Mobility & Opportunity

This policy toolkit shares small business owners’ firsthand accounts of recovering from the 2025 Eaton and Palisades Fires and offers policy recommendations to build a more responsive, accessible disaster recovery system.

Recovery Starts Here: Margarita “Maggie” Cortez

Margarita “Maggie” Cortez is a single mother of three and the owner of El Patron Mexican Food Restaurant, a 15-year fixture on Lake Avenue in Altadena. There was no Mexican restaurant on that stretch of the street when Maggie opened El Patron. For a decade and a half, it became something more than a restaurant…

Recovery Starts Here: Kimberly Vandenberg

Kimberly Vandenberg has spent much of her life in the water. A competitive swimmer from California, she eventually became an Olympic medalist, competing in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Teaching was a natural next step when her competing days wound down. She had always coached in some capacity alongside her athletic career, and when…

Recovery Starts Here: Helen Lam

Helen Lam built a life and business from the ground up in Altadena, CA, after fleeing the Vietnam War as a Vietnamese and Chinese-American refugee. She worked as an esthetician, steadily gaining experience and earning the trust of her clients. It was those very clients who encouraged her to open her own shop. And when…

Charlita: Alberto Vargas Shares Reflections on Latino Workers in California

The Latino workforce is central to California’s economy, yet faces steep disparities in wages, job security, health coverage, and housing. To better understand these findings, we asked Alberto Vargas, a graduate fellow and co-author of LPPI’s workforce briefs, to share his reflections. In this conversation, Vargas highlights the growth of Latino workers across regions, the barriers…

How Tariffs Threaten Economic Mobility for Latino Communities

While much of the current public conversation has focused on how tariffs are rattling the stock market, we must look beyond Wall Street and examine the real and lasting consequences for working-class communities and small business owners. These tariffs act as regressive taxes—raising the cost of everyday goods while offering no corresponding relief to families…

Latina and Black Women Entrepreneurs Policy Forum Highlights Barriers and Solutions

On February 4, over 40 women policymakers, researchers, and business leaders convened at UC Center Sacramento for the Latina and Black Women Entrepreneurs Policy Forum, hosted by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute (LPPI). The event examined structural inequities facing Latina and Black women entrepreneurs in California and explored data-driven policy solutions to foster…

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