HCM Welcomes Paula Nazario as 2024 Policy Fellow
Paula Nazario Joins HCM’s Policy Team as a 2024 Fall Fellow
Welcome to HCM, Paula!
HCM Strategists proudly welcomes Paula Nazario as our Fall 2024 Policy Fellow. Based in California, Paula brings extensive expertise in higher education research, advocacy, and policy, backed by her Master of Public Policy (MPP) and data analytics certificate from UCLA. As a first-generation college graduate with a B.A. in Political Science, Paula draws on her personal and professional insights to address the challenges facing first-generation and low-income students.
Paula’s commitment to educational equity ignited during her work in the nonprofit sector, where she guided first-gen students through college applications and witnessed the many barriers to higher education access. These experiences and her journey through academia drive her passion to make education more accessible, equitable, and affordable, especially for Latinx students.
Her hands-on experience includes roles like Assistant Director at UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies and Monica Salinas Policy Fellow at UCLA's Latino Policy and Politics Institute (LPPI), where she addressed issues such as pandemic relief, criminal justice reform, and economic mobility for the Latino community. Paula’s research on equity in higher education has appeared in major publications, including the LA Times, EdSource, and Spanish-language media.
Paula also contributes to the Los Angeles Metro Community Advisory Council, offering public input on transit matters, and leads research initiatives on family and community engagement in computer science education to broaden computing opportunities for historically marginalized students.
We look forward to Paula’s insights, expertise, and enthusiasm as she joins us in advancing educational equity at HCM Strategists.
About the HCM Strategists Fellowship Program
The HCM Strategists fellowship program offers a unique opportunity for professional growth and learning by granting first-hand experience in education public policy.
Our fellowship program is open to collaborative, organized problem-solvers who have a strong interest in education policy and are passionate about improving education for all students through communications and advocacy. Our fellows are enthusiastic, innovative and strategic thinkers with excellent verbal and written communications skills, and have a strong commitment to our clients and our work in the policy field. Our fellows play an important role in supporting leaders across our education team, specifically in the areas of state and federal funding, strategic finance and accountability, reporting systems and data transparency, advancing STEM opportunities for all students, and other areas of education policy.
HCM Strategists is an impact-driven consulting firm that believes in the transformative power of education and work-based learning to improve social and economic mobility for communities that have been marginalized or historically underserved. Our work delivers a consequential impact on the national narrative, policy options and leaders responsible for change.
