Gary Painter, Director, HPRI and USC Price Center for Social Innovation (moderator)
Gary Painter is a Professor in the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California.  He also serves as the Director of the Sol Price Center for Social Innovation and the Homelessness Policy Research Institute.  He recently published a co-authored book entitled, “Payment by Results and Social Impact Bonds: Outcome-based Payment Systems in the UK and US.” He has published numerous articles in top journals such as the Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Urban Economics, Urban Studies, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Real Estate Economics, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, and Regional Science and Urban Economics.

Soledad De Gregorio, USC Price School of Public Policy
Soledad De Gregorio graduated in 2020 with a PhD in Public Policy and Management at USC. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and a master’s degree in Public Policy from UCLA. Her research focuses on education policies drawing on quantitative methods to evaluate programs that affect student learning. Prior to coming to USC, she worked as a consultant for the World Bank and in the nonprofit sector developing programs with disadvantaged communities in Latin America.

Tasminda Dhaliwal, USC Rossier School of Education
Tasmin graduated in 2020 with a Ph.D. in Urban Education Policy at the University of Southern California. Her research includes projects that look within and beyond the school building walls to better understand the mechanisms that drive unequal educational outcomes for marginalized students. Her interests include how factors such as housing instability and homelessness influence student outcomes along with interests related to teacher labor markets, school discipline, and school choice. Tasmin’s research is informed by her time as first and second grade teacher in Houston.

Earl Edwards, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Informational Studies
Earl Edwards is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California Los Angeles Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. He completed his Master’s Degree in Public School Leadership from Columbia University and received his B.A. in Sociology from Boston College. His current research interests focus on how American public schools can better support youth experiencing homelessness.  

Charles Evans, School on Wheels
Charles is currently the Regional Director for School on Wheels, a non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance the educational opportunities for homeless children from Kindergarten through twelfth grade.  He joined the School on Wheels team in 2008 as a Regional Coordinator for South Los Angeles. Charles is a member at Bryant Temple AME in Los Angeles where he works with young males under the ministry, “Bryant Temple Men or Boys to Men,” where he was recognized as the “Man of the Year,” in 2012 for his work with the youth. In his current position, Charles manages the activities of all School on Wheels Regional Coordinators.

Jennifer Kottke, Los Angeles County Office of Education
Jennifer Kottke serves as the Homeless Education Coordinator for the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

Melissa Pena, Green Dot Public Schools
Melissa Peña works for Green Dot Public Schools where she manages health and wellness, homeless, and foster youth programming for 19 charter schools serving over 11,000 middle and high school students. Prior to Green Dot, Melissa served as Managing Director of Career and Training and Chief of Staff at The Door, a multi-service youth development agency in New York City.  Melissa also led Teach for America’s national diversity recruitment efforts to increase African-American and Latinx representation.  She started her career as a 4^th grade teacher in Newark, New Jersey.  She holds a Masters of Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. from UC Santa Barbara.