School of Public Policy

Intro:  Welcome to Policy Chats the official podcast of the School of Public Policy at the University of California, Riverside. I'm your host, Kevin Karami. Join me and my classmates as we learn about potential policy solutions for today's biggest societal challenges. 

Dinara Godage: Joining us today is non-profit worker and School of Public Policy alum, Andrea Rayas, my fellow classmate Andrew Shannon and I chatted with her about community service and secondhand smoke and multi-family housing. 

Dinara Godage: Hi, Andrea. Thank you so much for joining us today on policy chats. It's so great to have an alum on the podcast just to get things started, I was wondering if you could describe what your work entails. 

Andrea Rayas: Hi Dinara, no  it's a pleasure to be here and thank you for having me. Well, I work in a non-profit public health organization, so we specialize in implementing upstream population level prevention programs with the end goal of reducing health disparities and advanced equity. So I do my work according to our mission, which means I work alongside communities to build power, empower their voices, work towards challenging the systems in place. We also protect health and improve overall quality of life by doing this. But to be more specific, my work entails a secondhand smoke multiunit housing initiative in LA city. So it's an LA city wide initiative that I've been working on for over a year-and-a-half a little over a year-and-a-half now

Dinara Godage: you had mentioned in some of the long-term goals, those are extremely important and very imminent in this specific area. I know you kind of  touched on this, but a little more specifically, could you describe some of the short-term and long-term effects of community work that you've seen. 

Andrea Rayas: Yes so I'll go over, I guess it's three notes. It's short-term, intermediate, and then long-term goal. Our  short-term goal is to work alongside our coalition group. Also with local non-profits and even local government in names to just spread education, garner support and throughout all of LA City. So that's our short-term goal to build those relationships. Our intermediate goal would be to adopt a comprehensive smoke-free, multi-unit housing ordinance that will hopefully create a system change and have a policy in place, which would be a step towards sustainability in LA City. And so sustainability will then go into our long-term goal, which would be to protect all of LA city residents. More living in multi-unit housing. So this means tenants who are renting a multi-unit housing, meaning apartments, condominiums, duplex, anything where they're sharing a wall with a neighbor. So that is our long-term goal is to just protect them and help them from secondhand smoke exposure. 

Andrew Shannon: Andrea, I think that the topic of secondhand smoke is very captivating because I for one, didn't really know much about the topic of secondhand smoke until pretty much now, would you be willing on expanding on what you mean by that? A little bit, please.

Andrea Rayas: So secondhand smoke is when someone is, you're not the smoker right, but someone is smoking and you're inhaling that smoke that's being emitted by that, by the person who smokes. And secondhand smoke, even though you're not smoking, can have effects. And will have effects. It depends. If you're an adult or a child. It does differentiate. Symptoms can be from mild to severe. Mild being like ear infections, maybe like sinuses, sinus infections, but then also severe being asthma attacks, developing asthma, and then also respiratory diseases. And for adults, more severe ones are maybe even, Does it always have to be lung cancer but can be cancer. Even. Heart disease, such as diabetes, cholesterol is worsening those conditions for adults.

Dinara Godage:  It's really interesting that a serious effects that can come from secondhand smoking. I know currently, demographic wise, there are much fewer smokers in say, the 18 to 24-year-old range in comparison to how it was 30, 40 years ago. How does that play a role in the work you do this change in demographic with smoking.

Andrea Rayas: The older generation who was smoking. Research said and I'm pretty sure we're seeing it cause cancer. Then they realize, okay, there's something we need to leave and say We need to quit. But I'm sure many of you are also familiar with vapes. So that's what the new trend is. It's unfortunate, but it is a new trend amongst younger generations as early as middle school, what is being seen now. So as I mentioned previously, we're aiming for a comprehensive ordinance and policy to go in place. So this comprehensive ordinance we're hoping will also include vapes. Just because again, there's that many. They're not harmful, but studies have shown that it's an aerosol at the end of the day and it does contain high levels of nicotine, higher then sometimes higher than traditional cigarettes or cigars. And so at the end of the day, we want that to be included. Because again, also, we're hoping you've included, it will be, it will influence new generation's to not vape. For example there's the Berkeley model which we, which was an ordinance place in the city of Berkeley. And there's smoke-free multiunit housing ordinance saying encompassing vapes, cigars, cigarettes, cannabis. So that's something that's our end goal, hopefully, including vapes, it would affect that younger generation. 

