Biography

Joanna Lee is a Project Manager at the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity and the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration at the University of Southern California. Joanna holds a Masters in Urban Planning from UCLA and a Bachelors in Journalism from Northwestern University. Prior to joining PERE/CSII she was the Senior Research Analyst at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles. In 2011, she was part of the Advancing Justice team that provided data, maps, and testimony to the California and Los Angeles City Redistricting Commissions to ensure fair representation for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities across the state. Additionally, Joanna co-authored reports focusing on disaggregated data for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders across the country on a variety of topics including civic engagement and higher education. Most recently her study on vote-by-mail rejection rates among Asian Americans helped support state legislation to create a fix for vote-by-mail ballot rejections due to a signature mismatch.

Prior to Advancing Justice she was the Research Director at SCOPE in South Los Angeles, providing data and research to inform community-based public policy campaigns focused on improving economic conditions for low-income and immigrant communities in Los Angeles. In addition, she has provided research for UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center, the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, and co-authored a study for Little Tokyo Service Center and Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council examining gentrification and equitable development in Los Angeles’ Asian American ethnic enclaves.

Joanna serves on the advisory board of Asian Pacific Islander Forward Movement, a community-based organization focused on environmental and food justice.