Vanessa Carter Fahnestock

Vanessa Carter Fahnestock is a Project Manager at the USC Equity Research Institute, since 2008. She focuses on economic inclusion, climate justice, racial justice, especially in California. She is currently the project manager for an equity analysis of AB617 which established the California’s Community Air Protection Program (CAPP) with Rachel Morello-Frosch, Manuel Pastor, Jim Sadd, Mijin Cha, and Madison Swayne. She is also managing ERI’s evaluation of the Million Voter’s Project Narrative Power-Building Academy, along with other projects. Recently, she co-lead an equity analysis of the California Climate Investments, resulting in the report: “A Call for Community Power: Lessons from 10 Years of California Climate Investments for the State and the Nation.”

She has co-authored several reports, journal articles, and a book chapter with USC ERI staff and affiliated faculty, including: “Rent Matters: What are the Impacts of Rent Stabilization Measures?” (2018) and “Measures Matter: Ensuring Equitable Implementation of Los Angeles County Measures M & A” (2018) as well as working closely with Manuel Pastor and Benner on Solidarity Economics: Why Mutuality and Movements Matter (2022) and with Pastor, State of Resistance: What California’s Dizzying Descent and Remarkable Resurgence Mean for America’s Future (2018).

Previously, she managed a multi-year research project on Latino identity and civic engagement in South Los Angeles with a team of graduate students, staff, and affiliated faculty (see “Roots|Raíces: Latino Engagement, Place Identities, and Shared Futures in South Los Angeles,” 2016). She was integral in the research and dissemination of the California Immigrant Integration Scorecard (2012) and a neighborhood study for Second Baptist Church in Los Angeles (2010). She also played a critical research role in “LA Rising: The 1992 Civil Unrest, the Arc of Social Justice Organizing, and the Lessons for Today’s Movement Buildings” (2012), among other projects.

She sits on the board of Rise Economy (formerly the California Reinvestment Coalition). She holds a Master’s in Urban Planning from UCLA and a certificate in Christian Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. She enjoys hiking with her spouse and is the servant of her rabbit, Hops.