The Economic Recovery & Entrepreneurship Project (TEREP)

Clarinda Landeros is the Director of Public Policy at the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders (NALCAB).

Clarinda leads NALCAB’s public policy efforts and works to advance the policy priorities of its members. Clarinda is a seasoned policy professional with more than a decade of Capitol Hill experience. Prior to joining the NALCAB team, Clarinda worked for Congress for the U.S. House Small Business Committee and Representative Nydia Velázquez, where she served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Legislative Director.

Roy Chan is the Director of Neighborhood and Place-Based Strategies at The National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD).

Prior to his role at CAPACD, Roy was the Community Planning Manager at Chinatown Community Development Center in San Francisco, and before that, he was the Co-Executive Director at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. He has also worked in community development organizations in both New York and Los Angeles. Roy holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from UC Berkeley and a master’s degree in Urban Planning from UCLA. Currently, he serves on the Cultural Affairs Commission for the City of Oakland.

Monica Villalobos is the President and CEO of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Monica previously served as the Vice-President and Foundation Executive Director for seven years. In this role, she was responsible for the strategic growth initiatives of the chamber. She is also the operator of the Phoenix Minority Business Development Agency and the founding principal at ResearchByDesign, a marketing research firm specializing in primary qualitative and quantitative research.

Julian Cañete serves as the President and CEO of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce (CHCC). Through its network of more than 80 Hispanic chambers and business associations, the CHCC is a leading voice on issues impacting business in California. 

Julian previously served as the Director of Public Policy and Strategic Partnerships for the California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce and as President and CEO of CHCC from 1999 to 2006 and again from 2009 to 2012.

He is currently a member of the California Department of General Services Small Business Advisory Board, Californians for Affordable & Reliable Energy (CARE), CalTrans Small Business Council, CA Secretary of State Voters’ Choice Act Task Force, the Small Business Development Center Northern CA Network Advisory Board, and the CalVet Foundation. 

Marlene Orozco is the CEO and Founder of Stratified Insights, a research consulting firm. Dr. Orozco’s deep subject-matter expertise includes a decade of research experience in reducing systems-level bias facing people of color, women, and other historically underrepresented groups in entrepreneurship, finance, and the digital economy. 

Dr. Orozco has co-authored and authored an academic volume, academic publications in peer-reviewed journals, and several industry reports and research briefs.

Dr. Orozco formerly served as Associate Director of entrepreneurship research initiatives at Stanford Graduate School of Business and led Global Policy Research at Meta.

Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Paul Saldaña has spent more than 25 years in local government affairs, public policy, public relations, and political consulting. 

Paul is the Co-Founder of Hispanic Advocates Business Leaders of Austin (HABLA), a local Hispanic Think Tank group committed to developing sustainable solutions to quality of life issues. He serves as a President and Principal of Saldaña Public Relations, a strategic consultant, advisor, and contributor on quality of life issues, including public education, voting, economics, healthcare, redevelopment, gentrification, and affordable housing to governmental entities, clients, and the media.

Dr. LaShonda Brenson is the Senior Researcher at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Prior to her current role, she served as the Senior Fellow of Diversity and Inclusion at the Joint Center.

Before working at The Joint Center, Dr. Brenson was a Civil Rights Analyst at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. At the Commission, Dr. Brenson organized national briefings and wrote reports on municipal fines and fees and their impact on minority communities, minority voting rights, and women in prison. Previously, she was the Research Director at Project Vote, a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded on the belief that an organized, diverse electorate is the key to a better America.

Francisco Pedraza is an Associate Professor in Arizona State University’s School of Politics and Global Studies and is a faculty affiliate of LPPI.

He examines political attitude formation and political behavior among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, and the consequences these portend for public policy. His research uncovers links between immigration policy and health policy, and he specializes in the design of survey items in English language and Spanish language.

