Policy Chats

In this episode, Policy Chats hosts our second live podcast recording, featuring researchers, practitioners, and individuals with lived experiences discussing the current policies that shape reentry, higher education, and employment access post-incarceration. This panel was produced in collaboration with the UCR Presley Center for Crime and Justice Studies. Panelists include:Dr. Annika Anderson, CSUSB Project Rebound Executive Director/Principal InvestigatorPete Pridanonda, UCR Department of Economics Ph.D. CandidateSofia Alvarenga, CSUSB Project Rebound Outreach CoordinatorRyan Uribe, UCR School of Public Policy StudentLearn more about the Presley Center for Crime and Justice Studies via presleycenter.ucr.eduStay tuned until the end of the episode for bonus content featuring panelists' research, as well as a discussion with the incoming host of Policy Chats, Dori Pham!Interviewer:Rachel Strausman (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Chief Ambassador)Music by: Vir SinhaCommercial Links:⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/ba-mpp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/mpp⁠⁠⁠⁠ This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to this podcast so you don’t miss an episode. Learn more about the series and other episodes via ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠. 

In this episode, City of Redlands Councilmember Denise Davis, talks with students from the UC Riverside School of Public Policy about her work advancing equity, tackling homelessness, and building stronger, more connected communities at the local level.About Denise Davis:Denise Davis was elected in 2018, and is proudly the first openly LGBTQ Council Member in the City of Redlands. She served as Mayor Pro Tem from 2018-2020, running meetings in the Mayor’s absence, and sitting on a number of subcommittees including the budget subcommittee, the COVID-19 subcommittee, the City Manager Recruitment subcommittee, and has been a liaison to the Cultural Arts Commission, the Traffic and Parking Commission, the Historic and Scenic Preservation Commission, OmniTrans, SBCTA, and the Santa Ana River Conservancy Commission. Denise has also served as the City of Redlands voting delegate each year for the League of California Cities Annual Conference. Learn more about Denise Davis via https://www.linkedin.com/in/ddavis11Guest:Denise Davis (Councilmember, City of Redlands) Interviewer:Rachel Strausman (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Chief Ambassador)Music by: Vir SinhaCommercial Links:⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/ba-mpp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/mpp⁠⁠⁠ This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: ⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to this podcast so you don’t miss an episode. Learn more about the series and other episodes via ⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/podcast⁠⁠⁠. 

In this episode, Dr. Pierre Berastaín, the Centre for Public Impact's Regional Director for North America,  talks with students from the UC Riverside School of Public Policy about his journey from Peru and his extensive work in addressing systemic challenges like immigration, gender-based violence prevention, and restorative justice.About Pierre Berastaín:Dr. Pierre R. Berastaín is a public health leader and advocate with academic degrees in Social Anthropology, Divinity, and Public Health from Harvard and UNC-Chapel Hill. He co-founded Caminar Latino – Latinos United for Peace and Equity, a national organization supporting Latino families affected by domestic violence, and has held leadership roles in several organizations focused on gender-based violence, including Harvard’s Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response. Pierre has led federal grant programs, trained nationally and internationally, and advanced culturally competent approaches to violence prevention. Originally from Peru, he now lives in Washington, DC with his husband and has been recognized among Boston’s Top 25 Most Influential LGBTQ People of Color.Learn more about Pierre Berastaín via https://centreforpublicimpact.org/team/pierre-r-berastain/Guest:Pierre Berastaín (Regional Director for North America, Centre for Public Impact) Interviewers:Rachel Strausman (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Chief Ambassador)Liam Burley (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Ambassador) Music by: Vir SinhaCommercial Links:⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/ba-mpp⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/mpp⁠⁠ This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: ⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/⁠⁠ Subscribe to this podcast so you don’t miss an episode. Learn more about the series and other episodes via ⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/podcast⁠⁠. 

