Podcast: Talk Policy to Me

Continuing with our effort to cover the COVID-19 pandemic and related policy issues, Sarah Edwards (MPP ’20) speaks with Ellora Derenoncourt, who will join the Goldman Faculty in the fall. Tune in to the conversation unpacking the issues of racial inequality in health and economics and learn from Ellora’s historic economics perspective.

For more on Ellora’s work, visit her website.

Check out the “Campus Conversations” that was mentioned in the episode 

For more in this series, check out Sarah’s conversation with Rashawn Ray. 

In discussions around expanding voter turnout, many different policy interventions come up—same day voter registration, automatic voter registration, making Election day a holiday. But what if the best way to change the likelihood of people voting actually came in changing their first voting experience?

There’s a body of evidence that shows that voting for the first time at 16, rather than 18, increases the chances of people becoming life-long voters. In this second episode in our series on strengthening our democracy, we look at how this change can play a role to improve outcomes for all.

In this episode, host Sarah Edwards (MPP ’20) explores efforts to expand the right to vote to 16 and 17 year olds. She speaks with Brandon Klugman, Campaign Manger of Vote16 USA and Arianna Nassiri, a high school student in San Francisco leading the push to lower the voting age for SF local and school board elections.

Curious to learn more? We suggest the following:

1. Read this article on the outcomes related to lowering the voting age
2. Explore Ayanna Pressley’s efforts for federal legislation
3. Stay up-to-date on San Francisco’s upcoming campaign

As the numbers are coming in, statistics show that communities of color, particularly Latinx and Black communities are both contracting COVID at higher rates and dying from it at higher rates. What is causing this inequity? What solutions can we enact, both now and in the future, to change this? Sarah Edwards (MPP ’20) spoke with Rashawn Ray, David M. Rubenstein fellow at the Brookings Institution and an associate professor of sociology at the University of Maryland.

To learn more about this issue, we recommend reading these two articles Rashawn wrote for Brookings:

• “Why are Blacks dying at higher rates from COVID-19?”
• “How to reduce the racial gap in COVID-19 deaths”

Welcome to the first episode in TPTM’s brand new series on Democracy!

Do you ever wonder why our voting and election systems work the way they do? Has anyone ever preached to you the virtues (or evils) of rank choice voting, blockchain, or eliminating the electoral college? Then tune in to the lastest TPTM episode where Colleen (MPP ‘21) sits down with elections-policy experts and fellow Goldman students Rachel Wallace (MPP’20) and Ben Raderstorf (MPP ‘20) to break down the “hows” and “whys” of our voting systems. Listen in as they chat about the values we embrace when designing our elections, break down a bunch of elections-policy proposals, and argue why we should care about any of this in the first place. Be sure to keep your eye out for upcoming episodes in our Democracy series. We’ll be talking about the upcoming election in the era of COVID-19 and trying to answer the pressing questions that arise given this unprecedented context.

We are nearly one month into California’s shelter-in-place order in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. And it looks like, in the Bay Area at least, we’re seeing some payoff from our early efforts to socially distance; hospitals have not seen the number of patients initially expected, and public health experts are tentatively declaring our success in flattening the proverbial curve.

In spite of these successes, the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown America’s inequalities into even sharper relief. Those who are most exposed to risk are the poorest among us, the undocumented, the unhoused, the under-or un-insured, and those whose incomes have suddenly disappeared as non-essential businesses have closed down.

Talk Policy To Me hosts Colleen Pulawski (MPP ‘21), Sarah Edwards (MPP ‘20), Reem Rayef (MPP ‘21) and Khalid Kaldi (MPP ‘21) assembled on a video call for the podcast’s first ever virtual roundtable, to share learnings about the ways in which the crisis has both exposed and exacerbated gaping inequality in the US—and what policymakers, organizers, and communities are doing to protect the vulnerable among us.

In this episode we discuss all things COVID-19. How does the federal government’s stimulus bill risk cementing economic inequality? What does shelter-in-place mean if you don’t have a home? How should governors and mayors talk about the pandemic, when the president doesn’t appear to take it seriously? And what are the dangers and benefits of talking about silver linings?

More than half of the student population in U.S. public schools identify as students of color; yet less than one in five—18 percent— of the teacher workforce identify as teachers of color. Does diversity and inclusion in the teaching profession even matter? And, if so, how can public policy play a constructive role?

