California Policy Lab March 2022 Newsletter

Who benefits from the student loan pause and what will happen when it ends?

CPL’s analysis of credit bureau data showed improved credit standing for most of the 26 million borrowers who have had their payments paused since March 2020. The analysis also projects what may happen if the pause expires in May, including that at least 7.8 million borrowers are at high risk of struggling to repay their loans. Policy Brief

How many UC and California Community College students received CalFresh benefits?

As part of the Student Supports Project, CPL released a data point that provides original estimates of the number of University of California (UC) and California Community College (CCC) students who were enrolled in CalFresh during the 2019-20 Academic Year. Data Point

Independent contracting in California

The California Policy Lab and the UC Berkeley Labor Center published research that uses de-identified tax data from 2014 through 2016 to better understand independent contracting in California and the role it plays in the state’s economy. Fact Sheet

National analysis: disparities in access to unemployment insurance

CPL’s unemployment research team was selected as one of five teams to participate in the U.S. Department of Labor’s inaugural Summer Data Challenge on Equity and Underserved Communities. The research team measured access to unemployment benefits across the U.S. Report.

Three new job openings

The California Policy Lab is growing — help us find great talent!

1) Data Analyst, Labor Specialist, UCLA

2) Data Analyst, Sacramento

3) Graduate Student Researcher, virtual

March 31st deadline for Seed grants, Graduate Fellowships, and Life Course Dataset

CPL provides these opportunities and others to support policy-relevant research.

1) Seed Grants: Open to UC students and faculty focused on health, homelessness, and consumer finance research.

2) Graduate Fellowships: Open to UC graduate students using California administrative data or other CPL datasets.

3) Life Course Dataset: Includes data on Sonoma County agency interactions with residents aged 18 and over.

CPL staff and affiliates presenting at the APPAM Conference next week

Headed to the APAMM conference next week? CPL staff and affiliated experts are presenting on a variety of topics including criminal justice reform, linking data, unemployment, and more! CPL staff and affiliates at APPAM

CPL’s Make-it-Right research to be presented at NBER’s Program on Children Meeting on May 12th

CPL’s analysis of the Make-it-Right restorative justice program in San Francisco found that the program resulted in a 30% reduction in recidivism over four years. Yotam Shem-Tov, a co-author, will present the research.

State of Black Housing in Sonoma County

Evan White was a panelist for this online event hosted by the Santa Rosa – Sonoma County NAACP in partnership with the Sonoma County Black Forum. White presented on CPL’s research on high utilizers in Sonoma County.

Webinar: Tracking Re-Employment Patterns of Unemployed Workers During the Recovery

Till von Wachter spoke about the California unemployment crisis, with a focus on the reemployment patterns of workers during the recovery. The presentation was sponsored by the California Labor Lab, and is now online.

7.8 million student-loan borrowers are at ‘high-risk’ of being unable to pay if Biden resumes payments in May, analysis says

Article cites CPL’s new policy brief focused on the impact of the student loan pause and what may happen if the pause expires in May. The Sacramento Bee, Capital Public Radio, the Hill, KCRW, and Davis Enterprise also covered it.

Study of Bay Area restorative justice program reveals promise for juveniles who commit serious crimes

Article quotes Alissa Skog, a co-author of CPL’s recent report focused on the Make-it-Right program in San Francisco.

Gov. Newsom on his new plan to tackle mental health, homelessness with ‘CARE Courts’

Maya Buenaventura, Research Manager at CPL’s UCLA site, spoke about her research on the Santa Monica Homeless Community Court.