Addressing Affordable Housing and the Homeless Crisis in Los Angeles
Senior Program Officer Alexandra Dawson hosts this Changemakers LA podcast episode covering how organizations are helping address housing scarcity and homelessness through urban development, social programs, and advocacy. Our guests represent the leaders of organizations implementing innovative approaches to account for the most marginalized communities impacted by homelessness, like Angelenos who are transitional age youth, LGBTQ, and formerly incarcerated.
Joining LISC LA for this conversation are:
- Erika Hartman, Executive Director, Safe Place for Youth
- Becky Dennison, Venice Community Housing
- Veronica Lewis, Executive Director, HOPICS
Becky Dennison discussed how Venice Community Housing's organizational structure infrastructure supports its complex outcomes goals. She highlights key organizational strengths leveraged to accomplish their vision.
Veronica Lewis provides insight on how direct engagement with impacted demographics influences the changes made to service delivery over time and how they maintain the feedback loop. Veronica also discusses the unique culture competency needs of the impacted demographics her organization serves.
Erika Hartman describes the role of government, philanthropy, and academic partnerships in achieving the most optimal outcome. Erika communicated the opportunities SPY and other organizations look for to reach target demographics and achieve impact goals.
About our panel:
Erika Hartman joined Safe Place for Youth in 2021 as the Executive Director after 15 years in the non-profit sector supporting people experiencing homelessness and underserved youth. Hartman was formerly the Chief Program Officer of the Downtown Women’s Center (DWC), a nationally recognized homeless services organization located in the heart of Skid Row. During her tenure at DWC, Hartman led the unprecedented growth of programs, dramatically increasing the impact, budget size, and the number of staff and women served. Hartman also led organizational DEI initiatives and the prescriptive program model development of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s initiative to implement the recommendations of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s Ad Hoc Committees on Black People Experience Homelessness and Women Experiencing Homelessness.
Becky Dennison began her tenure as Executive Director with Venice Community Housing (VCH) in January 2016. She brings over twenty years of experience in non-profit management, organizational development, and community organizing to VCH. Before joining VCH, Becky was the Co-Executive Director of the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN). She worked alongside low-income and homeless leaders in Downtown and South Los Angeles to promote social and racial justice through community organizing, civic participation, and public policy development. A former resident of Venice, she has been active in the neighborhood to ensure the historical diversity and vibrancy are protected, and long-term residents can remain in the changing community.
Veronica Lewis is the Executive Director of HOPICS. Under her leadership as Director since January 2011, HOPICS’ annual budget has increased by 1500 percent and the workforce by eight (8) times greater in 11 years. Veronica has worked tirelessly as an advocate to improve and coordinate homeless services in LA County- particularly the Service Planning Area Sixth Region (SPA 6), which comprises South LA and the Cities of Compton, Lynwood, and Paramount. Veronica is the founder of the thriving SPA 6 Homeless Coalition. In 2014 Veronica led and developed the one-of-a-kind SPA 6 Family Crisis Housing Network that was formed in response to the changing system of care for homeless families in LA County. Under her leadership and advocacy, HOPICS opened the first publicly funded interim housing location for transgender women and non-binary individuals in Los Angeles.
Want to dive into the full transcript? Check it out below!
Alex Dawson 00:17
Hello, and welcome to the latest episode of the Changemakers LA podcast presented by LISC LA. The Changemakers LA podcast is a tribute to the people and the policies that make LA neighborhoods good places to live, work and play.
Alex Dawson 00:32
My name's Alex Dawson, and I'm the senior program officer at the Local Initiatives Support Corporations Los Angeles (LISC LA) office. In today's episode, we'll talk to our guests about how they're helping address housing scarcity and homelessness through urban development, social programs, and advocacy.
Alex Dawson 00:51
In addition, we'll discuss how these organizations are building long-term sustainability internally and maintaining long-term impact externally.
Alex Dawson 01:02
We're joined today by Erika Hartman, Becky Dennison, and Veronica Lewis. Erica Hartman joined Safe Place for Youth in 2021, as the executive director, after 15 years in the nonprofit sector supporting people experiencing homelessness and underserved youth.
Alex Dawson 01:20
Hartman was formerly the Chief Program Officer of the Downtown Women's Center or DWC, a nationally recognized homeless service organization located in the heart of Downtown Skid Row.
Alex Dawson 01:32
During her tenure at DWC Hartman led the unprecedented growth of programs, dramatically increasing the impact, budget size, and the number of staff and women served.
