CPI SAN DIEGO - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Associate Professor of Economics at the University of San Diego
Alan Gin is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of San Diego. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees, both in Economics, from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Dr. Gin is one of the affiliated faculty members of the University of San Diego's Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate. He is best known for developing and publishing the University of San Diego's Index of Leading Economic Indicators for San Diego County, a monthly report on the outlook for the local economy. Dr. Gin has given over 1,000 interviews to local and national media sources and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Daily Transcript, the San Diego Business Journal, Newsweek, and other publications. He is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the Asian Business Association of San Diego and sits on the Board of Directors of the Hong Kong Association of Southern California (San Diego Chapter). He has taught in the University of San Diego's Study Abroad Programs in Hong Kong and Beijing/Shanghai, and has traveled extensively in the region.
Job Titles:
- Researcher
- Researcher & Policy Advocate
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Regional Public Affairs Manager at San Diego Gas & Electric
Bernadette is the current Regional Public Affairs Manager at San Diego Gas & Electric (SDGE). In her previous role as Political Organizer for the United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local #230, she advocated for apprenticeship and training opportunities that create pathways to middle class careers. Since joining her union, she has doubled the women membership in her local by focusing not only on recruitment, but also retention of women in the trade. Bernadette implemented Sisters in Solidarity and an active Political Education Committee dedicated to electing pro-worker allies to local office.
Bernadette was a founding member of San Diego Coalition of Labor Union Women and served as the club's President in the 2017-2018 term. During her tenure, she focused on educational and leadership development programs that supported women to take on positions of power in their local union. Bernadette has also overseen $4.9 billion worth of projects in her role as Chair of the Construction Sub-Committee for the San Diego Unified Bond Oversight Committee, advocating for equitable and just development throughout the city of San Diego.
Blair Overstreet is a committed advocate for racial equity and the San Diego chapter lead of Showing Up for Racial Justice, an organization that focuses on educating and mobilizing white people to fight inequality. Additionally, Blair is a cofounder of the Dede McClure Community Bail Fund, an organization supporting those held in jail simply because they can't afford to pay bail with an organizing eye towards ending cash bail.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she has been a Harmonizer (core leadership) for We All We Got San Diego mutual aid providing food, rent relief, and political empowerment to those most impacted-our BIPOC, immigrant, and disable neighbors. Blair has worked locally in multiracial coalitions on issues like police accountability, humane immigration practices, and affordable housing. She's a City Heights resident and believes strongly in grassroots, community-based organizing and neighborhoods where people look out for each other and build community power. In Blair's decade-long teaching career, she helped her students understand the systems of inequality in our world and empowered them to go out and change it. Now she's getting into that work full time as a community organizer at CPI with the Invest In San Diego Families Coalition.
Job Titles:
- Director, San Diego Black Worker Center
Born and raised in San Diego, Brisa completed an Associate's Degree in Black Studies from San Diego Community College District, and a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from Point Loma Nazarene University.
Previously working as the Civic Engagement Manager for Alliance San Diego, a community organization that builds coalitions to promote justice and social change, she ran large-scale voter engagement field programs winning six progressive policy battles and assisted in registering over 3,500 people in the County of San Diego. She later became the Civic Engagement Manager Statewide for, United Domestic Workers, the Homecare Providers Union, engaging and training union members throughout California on Civic Engagement strategies, while educating member voters on local and State campaigns.
She is now the Director of the San Diego Black Worker Center, an organization created to build an equitable economy for Black workers across the diaspora and to advance the Black Worker Justice Movement! In addition to her role as the Director of the San Diego Black Worker Center, she currently serves as Board Member for the San Diego Workforce Partnership, an organization empowering job seekers to meet the current and future workforce needs in San Diego.
Carlos Mejía is a labor and education advocate based in San Diego, with experience of working in various political organizations. Skilled in, labor unions, nonprofit organizations political communication, public policy, legislative advocacy, coalition building, and grassroots community organizing.
