.R. DeShazo with UCLA alumnus Ralph Shapiro BS ‘53, JD ‘58.

BOTTOM ROW, LEFT: Dean Frank Gilliam, Jacquelean Gilliam, Renee Luskin, Meyer Luskin, Kitty Dukakis, Michael Dukakis, and students of the social welfare, urban planning, and public policy graduate programs. BOTTOM ROW, RIGHT: Students of the newly announced Luskin School.