Andrew Shannon: That's a very interesting answer, Andrea, and on the topic of demographics. I'm interested if from your work you've seen health discrepancies, especially with smoking in certain communities as it pertains to gender, ethnicity, or even race. 

Andrea Rayas: Thank you, Andrew. So yes. Research has shown that usually in black and brown communities, so African-American or Latino or Latinx are most affected by it. Especially children. They've seen that African American and Latino children are most likely to develop asthma as a consequence of living in multiunit housing. So apartments is typically where they live and usually the areas they live in are underfunded. They lack the policy to protect them. And so since they are most likely living in multi-unit housing, they're most likely exposed. That's just a statistic, if you're sharing a wall with someone, you're most likely going to be exposed to secondhand smoke. And consequently they can't be moving. It's, you know, it's also because of means. They don't have the financial means. They can't move. For example in my work, I've been exposed to different demographics and also where they come like economically, financially background. I've spoke with people who live in very wealthy areas. So it's like high top condos who are exposed to secondhand smoke and also have a no smoking policy in their lease or even a no smoking property. At the end of the day, they are still being exposed. They get tired of it and they move. But you know, they have the means to boot. Unfortunately, I've also spoken to individuals who are just living day-by-day, making it day-by-day. They checked by check. And they say, Well, I can't move. There's no way I can move. And sometimes they'd been living there for years. So if they move elsewhere, you're in LA City, it's going to be super expensive, so it's unfortunate, but we do see that disparity and racial demographics, but also financial terms. 

Andrew Shannon: Andre, I think that was a very captivating answer. And I was wondering if based on this data set that you've collected in the research that you've seen. If you and your work target the specific communities and have different ways of stopping the smoking and getting people into better housing. 

Andrea Rayas: That's an excellent question. Actually, thankfully we. The data that we break off has already been collected. Our data has been collected by UCLA. So the data portion has been collected now it's us trying to incorporate pass a policy. So it is different. It varies from community to community. And as I like to say best, community members know best for their community, I go in, I do my work, but at the end of the day, it's them who choose what they want to see in their community, it's them who choose what policy they want to see in place. Because I'm going in as you know, going into their community. They're the ones who live there and they are immersed in the community so they know best I can, I hear their stories, but at the end of the day, we try to empower them to voice their concerns. So it is different because what works for some communities might not work for others. Each community is unique to their own. So yes, I do think each community has a different policy thatalso  needs to be put in place. I mean, this is an LA citywide initiative. So it's huge. It's going to be big. But if we want to encompass all of LA city, when it comes to other cities or states, other counties, it might look different from LA City. A lot of different actualyl. LA city is unique i think.

Dinara Godage:  I'm glad you brought up that each community is unique. There are so many different aspects that play into what the community could want for their future goals, how they view other communities and how they're approaching similar issues, especially with the multiunit, multi-family housing, and the smoking initiative. As you mentioned, you go in and you're trying to spread this message. Being involved in the conversation is a crucial part of community work. What challenges would you face in regarding getting the word out and just social media play a role. 