In this episode, Deb Aikat, University of North Carolina Professor of Journalism and Media, talks with the UC Riverside School of Public Policy about how technology impacts government processes and media communication. They discuss the media's crucial role during the pandemic and emphasize the importance of providing balanced news to support a healthy democracy. This is the seventh episode in our 11-part series, Technology vs. Government, featuring former California State Assemblymember Lloyd Levine.About Deb Aikat:A former journalist, Deb Aikat has served as a faculty member in UNC-Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media since 1995. Aikat’s peers elected him to lead as the 2023 President of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), the premier 112-year-old scholarly organization with members in 43 countries across six continents. An award-winning scholar, Aikat theorizes the role of media platforms in two democratic societies, India, the largest democracy of 1.4 billion people, and the United States, one of the oldest modern democracies. By integrating news agenda-setting and agenda melding concepts, Aikat has theorized how media platforms in India and the U.S. are empowering people to protest, publish and provoke ideas through media platforms devoid of government control.Learn more about Deb Aikat via https://hussman.unc.edu/people/deb-aikatInterviewers:Lloyd Levine (Former California State Assemblymember, UCR School of Public Policy Senior Policy Fellow)Rachel Strausman (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Chief Ambassador)Music by: Vir SinhaCommercial Links:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://myadv.ucr.edu/forms/spp-neumann⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/ba-mpp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/mpp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to this podcast so you don’t miss an episode. Learn more about the series and other episodes via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. 

In this episode, Cara Chiaraluce, Santa Clara University Professor of Sociology, talks with the UC Riverside School of Public Policy about the impact of internet access on health outcomes. This is the sixth episode in our 11-part series, Technology vs. Government, featuring former California State Assemblymember Lloyd Levine. About Cara Chiaraluce: Cara Chiaraluce specializes in the fields of carework, gender and family, and health. Chiaraluce has published articles in the Journal of Family Issues, American Behavioral Scientist, and her forthcoming book Becoming an Expert Caregiver: How Structural Flaws Shape Autism Carework and Community (Rutgers University Press, 2024) examines the process through which lay women become expert caregivers to provide the best care for their children. Prior to joining the department in 2015, she taught Sociology at UC Davis (where she won the 2013 "Excellence in Undergraduate Education Award") and California State University- Sacramento. Chiaraluce is originally from Boston, Massachusetts, received her B.A. in Sociology from Assumption College, and M.A. and Ph.D. from UC Davis. Learn more about Cara Chiaraluce via https://www.scu.edu/cas/sociology/faculty-and-staff/cara-chiaraluce/ Interviewer: Lloyd Levine (Former California State Assemblymember, UCR School of Public Policy Senior Policy Fellow) Music by: Vir Sinha Commercial Links:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/ba-mpp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/mpp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Subscribe to this podcast so you don’t miss an episode. Learn more about the series and other episodes via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. 

