The Policy Nexus: Analytics & Equity

  As 2025 draws to a close, I express my deepest gratitude for your partnership and trust. You are an invaluable part of this community, and your support is the engine that drives our work to protect, educate, and advocate for California’s most underserved populations—including older adults, diverse communities, and those navigating economic challenges or limited English proficiency. While 2025 brought its share of uncertainty, it also proved the power of collective resilience. As we look toward 2026, we know significant challenges remain in the fight for equity. I invite you to stay engaged in the coming year as we work to turn policy into progress. Together, we can meet these challenges with expertise, compassion, and unwavering dedication. Thank you for believing in this mission. With gratitude and appreciation,  Eric

As many of you know, alongside my community advocacy work, I am currently a Doctor of Public Administration (DPA) student at the University of La Verne. My goal in this program is to research how our institutions actually work—and often, how they don't work for the communities facing the most significant hurdles. Here is a sneak peek into my latest research focus. It centers on a concept that sounds complicated but is something many of us have experienced: Administrative Chrononormativity . In simple terms, this is the idea that our institutions set rigid timelines (like the "9-to-5" standard) that prioritize their own convenience over the reality of people's lives. When a clinic has limited hours, forms take weeks to process, or appointments have indefinite waiting periods, "time" becomes an invisible barrier to healthcare access—especially for marginalized groups like the Queer community, gig workers, or parents with rigid schedules. Below is the abstract ...

In public service today, " equity " is a word we hear constantly. It finds its way into mission statements, strategic plans, and political speeches. But for a resident struggling to make ends meet in Riverside County, a word on a page does not pay the rent or keep the lights on. As a Community Action Partnership (CAP) Commissioner and, currently, a doctoral student in public administration, my focus isn't just on saying the word—it's on operationalizing it. We need to move beyond equity as a buzzword and toward equity as a measurable outcome. To do that, we must understand the crucial difference between equality and equity. The View Over the Fence The simplest way to understand this difference is the classic illustration of three people of different heights trying to watch a game over a fence. Equality is giving everyone the exact same size box to stand on. It sounds fair on the surface. But the tallest person didn't need the box, and the shortest person still c...