Alex Dawson 01:43
Hartman also led organizational DEI Initiatives and the prescriptive program model development for LA mayor Eric Garcetti’s initiative to implement the recommendations of the Los Angeles homeless service authority ADHOC committee on Black people experiencing homelessness and women experiencing homelessness. Welcome, Erica.
Alex Dawson 02:06
Becky Dennison also joins us. Becky began her tenure as Executive Director with Venice Community Housing Corporation in 2016. Becky brings over 20 years of experience in nonprofit management, organizational development, and Community organizing to VCH.
Alex Dawson 02:23
Prior to joining Venice Community Housing, Becky was the Co-Executive Director of the Los Angeles Community Action Network or LA CAN. Where she worked alongside low-income and homeless leaders in Downtown and South Los Angeles to remote social racial justice through Community organizing, civic participation, and public policy development.
Alex Dawson 02:44
A former resident of Venice, she has been active in the neighborhood to ensure that historic diversity and vibrancy are protected and long-term residents can remain in the changing community.
Alex Dawson 02:55
Welcome Becky. Last but not least, Veronica Lewis is with us today. Veronica is the Executive Director HOPICS. Under her leadership since 2011 HOPICS annual budget has increased by over 1500 percent in the workforce by eight times. Veronica has worked tirelessly as an advocate to improve and coordinate homeless services in LA County. In particular, the service planning area six, which is made up of South LA and the cities of Compton, Lynwood, and Paramount.
Alex Dawson 03:27
Veronica is the founder of the thriving SPA 6 homeless coalition. In 2014, she led and developed the one-of-a-kind SPA 6 family crisis housing network that was formed in response to the changing system of care for homeless families in LA County. Under her leadership and advocacy HOPICS open the first publicly funded interim housing location for transgender women and nonbinary individuals in Los Angeles.
Alex Dawson 03:54
Thank you all so much for being here. I appreciate you sharing your time and insights with us today. Without further ado let's get into our questions.
Alex Dawson 04:05
Affordable housing development and comprehensive homeless supportive services are in high demand, as we all know. As we continue to grapple with the homelessness crisis, overcrowded housing, and high rent crop costs, we want to talk to some of the change-makers on the frontline of the housing crisis.
Alex Dawson 04:25
The folks with us today are leading some of the most innovative approaches to these complex housing challenges.
Alex Dawson 04:31
They're also addressing the margin by supporting targeted demographic groups that experience disparate housing outcomes. These demographics are intersectional and span ethnic, racial, and other impacted identities. For black and African Americans, Latinx, LGBTQ, elder/ aging, and women, navigating systems through housing and homeless support services can be challenging.
Alex Dawson 04:56
Our guests and the organizations they lead represent best practices for wraparound services that touch on emergency and permanent housing and provide an array of other policy initiatives, community development projects, and social progress programs. So let me stop talking and let's talk about what you all are doing to address our housing crisis.
Alex Dawson 05:17
Becky I’m going to start with you. What role do you play in the ecosystem in housing development and homeless supportive services?
Becky Dennison 05:28
I think, for the group that's on the call today, we are really focused on permanent housing though we do have some other emergency services and transitional housing.
Becky Dennison 05:39
It's been my experience, and probably everyone's experience, that has been the most under-invested space. So it makes it hard for emergency and transitional housing to work unless we've got permanent options for folks. So we've tried to focus on that primarily here VCH, but also respond to some of the neighborhood needs and emergency needs at the same time.
Becky Dennison 06:02
And I think a piece that we're trying to bring to the table is to remain in our neighborhood focus, so we are a westside organization.
Becky Dennison 06:10
Oftentimes, we've seen as neighborhoods are gentrifying and get really expensive, that neighborhood-based developers need to expand, move out of those communities and become more regional. As Los Angeles has become such an expensive place to develop housing.
Becky Dennison 06:25
And we've remained really committed to trying to do that here in our home communities where we have a very significant unhoused community for a very long time.
Becky Dennison 06:34
A significant community voice that's trying to prevent any housing and supportive housing from happening here. And so we're really trying to listen to long-term, Venice residents who really want and need affordable and supportive housing in this particular neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhoods.
Becky Dennison 06:50
As a way to restore access to the neighborhood and also address homelessness. So lots of people are doing great work and those are just a piece. We're following all of those same best practices and those are just a couple pieces of our kind of unique approach.
Alex Dawson 07:09
Erika or Veronica, do you want to go next?
