California Policy Lab May 2024 Newsletter

240,000+ college students received CalFresh each year of the pandemic 

CalFresh benefit receipt during 2020-21 and 2021-22 grew among UC undergraduate and graduate students and remained stable at California Community Colleges. A forthcoming CPL report will measure how many students are eligible for CalFresh, and of those students, how many are actually enrolled. Sign up here to receive an invite to a June webinar about the forthcoming report. Data points (2021 and 22)

Evaluation: Housing supports for families involved with CPS

CPL evaluated Bringing Families Home (BFH), a housing support program intended to decrease the need for out-of-home placements for children and increase family reunifications. We found that enrollment reduced emergency shelter and transitional housing use by half and doubled the use of rapid rehousing within 6 months. However, more BFH families who were initially receiving in-home family maintenance services were either still receiving those services or were in foster care receiving family reunification services at the 180-day mark than non-BFH families. Policy brief and report

New website on Unemployment Insurance research

CPL launched a new website for CPL’s unemployment insurance research. It includes ongoing research, past publications, policy impacts, and research resources, including a sortable inventory of 300+ figures and tables from CPL’s pandemic reports.

Professor Jesse Rothstein receives Impactful Mentor Award 

Congratulations to our colleague, Jesse Rothstein, faculty director of CPL’s Berkeley site, who will receive the Impactful Mentor Award at the 2024 American Economic Association’s Summer Mentoring Pipeline Conference this summer.

New CPL staff

Abby Snider recently joined CPL as our new development director and we’re thrilled she’s part of the CPL team. Have a development question or suggestion? Drop her an email.

CPL staff gather at annual retreat

On the agenda? CPL’s new strategic plan, professional development workshops, and “ignite” talks by staff. We also had time for team-building, with a pickleball tournament, jeopardy-style game night, a pottery workshop, hikes and runs, and a staff-created treasure hunt.

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1. Researcher in Applied Microeconomics and Quantitative Public Policy
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Funding and datasets for policy-relevant research 

CPL is accepting applications for Seed Grants, Graduate Fellowships, and to use data from the Safety Net Dataset and the Life Course Dataset. Click on the links to see past recipients, read FAQs, and to apply. Our funding for Seed Grants and Graduate Fellowships ends later this year, so apply now.

CPL sends a quarterly reminder about these opportunities – subscribe here.

Cash Assistance and Child Well-Being: May 23rd Event

Jesse Rothstein, faculty director at CPL’s Berkeley site, and Aparna Ramesh, who previously worked at CPL and now works at the California Department of Social Services, will join other experts for a session on lessons learned from research and policy partnerships. UC Berkeley’s Opportunity Lab and the Urban Institute are sponsoring this event that will explore new research on cash assistance and children. May 23rd, 10a – 1p (PT) Register

Building the case for Short-Time Compensation: May 29th webinar

Till von Wachter, faculty director at CPL’s UCLA site, and an expert on Short-Time Compensation (STC), will present on how STC is a promising, yet underutilized alternative to layoffs. The session will focus on STC benefits for employees and employers, how STC saves UI Trust Fund dollars, and how states can start an STC program. May 29th, 11a – 12p (PT) Register

Jesse Rothstein testifies to State Senate on improving workforce data collection

Jesse Rothstein recently testified on the benefits of collecting additional data as part of the Base-Wage file, which provides employment and earnings information for California workers. Collecting additional data, as contemplated under SB 755, would help to better measure the impact of workforce training programs and enable colleges to better measure post-graduation employment and earnings. Testimony

Till von Wachter presents on the importance of administrative data in labor research

Till von Wachter keynoted an event celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Federal Employment Agency’s Research Data Centre (FDZ). Von Wachter applauded FDZ’s first-in-class data access and how it enables faster research. FDZ presentation

Why Biden is getting little credit for the economy, especially in California

Evan White, executive director of CPL’s Berkeley site, is quoted in this article and cites data from CPL’s California Credit Dashboard, pointing out that credit card delinquencies rose in December 2023 to the highest level since the Great Recession.

Los Angeles is using AI in a pilot program to try to predict homelessness and allocate aid

Janey Rountree, executive director of CPL’s UCLA site, explains the importance of communities testing and innovating strategies to prevent homelessness.

Scholar spotlight: Jesse Rothstein: Making data accessible for all

In this profile, Rothstein explains that part of his intent with co-founding the California Policy Lab was to democratize access to data, and to provide researchers a faster way to connect creative ideas with good data.

LA County fends off homelessness with an assist from AI

This article shares the story of Shabree Stewart, who was contacted as part of a pilot program administered by the Los Angeles County Department of Health pilot program. CPL is partnering with the county on this pilot, which identifies LA County residents at the highest risk of homelessness so that county caseworkers can reach out and connect individuals and families with the tailored supports they need to remain housed.

Please support our work
Consider donating to support our work generating research insights for government impact. If you are interested in making a larger gift, please reach out to Evan White or Janey Rountree to discuss opportunities to support CPL.