Cheryl Coney is a San Diego native and works for the California Teachers Association (CTA). Cheryl has experience in community and worker organizing and has worked in the labor movement for over a decade. Before joining CTA Cheryl worked for the National Education Association. She also served as the project director for the Union Women's Leadership Education Project and as a labor educator at The Washington State Labor Education and Research Center (WA LERC). Cheryl holds a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Political Science and History from Rutgers University and a Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Washington. She also serves on the national board of the United Association for Labor Education (UALE). She resides in Chula Vista with her partner Greg, their two daughters and boxer Floyd.
Job Titles:
- Policy Analyst
- Senior Researcher
- Senior Researcher & Policy Advocate
- Senior Researcher and Policy Analyst at the Center
Dr. Derrick Robinson is a Senior Researcher and Policy Analyst at the Center on Policy Initiatives. He has previously worked as a research economist and professor for the University of San Diego; University of California, Agriculture & Natural Resources; University of North Florida; Tuskegee University; Mississippi Alabama Sea Grant Consortium; and Auburn University. He has attained multiple degrees in the fields of economics, communication, and geography.
In his current position, he does research related to workers' rights, wages, and employment valuation, contextualized around increasing community economic welfare through advocating for poverty reduction and more equitable income distribution strategies. He uses this information to advise the development of governmental policy, programs and activities to increase food, housing and economic security for communities with the intention of increasing positive outcomes for all workers, families, and communities.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Professor of English
Dr. Kelly Mayhew is a professor of English, Humanities, and Gender Studies at San Diego City College, where she also coordinates the Honors Program, the Labor Studies Program, and the PATH Program (a Mellon Grant with UCSD aimed at encouraging more students to go into the Arts and Humanities). She has a BA in English from the University of California at Santa Barbara, an MA in English from San Diego State University, and a PhD in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. She is a Vice President and Executive Board member of the American Federation of Teachers, Local 1931. Statewide, she is the co-chair of the California Federation of Teachers' Labor and Climate Justice Education Committee. A long-time educator and advocate of youth, Dr. Mayhew also sits on the Steering Committee of the Center on Policy Initiative's Students for Economic Justice Fellowship program. Dr. Mayhew was also a Board member of the Interfaith Center for Worker Justice and a founding member of the San Diego chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW).
With Jim Miller and Mike Davis, Dr. Mayhew is the co-author of Under the Perfect Sun: The San Diego Tourists Never See (The New Press, 2003, 2005) as well as co-author with Jim Miller of Better to Reign in Hell: Inside the Raiders Fan Empire (The New Press, 2005), and is co-editor with Alys Masek of Mamas and Papas: On the Sublime and Heartbreaking Art of Parenting (City Works Press, 2010), co-editor with Paula S. Rothenberg of Race, Class, and Gender in the United States 9 th edition (Worth Publishers, 2014), and co-editor with Jim Miller of Sunshine/Noir II: Writing from San Diego and Tijuana (City Works Press, 2015). She is also a founding member of the San Diego Writers Collective, which created City Works Press (a progressive, all-volunteer non-profit publishing project that is housed at City College) in 2005, for which she serves as the Managing Editor.
Job Titles:
- Lead Program Coordinator, San Diego Black Worker Center
After returning from New Orleans in 2012, Eryn became a recurring canvasser with Alliance San Diego. During this time, she gained knowledge of San Diego's political landscape and experience in organizing BIPOC communities. This set the stage for Eryn to work her way up to Alliance San Diego's Civic Engagement Program Director and Redistricting Lead. Eryn was the voice of the organization at national, statewide and local coalitions representing issues ranging from voting and policing to tax and education equity while also leading several successful voter education and issue advocacy field programs. During the 2021 redistricting process, Eryn participated in several statewide tables but most importantly, she was San Diego's co-lead for the Black Census and Redistricting HUB, which was responsible for creating, sustaining, and increasing black empowerment districts across California. She also sat on and co-convened local tables, drawing local district maps, monitoring and presenting at commission meetings.
Eryn also worked as a Field Representative for Chair Nathan Fletcher. She harnessed her organizing background to connect black people, businesses, and programs to resources and funding available to bridge the economic success gap in our region.
Outside of her activism, Eryn is a wife and mother to two beautiful children, who motivate her to continue pushing for racial and economic equity. She is also a foodie, who proclaims food as her second love and enjoys going to new restaurants on her free time.
