Rashi Kesarwani

About Rashi Kesarwani

Public policy leader with subject matter expertise in housing, homelessness, social services, and health care; and experience in budget development, fiscal analysis, research, data analysis, legislative analysis and development, writing, and political organizing and campaigns. Drawing on my immigrant family\'s experience, I am inspired to create greater housing security and opportunity for those seeking to improve their lives. I have been honored with a \"Housing Hero\" award and my housing policy achievements have been featured in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and elsewhere. Currently, I am honored to serve a second four-year elected term as Berkeley\'s District 1 Councilmember, representing residents in the northwest section of Berkeley. Here are some of my major accomplishments: I led a six-year community engagement process to reach approval of 700+ homes at the North Berkeley BART Station parking lot; I continue to work with subject matter experts to develop best practices for development, approval, and sale of Accessory Dwelling Units (i.e, backyard cottages); I led on passing our City\'s Middle Housing Ordinance, which allows up to eight units on parcels in residential neighborhoods; and I modified our Housing Element to require more housing on commercial/transit corridors in higher-resourced neighborhoods citywide; I identified the underfunding of our streets budget and worked to double the City\'s street paving budget on an ongoing basis; I engaged our state elected leaders and stakeholders to secure $15 million in state resources to repair infrastructure at the Berkeley waterfront; and I authored our City\'s encampment policy and engaged neighbors to successfully approve two Homekey permanent supportive housing sites for homeless individuals in District 1.In addition to serving on the Council, I work for the San Francisco Budget and Legislative Analyst\'s Office, where I provide budget and policy analysis as well as audits for the Board of Supervisors. Previously, I served in budget development and finance roles at the county level (San Francisco Human Services Agency) and in a budget and policy analysis role at the state level (California Legislative Analyst\'s Office). Before earning a Master of Public Policy from U.C. Berkeley, I mostly worked in local journalism.

Experience

1. Berkeley Councilmember (District 1)

   City of Berkeley

   Dec 2018 — Present · Berkeley, CA, US

   Honored to be re-elected to a second four-year term as Berkeley\'s District 1 Councilmember, representing residents in the northwest section of Berkeley. Major accomplishments include:(1) successfully leading six-year planning effort to create 700+ homes at the North Berkeley BART Station;(2) advancing best practices for Accessory Dwelling Units (i.e, backyard cottages);(3) initiating middle housing development standards and commercial/transit corridor upzoning via the City\'s Housing Element;(4) doubling the City\'s street paving budget on an ongoing basis;(5) securing $15 million in state resources to repair infrastructure at the Berkeley waterfront;(6) approving two Homekey permanent supportive housing sites for homeless individuals in District 1; and (7) passing legislation to create an Office of Racial Equity• Serve as Chair of Council\'s Budget and Finance Policy Committee, Member and prior Chair of Public Safety Policy Committee, Member of 3x3 Committee of Council and Housing Authority, previously served as Chair of Health Policy Committee• Supervise work of two legislative aides and occasional paid U.C. Berkeley Master of Public Policy and/or undergraduate student interns• Write detailed monthly e-newsletter that reaches about subscribers

Education

• University of California, Berkeley

  Master of Public Policy, Goldman School of Public Policy

• Brown University

  Bachelor of Arts, Literature in English, Magna Cum Laude

• Pacifica High School

  High School

Skills

• Stata
• Government
• Program Evaluation
• Editing
• Social Media
• Press Releases
• Computer Programs: Stata for Data Analysis, Microsoft Office Suite
• Data Analysis
• Qualitative Research
• Policy Analysis
• Research
• Policy
• Foreign Languages: Spanish and Hindi
• Public Policy