This week, we’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes from last year! In this episode, AllSides Co-Founder and CEO John Gable talks with students from the UC Riverside School of Public Policy about how understanding media bias and filter bubbles can help better bridge gaps amongst political polarization.   Thank you so much to our generous sponsor for this episode, the Wall Street Journal. Activate your free school-sponsored subscription today at: ⁠⁠⁠WSJ.com/UCRiverside⁠⁠⁠ About John Gable: John Gable received his B.A. in Philosophy, with an emphasis in Mathematics, from Vanderbilt University as well as Masters of Business Administration from Duke University. He has worked in a variety of fields, having previously been an Executive Director for various political campaigns, a Product Manager at Microsoft, the President of Stearns Ventures, and now the Co-Founder and CEO of AllSides. Overall, John Gable is a high technology executive focused on building, marketing and monetizing products, online services and teams that have a positive social impact.  Learn more about John Gable via ⁠https://www.allsides.com/news-source/john-gable⁠  Podcast Highlights:  "The medium, the content, and the way we interact is driven a little bit by the medium itself. And what I thought about the internet was that it was mostly by metaphor: this is similar to that, and therefore you're a friend of a friend or I'm searching for something similar to what I'm trying to solve. I thought it would encourage us to think by metaphor or if you will, [in the extreme sense] stereotype." -       John Gable on the topic of how the internet is structured to make connections, which can initially be beneficial, but can also lead to dangerous steryotypes. "[With the way the internet works] we see an issue, and we only hear or get information that we already agree with, which might only be 10% of what we need to know about an issue. But we hear that 10,000 times, and so we're really absolutely confident with no doubt that we're correct. But we know less about the issue than we did before the Internet.” -       John Gable on the topic of how filter bubbles can limit our access to necessary information, despite the increased access to information the internet seems to provide. “[What we need to do is] get people out of the information filter bubble. Get them out of the relationship filter bubble, and provide people the skills and confidence to disagree, to have a conversation and not agree with each other and recognize the differences and appreciate the differences that each of us bring to the table. With that, that's how it would get to a better place.” -       John Gable on the topic of how teaching people to understand the value in disagreement can help people be more aware of filter bubbles.  Guest: John Gable (Co-Founder and CEO of AllSides)  Interviewers: Rachel Strausman (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Chief Ambassador) Divya Bharadwaj (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Ambassador)  Music by: Vir Sinha Commercial Links:⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/ba-mpp⁠ ⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/mpp⁠  This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: ⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/⁠  Subscribe to this podcast so you don’t miss an episode. Learn more about the series and other episodes via ⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/podcast⁠. 

In this episode, Juliana Maria Trammel, Associate Professor of Journalism & Mass Communications and Laura Robinson, Professor of Sociology talk with the UC Riverside School of Public Policy about the challenges and vulnerabilities with delivering information and services using eGovernment. This is the fifth episode in our 11-part series, Technology vs. Government, featuring former California State Assemblymember Lloyd Levine.Thank you so much to our generous sponsor for this episode, the Wall Street Journal. Activate your free school-sponsored subscription today at:⁠⁠WSJ.com/UCRiverside⁠⁠About Juliana Maria Trammel:Dr. Juliana Maria Trammel is a communications consultant, professor, and researcher. She has 12 years of experience in the field of communications that includes journalism, public relations, organizational and strategic communication, and communications research. She is currently an associate professor of Journalism & Mass Communications at Savannah State University. She earned a Ph.D. in Communication and Culture (organizational communication) from Howard University; a MA in Public Communication (social marketing) from American University; and a BA in Print and Broadcast Journalism (double major) from Rust College.Learn more about Juliana Maria Trammel via https://www.savannahstate.edu/class/departments/mass-communications/juliana-trammel.shtmlAbout Laura Robinson:Laura Robinson specializes in digital sociology, research methods, and global media in Brazil, France, and the U.S. Robinson’s work has appeared in journals including Information, Communication and Society; New Media & Society; Sociology, and Sociological Methodology. Robinson earned her Ph.D. from UCLA, where she held a Mellon Fellowship in Latin American Studies and received a Bourse d’Accueil at the École Normale Supérieure. She also earned degrees from Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 and USC. Leadership to the discipline has included serving as CITAMS Section Chair and as a member of the ASA Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities in Sociology.Learn more about Laura Robinson via https://www.scu.edu/cas/sociology/faculty-and-staff/laura-robinson/Interviewers:Lloyd Levine (Former California State Assemblymember, UCR School of Public Policy Senior Policy Fellow)Dinara Godage (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Ambassador)Music by: Vir SinhaCommercial Links:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/ba-mpp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/mpp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to this podcast so you don’t miss an episode. Learn more about the series and other episodes via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. 

