Alissa Anderson (she/her/hers)

Alissa Anderson, Policy Director, conducts research to support policies that will create a more equitable economy where all Californians share in the state’s prosperity. Much of her work focuses on refundable income tax credits as tools for boosting economic security. She has provided policy recommendations and analytical support to a coalition of advocates working to strengthen and expand California’s Earned Income Tax Credit (the CalEITC) since the credit’s creation in 2015. 

Before joining the Budget Center in 2005, Alissa was a research associate in the Center on Education Data and Policy at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. and taught English as a second language at an adult school. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Bryn Mawr College and a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of California, Los Angeles. While in graduate school she conducted research on local living wage policies for the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE).

Originally from the east coast, Alissa has called California home for nearly 20 years and lives with her partner and two children in Sacramento. She enjoys dancing and singing and appreciates the life lessons her children teach her, like how to slow down and live in the moment.