I’m thrilled to introduce the Dr. Beatriz María Solís Policy Institute (SPI) State 2025–2026 cohort — a group of organizers, advocates, and community leaders reimagining what policy can do when it begins with care, equity, and justice.
California is often seen as a place of progress, but systems here, like anywhere, can calcify around inequity. What makes this cohort remarkable is how they confront those systems not just with critique, but with construction. They’re building alternatives rooted in lived experience, policy fluency, and a deep belief that the future can be fairer than the past.
This year, SPI fellows will focus their work on Criminal Justice Reform, Immigrant Economic Justice, Reproductive Health, Rights & Justice, and Trauma Services & Prevention. Over the next year, they’ll conduct research, shape legislation, and partner with policymakers to make tangible change. Our fellows reimagine our institutions, envisioning what our government in Sacramento could look like if it were built for care rather than control.
The SPI community now includes more than 800 alums who together have helped pass 57 bills into law. Each one represents a simple but radical idea: that those most affected by policy should shape it.
Criminal Justice Reform
Tatiana Lewis
Organizer, Ella Baker Center
Katarina Sayally
Advocacy and Organizing Manager, Community Works West
Hope Williams
Director of Legislative Advocacy, Sustainable Economies Law Center
Shivani Nishar
Policy Associate, Initiate Justice
Rose Lavalley
Lead Policy Coach, Fresh Lifeliness For Youth (FLY)
Immigrant Economic Justice
Monica Madrid
State Policy Advocate, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
Ana Avilez
Promise City Program Associate, Mission Economic Development Agency
Cherry Javier
Manager of Community Engagement, Office of Transgender Initiatives, CCSF
Ruth Sosa Martinez
Policy Strategist, Power California
Aydee Palomino
Program Project Manager, Alianza Coachella Valley
Reproductive Health, Rights, & Justice Team
Andrea Luna
Policy Analyst, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice
Esperanza Mendez
Communications Copywriter, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest
Gabriella Brown
Maternal and Infant Health Program Manager, Black Women for Wellness
Yuli Smith
Co-Founder, Co-Executive Director, Around-Birth Collective, Inc.
Isatu M. Bokum
Founder & Executive Director, Girls Talk Organisation
Trauma Services and Prevention
Wendy Blanco
Director of Counseling Services, Peace Over Violence
Tineace Ferguson
Organizer, Starting Over Inc.
Amethyst Yates
Assistant Director (FREE Project), Starting Over Inc.
Last month, that legacy continued when AB 969, developed by our Economic Security team in partnership with Assemblymember Celeste Rodríguez, was signed into law. The bill tackles how our welfare system treats survivors of domestic violence. Too often, survivors who rely on CalWORKs to rebuild their lives are penalized for the very conditions they’re escaping. AB 969 changes that. It grants survivors the right to waive requirements that endanger them, standardizes those protections statewide, and ensures counties cannot deny support to survivors in counseling or recovery programs.
This is not just a policy shift, it is also a moral one. It redefines safety and dignity as rights, not privileges.
The SPI State Class of 2025–2026 carries this spirit forward. They remind us that policymaking can’t just be about governance. It’s also about imagination, empathy, and the belief that systems can evolve toward justice when guided by those who know their failures best.