Job Titles:
- Development Manager
- CPI 's Development Manager
Jacqueline is CPI's Development Manager. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Jacqueline is the oldest child of Chinese immigrants and the first in her family to go to college. She holds a B.A. in International Studies/Anthropology with a minor in Education Studies from UC San Diego. Prior to joining CPI, Jacqueline worked at Reality Changers, the United States Peace Corps, and UC San Diego. She is also involved with AFP San Diego, Sanford Institute of Philanthropy, and serves as a CASA with Voices for Children.
Job Titles:
- Communications Director
- Communications Manager
- MEDIA CONTACTS
Jessica Córdova was born and raised in San Diego and graduated from the University of California, San Diego, with a BA in Ethnic Studies and a Master's in Latin American Studies with an emphasis in Communications. She joined CPI in 2014 as a Communications Specialist and is now the Communications Director. Before joining CPI she worked at the County of San Diego Registrar of Voters in Latinx Outreach. As a graduate student at UCSD she formed part of an audiovisual oral history project interviewing militants and survivors of the Spanish Civil War and Francoist Dictatorship over three summers in Spain. These oral histories are available for public streaming at the UCSD Special Collections Library.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Professor of Sociology at San Diego State University
Jill Esbenshade is Professor of Sociology at San Diego State University. Dr. Esbenshade received a Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley and B.A. from Brown University. She is the author of Monitoring Sweatshops: Workers, Consumers, and the Global Apparel Industry. Her research focuses on governmental and corporate policy as it relates to labor and immigration issues. She has published numerous policy reports as well as academic articles and book chapters on a variety of topics including: sweatshops, wage theft, local anti-immigrant regulations, DNA testing of refugees, misclassification of independent contractors, and the working conditions of hotel housekeepers, restaurant employees, garment workers and taxi drivers. She also serves on the board of the Workers Rights Consortium and is a member of the California Faculty Association.
Job Titles:
- Researcher and Policy Advocate
Keara O'Laughlin is a native San Diegan committed to creating positive change locally through equitable policy. Keara earned her Master of Public Policy from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and holds a B.A in Public Health from UC Berkeley.
Before joining CPI, she consulted for the Hope Street Margolis Family Center in Downtown LA, where she conducted a community needs assessment and program evaluation to provide recommendations on how to best meet the needs of low-income families in the community. Keara was also involved with the UCLA Graduate Student Association as the Legislative Affairs Director during her time in graduate school, advocating for housing and other basic needs on behalf of all UCLA graduate students in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. At CPI, she supports campaign and research work on local budgeting, land use, transportation, environmental justice, worker rights, and housing policy issues.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- President of the Board
- CPI Executive Director
- People 's Ordinance CPI Executive Director
- San Diego County Our Executive Director
Dr. Kyra R. Greene joined the Center on Policy Initiatives' staff in 2014 and became the Executive Director in June 2017.
Dr. Greene earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Stanford University. She also holds a B.A. in Social Sciences from Bard College at Simon's Rock. Her past research has focused on social movement messaging/framing, legislative processes, and public policies affecting the lives of people of color and people with disabilities.
Before joining CPI, Dr. Greene was an Assistant Professor of Sociology at San Diego State University. She served as an instructor in sociological courses on public policy at both Rider University and Stanford University.
Presently, Dr. Greene serves on numerous boards. She is the Chair of the Engage San Diego Action Fund and Board Chair of PowerSwitch Action.
Nathaniel A. Tate is an Organizer at the Center on Policy Initiatives. Born and raised on the Eastside of Detroit to a city accountant and Protestant Pastor. He finished high school at Monte Vista High School in Spring Valley, CA. In 2009 he graduated from San Diego Culinary Institute with a discipline in Baking and Pastry. Throughout his 12 year hospitality career, both front of the house and as baker/cook, he was employed at award winning resorts and casinos throughout San Diego County. Each step along the way building relationships with his diverse array of co-workers, learning more about their stories.
In 2018 he joined the staff of Unite HERE Local 30 as an Organizer. He's helped with hotel contract negotiations, job readiness programs throughout the country, and led workers in civic engagement programs. He has led canvasser trainings and logistics for various electoral campaigns in San Diego, Reno (NV), and Atlanta (GA). Through his work with his church's youth group to develop leadership and public speaking skills, volunteering with CLIMB San Diego, or the Civic Engagement work he's done at Alliance San Diego, Nathaniel has been committed to encouraging and empowering the working class, immigrant, and Black populations of San Diego.