In this episode, CEO of Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino, Carolyn Fajardo talks with the UC Riverside School of Public Policy about modern approaches to food insecurity and long-term, sustainable solutions. Thank you so much to our generous sponsor for this episode, the Wall Street Journal. Activate your free school-sponsored subscription today at: ⁠WSJ.com/UCRiverside ⁠ About Carolyn Fajardo: Carolyn Fajardo, born Carolyn Solar, is a Latina and the first in her family to earn a bachelor's degree. She graduated from California State University, San Bernardino, with a BA in Communications and began her career in food banking as the Marketing and Communications Coordinator for FARSB. She later pursued her MBA at California Baptist University while advancing to the role of Development Director. Later, she was appointed CEO. Learn more about Carolyn Fajardo via ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynfajardo/ Interviewer: Rachel Strausman (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Chief Ambassador) Dori Pham (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Ambassador) Music by: Vir Sinha This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ Subscribe to this podcast so you don’t miss an episode. Learn more about the series and other episodes via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

In this episode, Catherine Sandoval, Santa Clara University Law Professor and Patrick Lanthier, co-founder of RIVERA/LANTHIER & Associates talk with the UC Riverside School of Public Policy about how social vulnerabilities and the digital divide shape disaster response outcomes. This is the fourth episode in our 11-part series, Technology vs. Government, featuring former California State Assemblymember Lloyd Levine. Thank you so much to our generous sponsor for this episode, the Wall Street Journal. Activate your free school-sponsored subscription today at: ⁠WSJ.com/UCRiverside⁠ About Catherine Sandoval: Catherine Sandoval is a tenured Law Professor at Santa Clara University, specializing in Communications and Energy law. She served in the US federal government as a Presidential-nominated, Senate Confirmed Board Member of the US Chemical Safety Board, and as Director of the FCC Office of Communications Business Opportunities. California Governors Brown and Davis appointed her as Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission, and Undersecretary of California’s Business, Transportation, and Housing Agency, She earned a B.A. from Yale University, a Master of Letters from Oxford University where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and a J.D. from Stanford Law School. Learn more about Catherine Sandoval via  ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-sandoval-7a2a2416a/⁠ About Patrick Lanthier: Patrick Lanthier co-founded RIVERA/LANTHIER & Associates, a Silicon Valley-based technology and policy firm in 1997. At AT&T & BELL Labs, he was on early Cellular, Internet, and National Security & Emergency Preparedness teams. He co-founded New Ventures (total $1B) and advises 22 countries’ Emergency Communications Planners, the United Nations, the European Union, and the US Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, and State. He advised at Carnegie Mellon University, Santa Clara University, and both California’s Emerging Technology Fund and its Office of Emergency Services. He has led teams in more than 50 countries. His education includes California Polytechnic, San Francisco State, Golden Gate, Seton Hall, and The Wharton School. He testified in the US Congress and other venues. Learn more about Patrick Lanthier via  ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-lanthier-6ba8068/⁠ Interviewers: Lloyd Levine (Former California State Assemblymember, UCR School of Public Policy Senior Policy Fellow) Rachel Strausman (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Chief Ambassador) Music by: Vir Sinha Commercial Links:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/ba-mpp⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/mpp⁠⁠⁠⁠  This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/⁠⁠⁠⁠  Subscribe to this podcast so you don’t miss an episode. Learn more about the series and other episodes via ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠. 

In this episode, President of Cover My Mental Health, Joe Feldman talks with the UC Riverside School of Public Policy about policies addressing mental health care parity and the role of employers in improving access to care.Thank you so much to our generous sponsor for this episode, the Wall Street Journal. Activate your free school-sponsored subscription today at: WSJ.com/UCRiverside About Joe Feldman: Founder Joe Feldman began advocating for access to mental health care after overcoming denials for a family member’s care, including with a successful federal lawsuit. His advocacy work has included policy-driven discussions with legislators and regulators, a board role with The Kennedy Forum Illinois, presentations to parent groups, and publication of actionable guidance such as a 2021 article in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice on medical necessity letters. Learn more about Joe Feldman via https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephmfeldman Interviewer: Rachel Strausman (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Chief Ambassador) Music by: Vir Sinha This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/⁠⁠⁠⁠  Subscribe to this podcast so you don’t miss an episode. Learn more about the series and other episodes via ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠.