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Goetz Wolff   
M.Phil, Political Science, Yale; A.B.D., Urban Planning, UCLA  

Lecturer of Urban Planning 
Phone: 323-369-0900
gwolff@ucla.edu 

Goetz Wolff's research and teaching interests center on equity and economic development issues--in particular the reciprocal roles of industries and regions in shaping each other. His current work identifies and promotes economic development policies that address the consequences of economic restructuring in the Southern California region. He works extensively with organized labor, as well as community organizations, public and non-profit agencies, and the private sector.

He has taught two courses focusing on Wal-Mart and "walmartization." The first course analyzed Wal-Mart's success and impacts, and the second dealt with responses by labor, community, environmental, and small businesses to Wal-Mart. The courses culminated in a major conference in June 2005, "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" with over 500 participants.

He is Executive Director of the Harry Bridges Institute in San Pedro. ( www.harrybridges.com )

Currently he is involved in several major projects:

(1) Assessing the status and trends of the Los Angeles garment industry for workers and contractors in the region funded by the Rosenberg Foundation;

(2) Developing a research program on Global Logistics (the the new international web of production, transportation, distribution and sales that is reshaping the role and status of workers and communities) for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU).

(3) Industry/Labor Market Consultant for the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO Workforce and Economic Development Program

(4) Strategic Planning Consultant for the United Way of Greater Los Angeles Workforce Development Project

From 1999-2005 he served as the Research Director of the 800,000 member Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO and director of the Center for Regional Employment Strategies (CRES).

His consulting practice, Resources for Employment and Economic Development, has included a variety of clients and projects:

  • Southern California Workplace Lead Project (UCLA LOSH)—providing guidance and strategy for identifying and analyzing sectors in which workers are exposed to high lead levels
  • Los Angeles Manufacturing Action Project (LAMAP)—of which he was cofounder—a multi-union effort to assist in the organizing of low-wage, largely immigrant Latino workers in the industrial core of Los Angeles
  • Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)—providing sectoral research on the health industry which led to a multi-million dollar economic development initiative
  • MultiCultural Collaborative (MCC)—developing tools to support alternative economic development strategies for minority and disadvantaged communities in Los Angeles
  • City of Los Angeles—review and proposals for rationalizing economic development in the City
  • Southern California Edison (SCE)—developing the Apparel Industry Roundtable, and supporting sub-regional economic development cooperation among cities, agencies, and the private sector in a period of industrial restructuring.

Community Involvement

  • Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research ["The Peoples' Library: Working for a world where all people have the ability, resources, and freedom to make their own histories"]. Emeritus Board member, including having served four years as President
  • AFL-CIO Labor Community Services, board member
  • United Way of Greater Los Angeles, Community Investment Cabinet member
  • Diane Middleton Foundation [ "to support fundamental change through struggles for economic justice and projects that address community and labor organizing, civil rights and civil liberties, labor education, and training a new generation of leaders"], board member

Selected Publications:  

Wolff, G. "Wal-Mart in North America," with Roy Adams, London: International Union Rights. Vol. 12 No. 2 2005.

Wolff, G. "Low Wage Manufacturing: A Neglected Policy Arena in California," in Daniel J. B. Mitchell and Mary Richardson, eds., California Policy Options 1998. Los Angeles: UCLA Anderson Forecast and SPPSR, 1998.

Wolff, G. and J. E. Grigsby, III. Making Economic Development Work in LA's Low-Income Communities: A Strategic Approach, with J. Eugene Grigsby, III, Los Angeles: Report to the MultiCultural Collaborative, 1995.