Andrea Rayas: Yes. So one of the biggest challenges since you mentioned social media has been sometimes even retainment of members who joined us because as I previously mentioned, a lot of those members who've worked with community residents are working class, so they are working constantly. It's just, they don't have their nine to  five where they get to go home at the evening and join meetings or join the city council meeting, get involved. Unfortunately, sometimes they work from the early hours, too late hours, or graveyard shifts, so then it's hard, um, do you have a scheduled meeting and just have them stay. Another conflict that comes with that is language. Sometimes there is that language barrier or even technology can be a barrier. A lot of the communities and work with residents are, as I mentioned previously, Latinx and they're like first-generation here, their immigrants and sometimes technology is new to them. So helping them navigate that can be difficult as well. And especially now, after COVID, everyone meets through ZOOM. So it can be difficult. We tried to meet their needs and try to be there in person. Right. But with all these or even precautions in place, we still need to keep in mind with COVID. We kept me as often in person. Another thing is we do a social media outreach. But again, that goes into technology where they have difficulty with technology. Of course not all, but there is that portion or, or audience who, who finds it difficult. So it's usually a Spanish-speaking audience or even, even people who are immigrants or elderly. Because when it comes to technology, some of those who are elders find it difficult, especially to join a meeting via Zoom. Sometimes we have to call them and direct them where to push the buttons. And it's small things like that that really do go a long way. But when it comes to social media, we do have a social media page. We try to be as active. We translate our materials into Spanish, so we do provide both English and Spanish. Again, just try to, to compensate everyone. Trying to help everyone and make it as easy as possible and as accessible as possible for them to be engaged. And I did also want to add another challenge we have faced other than retainment or sometimes engagement has been collaborating with other organizations since we are focusing on secondhand smoke in multi unit homes. Unfortunately, it's new to some people. Some people assumed that multi unit homes are just smoke-free. Especially if you live in a single unit home. You, I think it's something that never crosses your mind. For example, it never crossed my mind. It was new work to me because I hadn't ever thought, oh wow, you know, individuals who live in multiunit  homes are facing health disparities because, you know, just because they live in an apartment. So sometimes we have tried to reach out to other organizations, For example. I'll give you an example. We've reached out to renters rights organizations or tenants rights organizations where  in my head, im like, this is a perfect opportunity because we've spoken with several tenants who who want a smoke-free environment want to breathe free from smoke. When we approach these organizations, unfortunately, sometimes they assume our organization, our goal is eviction, which is far from what we wanna do. We live  in LA so we are aware that we acknowledged that we have a homelessness crisis. So that's the last thing we need. We do try to explain, you know, what This is, where we are trying. At the end, we're transparent. We want we want to enhance the quality of life of those living in apartments or condominiums or townhomes. But again, that message can get mixed. And at the end of the day each sometimes organizations have their own end goal where they miss opportunity to cooperate. And we tried to be as transparent, bring in speakers, other experts, for example lawyers, respiratory doctors. So we do try to or even other tenants we tried to bring to explain to them our work. Sometimes that's when they're more open and did some things. They have been more open when we bring other tenants bringing up this concern. And that's another conflict we've seen, but overall, I think just continuing education and continuing trying to eke out and seeing that we're involved will help them kind of be more welcoming to us. 

Andrew Shannon: Andrea.That was a great answer. And it actually, it actually pretty much humbled me because I think too many times, especially me, I kinda just throw social media as the fixer for everything. But as you mentioned, the differences in the technological advancement and even language barriers can inhibit  the effectiveness of social media. So given all these variances in social economic status and race, what challenges does policymaking do you face and what kind of obstacles do you have to overcome in that regard? 

Andrea Rayas: We work with the community who yes. Again, going back, who are constantly working who are not sometimes politically involved at all. They didn't even know how to go about going to a council, a city council meeting, or are providing public comment. And that's when we think it's essential to have to have a policy or a motion at least started in LA City. So when we have spoken with community and we think it's important to also provide trainings or capacity building for that. Encouraging them to provide public comment despite what language they speak. Because LA City, fortunately unfortunately have translations, but  empowering them to attend those meetings, how to navigate the system, providing them those steps, as well as having them meet their council district staff. So for those who don't know, LA City  has 15 districts. So those 15 districts are broken down into smaller neighborhood councils. So we encourage them at least to start off with their neighborhood councils wherever they live. So they live in in Panorama city, they live in Studio City. Van Nuys start with those. Start with a smaller cities. There's money, with counsel, and try to bring it to them, address this issue, and then maybe scale up to LA city. It might be intimidating to go to an LA City Council meeting. You can have like five cat 15th council or 15, excuse me. Oh, yes. You do have 15 council members there. So that is difficult. And speaking about council members and other thing that comes to mind, LA City just had re-elections. So when you're speaking about creating policy in LA City  it's, it can be difficult or it's actually can be beneficial to you right now. Because a lot of these new council members are new. And to bring policy to them or reintroduce it, introducing issues to them either one, they want to be champions for that motion or that policy that they will take it, you know, their their office will take it or two. They might not know yet and might not want to contribute, or they're still busy hiring staff. So that has been an issue right now. It's just kinda transitioning after from the new elections that LA City just had. So those are sometimes things that can affect policy, not going to lie. It's unfortunate, but it can affect it. Sometimes even scandals in LA City can  affect it like within council members can also have, we've seen at least personally, that has affected our work. 

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Dinara Godage: It is good to suggest the first step to getting involved is really understanding where the policy is coming from and really approaching the council members, even if that isn't something they've done before, it is a good first step. Going back to a point you had made earlier about vapes and smoking from a young age. What kind of challenges exist when addressing the issue compared to traditional forms of smoking and older generations. I know you mentioned, of course, go to the using social media and going to the communities. Will any of this adjust or change as the demographic changes in the future? 