Veronica Lewis 07:18
I'll go. Thanks for having me here. I'm glad to be here with Becky and Erika.
Veronica Lewis 07:24
At HOPICS, although we hardly believe housing is the way to get people off of the streets. We do provide a lot of the supports across the continuum of care. Not only are we working extensively to house people in permanent housing, with time-limited subsidies, as well as long-term subsidies. Which includes project-based sites, like the ones Becky was speaking about.
Veronica Lewis 07:45
But we also have a lot of folks on the ground. On any given day we have about 50 men and women who make up these teams that include nurses, people who are formerly homeless, mental health professionals, and so on, who are taking services and support to people who are living outdoors in South LA and surrounding areas.
Veronica Lewis 08:04
While we work to build housing and while we work to be more creative with the resources we have, our goal is to improve people's quality of life and stop folks from dying or getting even sicker while they are living outdoors.
Veronica Lewis 08:17
And trying to build a rapport so that we can help to bring them indoors. The other thing we do, in addition to that, is for people who are willing to come indoors and who are in some type of housing crisis. We are operating access centers and triage centers for families with children and single adults. On any given night HOPICS is keeping about 1200 people, including about 300 kids off the street every night in a variety of interim housing programs.
Veronica Lewis 08:37
So those things coupled with some behavioral health, reentry stuff, and having a full continuum of care allows us to move people along in our own continuum.
Veronica Lewis 08:49
But, the other thing that makes us strong is, we have a diverse group of people. The majority of the people who are working at HOPICS, at all levels, have some type of lived experience; either formerly homeless, in recovery from some type of addiction, former or current consumer of mental health, and or formerly incarcerated. So those voices at all levels, really make sure that we stay true to meeting the actual need. And it also allows us to use the model that we came up with this year; we are the Community we serve.
Veronica Lewis 09:22
That plays out in a variety of different ways. The other thing I’ll say, in addition to all the direct service stuff, as the lead agency for what's essentially the coordinated entry system in our region.
Veronica Lewis 09:33
I think the collaborative partnership also allows us to do a lot of great work. We have a lot internally, but working in tandem with private and public entities across our region and LA County allows us to really wrap our arms around folks, try to restore hope, and get them off the street ultimately.
Erika Hartman 09:54
We do sort of similar things that Veronica and Becky had mentioned, but we are specifically a youth service provider. We serve young folks who are ages 12 to 25 and we serve about 20% of the Youth who are unhoused in Los Angeles.
Erika Hartman 10:13
And, really, our goal is to prioritize low-barrier and culture-responsive services. Services that are trauma-informed and ensure that we're providing the gamut of wraparound services from street outreach to the drop in basic needs, resources, case management, and mental health.
Erika Hartman 10:33
A really key exit strategy for youth is through education and employment. Then we also provide a range of housing options from emergency housing to permanent housing across the county. And each night we House about 182 young people.
Erika Hartman 10:50
While we're not a developer, we are excited to be partnering with VCH on a new building that will house 40 folks and have a drop-in center on the ground floor. A lot of our work with regard to the ecosystem around housing development is through advocacy, trying to engage the community in supporting housing in their neighborhood, providing education about the experiences of the folks that we're serving, and working with our elected officials to have their support in moving various things forward.
Erika Hartman 11:23
In terms of providing services, we are really committed to meeting unmet needs and ensuring that we're providing the gamut either directly or through partnerships.
Erika Hartman 11:36
For youth in particular, we've noticed it creates a really significant barrier if they have to take all their personal belongings and travel all over the city to get their resources. So trying to be as much of a one-stop shop for folks to come, has been really key. I think that it's really about how we've done this collaborative work. And we are part of a collaborative in Hollywood as well just to make sure that we're that we're reaching folks and working with our partners to do our best work.
Alex Dawson 12:14
Thank you all. Based on what you just talked about each of you have complex organizations with different programs, functions, and initiatives. How do your systems, organizational structure, and infrastructure, support the outcomes you intend to make? And what strengths do you want to highlight?
Alex Dawson 12:35
And we can start with Erika.
Erika Hartman 12:39
I think you spoke to the disproportionality in youth. In particular, some of the disproportionality that we see is around the number of folks who are LGBTQ and it is considerably higher than in the adult population. We also see disproportionate numbers of people of color specifically black folks.
Erika Hartman 13:04
About 40% of the folks we serve are from the child welfare system. So we've been really intentional about trying to have the population that we're serving represented and reflected in our staff.