Job Titles:
- Communications Specialist
Peyton Cordero joined the CPI team in 2020. Raised in San Diego, California, Peyton received her BA in Political Science from San Diego State University and her MA in Peace and Justice from the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego. Before joining CPI, Peyton volunteered with various nonprofit organizations in San Diego, including the United Nations Association - San Diego, Women's Empowerment International, and San Diego 350-where she still serves as an active volunteer on the legislative committee.
Peyton is a social and environmental justice activist, a pizza enthusiast, and a writer in her free time. She is passionate about driving social change and staying involved in her local community.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director
- CPI 's Deputy Director
Quynh Nguyen became CPI's Deputy Director after five years as the Development Director. Quynh first joined CPI in 1998 as an organizer for worker justice campaigns. She was lead organizer on the San Diego Living Wage Campaign and worked on implementation following the ordinance's passage. Quynh also supported the development of the Students for Economic Justice program and Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice before moving into a development role. Quynh was born in Vietnam and graduated from UCLA with B.A.s in Sociology and Asian American Studies.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Vice President of the San Diego Unified School
Richard Barrera serves as Vice President of the San Diego Unified School District, the second largest district in California with 130,000 students in pre-school through grade 12. A first generation San Diegan whose father immigrated to the United States from Colombia and whose grandparents immigrated through Ellis Island, Mr. Barrera has spent nearly three decades striving to improve the lives of working families in San Diego and throughout the United States.
Currently, Mr. Barrera also serves on the Center on Immigration Policy Board, and the Cesar Chavez Service Club Board. He is a graduate of El Cajon Valley High School, holds a Bachelor's degree in History from UCSD, and has a Master's degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Job Titles:
- Lead Program Coordinator
- Worker Center
Job Titles:
- Advisory Board Member at Borderlands for Equity
- Organizer
Sarah Farouq is returning to CPI as an organizer. Sarah's history with CPI dates back to her time as an SEJ fellow in 2017, where she was working on the minimum wage enforcement campaign, and then after working part-time at CPI. Since then, she continued organizing and advocating in the fields of economic, immigration, and criminal injustice in the San Diego region, statewide, and nationally.
Most recently, Sarah was working at AAAJ-Asian Law Caucus as a Community Advocate at the National Security and Civil Rights Program. Sarah's passion for community work stems from her experience as an Iraqi refugee in the U.S. who's had to navigate different systems and has been directly impacted by many unjust policies. In this role, she will work with community members and fight for their issues to create more equitable and just policies. Currently, Sarah holds a B.A. in Political Science from UC Berkeley and she hopes to eventually earn her J.D. and advocate for marginalized communities impacted by systemic injustice from a legal capacity and uplift their issues on a policy level.
Besides CPI, Sarah is currently a youth advisory board member at Borderlands for Equity, an AMAL (American Muslim Anti-Racism Leadership) fellow at Muslim ARC, and a member of the San Diego County Human Relations Commission. Outside of community work, Sarah enjoys the company of cats (and family and friends, of course), making tea concoctions, and practicing guitar.
Job Titles:
- Director of Finance & Operations
Shane Stahl began his work in the nonprofit sector as AmeriCorps VISTA Program Manager at the Corporation for National Service. In his early career, he focused on fundraising and development for national organizations including the American Red Cross. Moving to San Diego in 200 1, Shane quickly became involved in the local LGBT community. In 2002, he became the Associate Director of San Diego's Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, where he worked to advance the business case for LGBT equality. Since then, his work in San Diego has included serving on the boards of the LLLAC, Diversionary Theatre, and Mama's Pantry. In 2012, Shane returned to UCLA to complete his MBA at the Anderson School of Management, focusing on nonprofit corporations. Throughout his career, he has promoted gender equity, LGBT rights, and greater access to health and human services for adults with developmental disabilities, survivors of domestic violence, individuals living with HIV/AIDS, and immigrant and low-income populations. He joined CPI's staff in 2016.