Silvia R. González directs climate, environmental justice, and health research at LPPI.  She has worked extensively as a researcher and consultant with nonprofit, community-based, and government organizations on projects related to neighborhood change and gentrification, anti-displacement policies, environmental equity, and climate planning. Her academic research focuses on how the places we live in influence socioeconomic inequality and environmental health outcomes along racial lines. At LPPI, Gonzalez has co-authored multiple reports analyzing the neighborhoods most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including Left Behind During a Global Pandemic: An Analysis of Los Angeles County Neighborhoods at Risk of Not Receiving COVID-19 Individual Rebates Under the CARES Act.

Previously, Silvia worked as the founding assistant director at the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge where she led projects that examine racial inequality in Los Angeles. More recently, she co-directed community-based and environmental equity research projects at the Luskin Center for Innovation to advance the Human Right to Water and Community-led Climate Investments in California. She continues to be affiliated with these centers. She holds a BA in Geography/Environmental Studies and a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning with a focus on Economic Development from UCLA. Silvia received her PhD from UCLA in Urban Planning in 2020.

Professor Paul M. Ong has done research on the labor market status of minorities and immigrants, displaced high-tech workers, work and spatial/transportation mismatch, and environmental justice. He is currently engaged in several projects, including an analysis of the relationship between sustainability and equity, the racial wealth gap, and the role of urban structures on the reproduction of inequality.

Previous research projects have included studies of the impact of defense cuts on California’s once-dominant aerospace industry, the impact of immigration on the employment status of young African Americans, and the influence of car ownership and subsidized housing on welfare usage.

Dr. Ong is the Director of the Center for Neighborhood Knowledge and editor of AAPI Nexus, and has served as an advisor to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, and to the California Department of Social Services and the state Department of Employment Development, as well as the Wellness Foundation and the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

He received a master’s in urban planning from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. in Economics, University of California, Berkeley. Along with his quantitative research, his professional practice includes teaching and applying visual forms of communication. He is Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Urban Planning, Social Welfare, and Asian American Studies. He is affiliated with the Institute of the Environment & Sustainability, Luskin Center for Innovation, and Asian American Studies Research Center.

Sonja Diaz is a practicing civil rights attorney and policy advisor. As Founding Director of UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute (LPPI), Diaz co-founded the first multi-issue policy think tank focused on Latinos in the University of California. Diaz is responsible for overseeing all aspects of LPPI, including strategy, research, mobilization, and leadership. With a deep background in both policy and advocacy, Diaz is a regular contributor to the organization’s research portfolio, co-authoring  The Power of the New Majority: A 10 State Analysis of Voters of Color in the 2020 Election, a report that emphasizes the critical role of voters of color in American politics, and The Current State of the Latino Physician Workforce: California Faces a Severe Shortfall in Latino Resident Physicians, which provides further evidence that California’s healthcare workforce pipeline is broken.

Prior to LPPI, Diaz served as policy counsel to U.S. Sen. Kamala D. Harris during her first and second terms as California’s attorney general, managing legal and policy issues of statewide and national importance, including civil rights, consumer protection, criminal justice, immigration, and privacy and technology policy. During her tenure, Diaz served as co-counsel on an industrywide investigation of for-profit online charter schools that garnered a $168.5 million settlement from K12, Inc., was lead counsel on a voting rights investigative package, and directed all aspects of the attorney general’s 21st Century Policing, Immigrant Rights, and Cyber exploitation working groups.

In 2016, Diaz directed a robust voter protection program to support Democratic candidates in Virginia as part of the Clinton-Kaine presidential campaign’s battleground state apparatus, including a commonwealth-wide election monitoring program for language minorities. Diaz has also managed domestic policy portfolios at three California nonprofits, clerked in the White House’s Domestic Policy Council under President Barack Obama, and supported litigation efforts at MALDEF, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and California’s Bureau of Children’s Justice.

Diaz routinely briefs state legislators and local elected officials from across the U.S. on evidence-based governance and emerging trends in domestic policy. Her research and commentary have been mentioned in major news outlets, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, NBC, NPR, Politico, and Univision. She is a contributing political analyst to KTLA 5, a benchmark of Los Angeles news television, for the 2020 Election.