Andrea Rayas: There's also, I also want to highlight that LA city recently, NOt LA City it  was California recently passed a flavor vaping ban.  And that they had not like you can buy any flavored vapes. I think that was the biggest concern parents had. Because a lot of the children are attracted to the vapes, because of the flavors they have. Strawberry, grape, cotton candy, you name it, they have it all. So other than going to community and social media, we do try to attend PTA meetings because that's also part of the community. But also sometimes providing parents with education of what the vapes look like as they are so discrete nowadays, it's hard to identify. Can look like a USB, can look like a pen. You really don't know. And parents sometimes arent aware of these things. So we do try to keep them aware. Sometimes speaking, just giving children hard facts. MIght help them realize, but also not just give them a hard facts. Sometimes that doesn't work. But it's also providing those resources. That's I think it's kinda providing those cessation resources to help them quit. Again, that's if they want to readjust here as to provide the resource and that service. But at the end of the day, it's up to the individual when they are ready, we let them know we are here to provide you those cessation resources. And that's how we try to go about it. That younger generation, I know California, tried to go about it by unit binding flavored tobacco. So that's the approach they're taking and we still have yet to see how that will go about because it just recently I think it recently got enforced it must have been December 26 or 22 last year of 2022. Recently it went into place. Well, that's yet to see how it will work or not. I believe those are the only things right now being in place to help that younger generation, other than education policies in place, educating parents. It's it's the newer policy that's in place right now. 

Andrew Shannon: Andre, It's really shocking to hear how deep of an extent the challenges that you actually face are. Now, I'm just wondering if the community or even college students can even do anything to help this effort. 

Andrea Rayas: You know what? I think it's great that you asked that because a lot of college campuses have also pushed for smoke-free spaces and a lot of college campuses are. So I think that's a start first, to have a smoke free space in college just because you know what, it's a learning environment. There's a lot of youth there too, who can support for example. a lot of students do live off campus, so they might still be exposed in departments they live, especially if it's not part of college housing. So there's still some things apartments were part of the college and owned by the college, so they still have that smoke-free space, those apartments, but those who live that are completely off campus, you know? So I think it's important for those students who can help this initiative. They can voice their concerns to property owners, property management. Because at the end of the day they will be affected by it as well. If they're living in a property that is not owned by school, then they're not being protected the same way. If it's just by a single property owner or a property management team. And the way they can get involved by addressing it to their other peers or other neighbors, addressing it to their landlords or property management. And, you know, just attending also their local government meetings. Again, that's something, you know, saying I go to this x or y school. I, you know, I'm living in the city and this is what's bothering me. I think that's an important way they can get involved as well. 

Andrew Shannon: Thank you so much for the insight. And unfortunately we are starting to run out of time. So I'm going to be asking our final question, which is, what part of your job has been the most rewarding to you. 

Andrea Rayas: So the most rewarding thing about my job has been capacity-building within communities. For example,  some communities who I've worked with don't feel as empowered to voice their concerns. However, after capacity training of how to address issues within your local city government. Now they feel impowered, if they have any other issue aside from the smoke they're being exposed to, they feel comfortable going to a city council meeting or neighborhood council meeting and speaking out. Versus before this, the capacity-building training started. They were very timid or shy to voice their concerns. They believe that their concern didnt it matter? They also felt defeated that nothing can be done about it. They just accepted it. Versus now were there like “Know What”, I do have a right even if I might be just a Spanish speaker or even if I'm an immigrant, even if I'm working class, my rights matter, you know? So I think seeing that transformation throughout this year and a half, over a year and half of working with them. It's been  wonderful because I know they'll take that with them anywhere they go. So that's something that's rewarding to me..

Andrew Shannon: That's great to hear. too often  I'm sitting in class and we're getting lectured on the big social economic gap that exists in our success and our society. And that really is sorrowful because nobody wants to see inequity within our society. And it's because of people like you that really our societies are becoming more equal, people becoming greater, economically speaking, socially speaking, and even, even health-wise. And it's the work that you  do that really emboldens and makes these communities flourish. So we thank you so much again, thank you for your time and we really hope to be working with you in the future again. 

Andrea Rayas: Thank you so much, Andrew. And thank you for Dinara. I really appreciate you having me here. And it was a great time speaking with you. Thank you so much.

Conclusion: This podcast is the production of the UC Riverside School of Public Policy. Our theme music was produced by C Codaine. I'm Kevin Karami. Until next time.