Applied research and practice
Community Economic Development
Collective wealth in Black communities of the U.S. Southeast
As a Senior Research Fellow at Kindred Futures, an Atlanta-based community development organization, I am co-leading research on neighborhood commerce and shared ownership models for property and enterprise. The work will support pop-up policy labs with practitioners in Atlanta; Savannah, GA; Mobile, AL; and Little Rock, AR. The work is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Global South research collective on the future of work
As Founding Partner at the Just Jobs Network, I am supporting a five-year initiative to build a network of research organizations across the Global South advancing knowledge on the future of work. The FutureWORKS Collective provides resources to Southern researchers investigating themes such as the care economy, the effect of climate change on jobs, and AI’s effect on informal labor markets. The work is supported by the International Development Research Centre (Canada).
A just recovery in Los Angeles
From 2021 to 2023, I served as economic advisor to Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman. I led or supported legislative efforts to: make street commerce regulation friendlier to vendors; secure funds for legal assistance to small businesses facing eviction; overhaul the procurement system to ensure greater transparency and equity; and mainstream the promotion of employee-owned businesses in the city’s economic development programs.