To find answers to these questions, Khalid Kaldi (MPP ’21) sat down with two former teachers of color. MPP student, Whitney Parra, explains the importance of cultural understanding in the classroom and provides a window into the personal experiences of a teacher of color. Then, UC Berkeley Assistant Professor of Education, Travis Bristol, shares some of his policy recommendations on how to strengthen the ways we recruit and retain teachers of color.

For more on demographic shifts, check out our episodes on aging and transportation, direct care workers and fertility.

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We know from research—and from personal experience with our own elders—that mobility and independence are key components of mental and emotional wellness for the over 65, or senior, population. However, once they’re no longer able to drive their cars due to health and safety concerns, that mobility—or ease of getting from point A to point B—plummets. A senior who no longer drives may be supported by their family for essential trips to health care services and the grocery story, but even in this best-case scenario, their physical world shrinks substantially.

The challenge is that when the elderly stop driving, they are largely left without good alternatives for transportation. For the vast majority of seniors who live in suburban and rural areas, there is no public transit to speak of, and a car-oriented streetscape means that walking isn’t a viable option either. And for the tiny percentage living in dense cities, public transit can be challenging to navigate for seniors who spent most of their lives driving their own cars –and it may not even serve the destinations they’re hoping to reach.

The elderly community is a treasured and crucial part of our social fabric; seniors work, provide childcare to working families, volunteer, create art, and more. Improving transit and transportation systems to serve their needs is imperative, particularly as the share of the US population over the age of 65 grows.

In the latest episode in our series on demographic shifts, Talk Policy To Me reporter Reem Rayef (MPP/MA-ERG ‘21) speaks with Clarrissa Cabansagan of TransForm and Dr. Sandi Rosenbloom of UT Austin to uncover how transportation systems must respond to the existing (and growing) issue of elderly mobility –and how doing so could help get us all out of our cars and onto public transit.

Clarrissa Cabansaganis the New Mobility Policy Director at TransForm and a UC Berkeley alum. Her work at TransForm centers on transportation equity and justice, and what that looks like in the era of scooters and Uber. She is a lifetime Bay Area resident.

Dr. Sandi Rosenbloomis a Professor of Community and Regional Planning at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Director of the UT Lab for Safe & Healthy Aging. Read her report for the Urban Institute on elderly access to paratransit services here.

For more on demographic shifts, check out our episodes on direct care workers and fertility.

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As our population ages, we are faced with a number of policy challenges. One, in particular, stands out: how will we provide care for those who need help?

Our next episode in the series around Demographic Shifts explores the policy implications of the aging population and the people who will help care for them.

California expects to see its population of seniors rise from 15 to 25% in the next 40 years. While the challenge of caring for an aging population will expand as the population grows, there are real policy issues today. The Direct Care industry, which includes home care workers and care facility workers, faces many challenges. In this episode, Reem Rayef (MPP/ERG ’21) and Sarah Edwards (MPP ’20) speak with experts to unpack the challenges of today and tomorrow. Robert Espinoza from PHI National, a research and advocacy organization, shared the national perspective. Tanya Bustamante and Cuidonce Corona from Berkeley Aging Services Division ground the challenges in what is happening in Berkeley.
Interested in learning more? Check out Berkeley’s Age-Friendly Plan.

Read PHI’s most recent report.

Stay tuned for another episode exploring Demographic Shifts and the role of policy!

When news articles talk about the county’s declining fertility, there tends to be a tone of panic and often of judgment. But what is the truth of fertility rate declines? What role does policy play in impacting these rates? And how does the nature of fertility rates influence policy?

In this episode, Sarah Edwards (MPP 20) turns to a local expert, demography PhD Leslie Root. Leslie helps us unpack this specific intersection between demography and policy, and what it means for our future.

Curious for more information on changing fertility rates and policy implications? Check out the following:

1. Leslie’s Washington Post Op-Ed: "Don’t Panic Over Declining Fertility Rates—And Don’t Let Anyone Guilt You”
2. The Shift Project, which Leslie mentioned in the podcast. This research effort by Berkeley and UCSF researchers has advanced our understanding of the nature of shift work and the implications these policies have.
3. Paid Leave US, an advocacy organization working to expand paid leave policies in California and the nation.