Paulette Brown-Hinds, PhD

Paulette Brown-Hinds, Ph.D., is a media leader, civic information strategist, and founder of several initiatives at the intersection of journalism, public policy, and equitable community development. As Publisher of Black Voice News and CEO of Voice Media Ventures, she has spent her career strengthening local civic infrastructure and expanding access to reliable information across California.

Her experience spans more than two decades of work in media, policy, and community partnerships. She founded Mapping Black California, a data and geospatial storytelling initiative recognized for using GIS technology to illuminate racial equity issues and the geography of opportunity in the state. She also leads the Inland Empire Journalism Innovation Hub + Fund, which strengthens local journalism ecosystems and supports public-serving information that helps residents engage in civic processes.

A longtime advocate for regional equity and an Inland Empire native, Dr. Brown-Hinds has served on numerous boards and initiatives focused on education, inclusive economic growth, and community development, including the Inland Empire Community Foundation which operates in the largest geographic territory of any community foundation in the nation; and the James Irvine Foundation, whose singular goal is a California where all low-income workers have the power to advance economically.

She is a two time John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University and a Democracy Policy Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley’s Center on Civility & Democratic Engagement. She earned her Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Riverside, where her scholarship explores place, memory, and migration.

She brings to the California Transportation Commission a commitment to invest in civic infrastructure that protects the environment, expands economic mobility, and supports thriving, connected communities across the state.