David C. Bohnett Leadership scholarship recipients Erin Lopez and Emily Desmond get some valuable immersive-learning experience assisting East Los Angeles residents who live near the massive Lineage Warehouse fire.
After working as 2026 David C. Bohnett Leadership fellows for the First District of Los Angeles County for a few months, Erin Lopez and Emily Desmond recently had the opportunity to directly serve district residents following the massive Lineage Warehouse fire that erupted June 17.
Lopez and Desmond were working in the office of L.A. Supervisor Hilda Solis in the Hall of Administration when the Lineage Warehouse fire started. They had seen the news and left their workstations to take a look outside: black smoke had already drifted to downtown L.A.
A few days after the nearly 500,000-square-foot cold storage facility caught fire, Solis’s office dispatched the two to East L.A. to work in the field, where they registered impacted residents to receive air purifiers and connected them with county resources and services.
“As someone with deep ties to the community, this experience was very rewarding,” Lopez said. “The emergency response efforts allowed us to understand how the policies that are being developed in the board office are translated into something tangible for residents – especially during times of crises.”
Committed to Community Service
Lopez has been a lifelong resident of the First District, which stretches from Silverlake and Eagle Rock east to the San Bernardino County line and is home to nearly 2 million residents represented by Solis.
Lopez spent her early childhood in East L.A. before moving to West Covina, later attending UC Berkeley, where she earned her bachelor’s in political science with a minor in public policy. She returned to West Covina in fall 2025 to attend USC Price as a Master of Public Policy (MPP) student.
Desmond moved to L.A. in fall 2025 to begin the USC Price Master of Public Administration (MPA) program after working on local issues in St. Louis, first through the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs, and then through work on regional economic development and housing policy.
Lopez and Desmond began their year-long paid Bohnett fellowship in January. Fellows work part-time in the spring, full time over the summer, and part-time the rest of the year. Throughout the spring, they worked on board motions and letters of support for funding in local jurisdictions to advance environmental justice.
Solis has long championed environmental justice efforts across L.A. County. She was the first woman to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for her work in authoring California’s first-ever environmental justice legislation, which seeks to protect communities of color from toxic pollution.
East Los Angeles has faced several severe environmental hazards, including a lead-acid battery recycling plant and air pollution from the nearby I-710 corridor.
Lineage fire response
Lopez and Desmond worked out of Our Lady of Victory Church, located a block from the warehouse, as well as at relief shelters in City Terrace Park and Belvedere Community Regional Park, both in East L.A., to assist residents in navigating county services during the recovery process.
For Lopez, who had been involved in local politics and grassroots organizations, it was a full-circle moment.
“I felt lucky to understand where the community was coming from – I could relate to the unique needs of their families and homes,” said Lopez, who spent her early years living in a multigenerational household in unincorporated East Los Angeles.
It helped that she spoke Spanish given that it’s the primary language for many residents in the neighborhood. Lopez heard stories about residents with chronic illnesses, disabilities, and elderly family members who couldn’t leave their homes.
Desmond, a native of Massachusetts who earned an undergraduate degree in government from Cornell University in 2021, had a similarly rewarding experience helping residents impacted by the fire – even though she only recently moved to L.A. to attend USC.
“It was a privilege to be involved in the emergency response and it was amazing to see how quickly the supervisor’s office was able to wield a range of county resources to serve this community,” she said.
East Los Angeles is the largest unincorporated area in both California and the United States, with nearly 119,000 residents. As an unincorporated community, residents rely directly on the Board of Supervisors for municipal services and governance.
Lopez and Desmond noted how jurisdictional challenges complicated the response, given that the Lineage warehouse is located at the intersection of Boyle Heights in the City of Los Angeles, unincorporated East Los Angeles in L.A. County, and the City of Commerce.
“As a public administration student, seeing how somewhat arbitrary borders impact access to resources was really eye-opening in terms of how the public interacts with their government,” Desmond said.
Bohnett Leadership Fellowship
The David C. Bohnett Leadership Fellowship was established by the David Bohnett Foundation at the USC Price School of Public Policy in 2016.
The grant-making foundation, based in Beverly Hills, was established by the tech entrepreneur and USC trustee, David Bohnett. Supported by an endowed fund, recipients receive full tuition for their second and final year of graduate school.
Recipients of the fellowship, which emphasizes immersive learning, work directly for the office of the current chairperson of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors on major policy issues.
“Erin and Emily exemplify the kind of public servants the David Bohnett Foundation seeks to support, and we are proud of the work they contributed during the Lineage Warehouse fire response,” said Michael Fleming, President of the foundation. “Experiences like these deepen their understanding of the communities they serve and reinforce how effective public policy can improve people’s lives.
“It is especially rewarding to see fellows apply the knowledge they gain through the USC Price School to work that directly benefits Los Angeles County residents.”
This marks the second consecutive year that Bohnett fellows have played a meaningful role in supporting emergency response efforts in L.A. County.
Last year, Ariana Gutierrez and Joselle Escobar, two MPP students, responded to wildfires during the first week of their fellowships, assisting Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s staff to address constituent concerns about the Eaton Fire and coordinate materials to prepare the supervisor for board meetings.
Since the fellowship’s inception in 2016, four of 12 fellows have gone on to become full-time or project-focused staff members for the County Board of Supervisors.
Other alumni are now serving in influential positions such as senior deputy, deputy, and associate deputies across L.A. County, as well as in non-profits and within consulting firms advising on state and local government matters.
Reflecting on Lopez and Desmond’s work, Christopher Boone, USC Price Dean and C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Chair, said: “Their commitment to community wellbeing exemplifies the spirit of the Price School’s mission and the ideals of the David C. Bohnett Fellowship program. No doubt, Erin and Emily will join our other Bohnett and Price alumni in serving the public good with positive energy, creativity, and integrity.”