Diaz received her J.D. from UC Berkeley’s School of Law, holds a M.P.P. from UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs, and a B.A. in politics from UC Santa Cruz. She is a University of Michigan Public Policy & International Affairs fellow, valedictorian of People for the American Way’s Frontline Leaders Academy, and LatCrit’s unanimous student scholar awardee for her paper on Latino voting rights.

Dr. Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas serves as LPPI’s Director of Research. He is responsible for developing, managing and executing LPPI’s research portfolios as well as for mentoring LPPI’s policy fellows.

Previously, Dr. Dominguez-Villegas worked at the Institute for Social Science Research at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst where he provided consultations on research design and statistical methods to scholars across various disciplines. He was also a research consultant for the Migration Policy Institute in Washington D.C. and conducted research projects on international migration in North and Central America, return migration, and Mexico’s migration policy. Dr. Dominguez-Villegas’ publications and policy reports have been covered in over 50 national and international media outlets including the New York Times, NPR, NBC News, Al Jazeera, Reforma, El Universal, and El Pais.

Dr. Dominguez Villegas has a strong interest in immigrants’ rights and is involved in initiatives to strengthen public policies that support deported migrants in Mexico and Central America. He has testified as an expert witness before the Canadian Parliament and as a country expert in deportation cases in the United States. He holds a PhD and an MA in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and a BA in Economics and Geography from Middlebury College.

Rosario Majano joined LPPI in June 2022 as a Research Analyst. She is responsible for supporting LPPI’s growing portfolio of community engaged research at the intersection of health, the environment and economic mobility.

Rosario has a strong interest in occupational health and safety as a human right and a background in utilizing mixed methods to answer research questions. As a graduate student at UCLA, her thesis focused on sexual harassment in cannabis dispensaries. She also worked as a graduate research assistant with the UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health program to shed light on the injuries experienced by domestic workers and day laborers.

Previously, she worked as a Research Analyst at the non-profit Community Health Councils, Inc. In that role, she managed evaluation and research projects with partners including First5LA, LA County’s Office of Violence Prevention and USC. She holds a Master of Science in Community Health Sciences from UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science in Global and Public Health Sciences from Cornell University.

Julia Silver is a transdisciplinary research professional with knowledge in public policy, education, civic engagement, and sustainability. She joined LPPI in June 2021 as a Research Analyst. Julia is responsible for designing, managing, and implementing LPPI’s research in health and sustainability. Prior to working with LPPI, she served as a Researcher for Arizona State University’s (ASU) Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, where she collaborated with Latino youth to explore anti-immigrant policies and politics, subtractive schooling experiences, creative expression as a response to discrimination, and civic engagement participation.

Trained in Critical Race Theory, Julia is particularly interested in the ways in which policy and politics intersectionality impact Latinos’ and other communities of color’s lived experiences in the U.S.. She holds a Master of Science degree in Sustainability from ASU, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies from Loyola Marymount University (LMU).

Misael Galdámez serves as LPPI’s Senior Research Analyst for economic opportunity and social mobility. In this role, he supports the development, management, and execution of LPPI’s research portfolio. Previously, Misael worked at the Milken Institute’s Center for Regional Economics, where his research work highlighted strategies to support growth and economic opportunity, including a policy brief on California’s Hispanic essential worker population.

Misael has a strong interest in workers, wages, and inclusive economic growth, and completed a master’s degree in City Planning at MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning in 2019. His thesis research developed a methodology for living wage estimations in Mexico City under Dr. Amy Glasmeier and in partnership with the Universidad Iberoamericana. Prior to graduate school, Misael was a division and projects coordinator at the International Monetary Fund, where he worked on several research projects related to remittances and migration in and from Latin America. He holds a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from American University.

Chhandara Pech is the Deputy Director at the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge and has a master’s in Urban and Regional Planning. His expertise is in spatial and statistical analysis. He has conducted research on housing and transportation inequality, neighborhood change and gentrification, wealth/income disparity, and sustainability.