Summary: Good jobs aren’t created by accident. It takes intentional research, planning and organizing to push economic development agencies in this direction. Policy Analyst Omer Sohail will be sharing his journey as a union researcher both operating within and outside of state government to push for higher standards in this realm.

About the Speaker: Omer Sohail works with Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas as a Policy analyst to serve the nearly 1 million constituents of Senate District 28, which includes South Los Angeles and Culver City. This division focuses on supporting business growth and expansion in the county. They work with a network of over 75 economic development partners to foster growth and build assets in communities across the county. His policy expertise lies at the intersection of labor and climate, and focuses on creating good, green union jobs for a just transition. Omer grew up in Southern California in a low-income immigrant family where both his parents worked hard to provide for him and his three sisters. Before working for the Senator’s Office, he worked as a Researcher for both the UCLA Labor Center and UAW Region 6 to strategize leveraging public dollars and grassroots pressure to combat occupational segregation and grow unions. Omer holds a BA in Public Policy from the UCR School of Public Policy and Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Policy.

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Click here to rewatch the seminar via video.