Erika Hartman 13:24
We have been intentional about recruiting board members and leadership at all levels and staff that have some of the similar parallel experiences.
Erika Hartman 13:32
And specifically, hiring 30% staff that are folks with lived experience and 10% who are former recipients of our services; so we're making sure that our work is important by those lenses. And I think that's really what has added value to our work and helps us continue to adapt our supports, which we implement through robust continuous quality improvement.
Veronica Lewis 14:01
With ongoing process improvement, I just want to uplift and share what I think are some of our strengths. We are constantly assessing and trying to understand what we can do better.
Veronica Lewis 14:12
Part of that comes from a collaborative decision-making process and so as we're delivering the array of services that we have and we're constantly getting feedback from the people doing the work. I’ve already said, we are the community we serve. By that, I mean we look like the Community that we serve because we literally are. Including the geographic ties, some of the lived experience, and also the majority of our employees are Black and Brown. That's the majority of the population that we serve.
Veronica Lewis 14:42
But a collaborative decision-making process, both in terms of how we are providing support to our employees and the direct services on the ground.
Veronica Lewis 14:52
As a strength, we have a heavily field-based model, so we are both literally and figuratively meeting people where they are. I talked about the outreach piece, but that's only one of them.
Veronica Lewis 15:00
Hundreds of the people that we serve, the primary spaces where they receive services are either in their newfound homes or in other places where they're comfortable. Literally and figuratively meeting people where they are is a cornerstone of what we do.
Veronica Lewis 15:16
And really empowering our team members to speak truth to power and to advocate, because we're on the ground and we understand what's not working and what is working. Not just at my level, but at all levels were encouraging our employees to speak up and speak out. And not to be contradictory, but if you're in these conversations and in these settings where policy decisions, funding decisions, program design decisions, and shifts in policies that are going to impact the people we serve don't necessarily make sense, then say something.
Veronica Lewis 15:49
I think that's critically important for our organization to be known, if HOPICS is in the space, and if it doesn't make sense or if others are concerned about how it's going to impact the ultimate outcome of what we're trying to do. Then most people know, if somebody from HOPICS is in the room, we're going to speak up and say something.
Veronica Lewis 15:59
I think that's really impactful because we have made some shifts and push and have advocated for common sense things in our system, and I’m proud of that.
Becky Dennison 16:12
I might not have too much new to add. I’m assuming maybe some of the reasons we were selected was because we've had some similar approaches in our organizations.
Becky Dennison 16:23
But I do just want to reiterate that having folks with lived experience at every level of the organization, boards, all levels of staff, on our tenant advisory boards, etc, is a key piece of us doing our work. And I can't highlight enough that our board, long before I was here and on all our leadership, really encourages folks to be advocates. To use their voice and experience in whatever room that comes up and or to be a part of an organized voice that's really challenging these systems that continue to harm folks.
Becky Dennison 16:55
And I think that makes it for a better workplace too, so I think that helps with retention and then consistency. One of the things we've heard from people for a long time is, so much staff turnover is really hard for people when having to reconnect with case managers. So everything we can do to think about really building a collective that people feel a part of for the long term is helpful. Both because we want to be an equitable workspace and we want that workspace to serve folks and uplift people in a way that. Quite frankly, for many, many years in Los Angeles, people were not trained, and so the service system was really set up from a very paternalistic non-representative space.
Becky Dennison 17:30
And I think we're trying to use our collective learning in that way to upend that and to help all of our partners go through that same process. I think more and more people are starting that process or in the midst of it or finishing it up.
Alex Dawson 17:48
Thank you all. So has your direct engagement with impacted demographics influenced or changed the way you deliver services over time.
Alex Dawson 18:04
We can start with Veronica if you want to start.
Veronica Lewis 18:09
Thank you for that question, I think I spoke to the Community we serve and collaborative decision-making and all those things already. But, one of the things I’ll add is we listen closely. And because we're on the ground, doing the work and also taking the leadership role to bring all these different bodies in who are also doing work; we have a very clear understanding of what's happening.
Veronica Lewis 18:27
And I think that for us it pushes the advocacy for funding or to shift the way resources that we already have are being used. It pushes us to try pilots, in some cases that are funded and other cases that are not.
Veronica Lewis 18:47
The Casa de Zooma, the first publicly funded interim housing site for transgender and gender non-conforming folks. When I say we fought, we literally fought for that. And that came from conversations with one of my sister agencies, APRT, about the experiences that their clients were having in general shelter. It just wasn't safe and it wasn't affirming. That coupled with an older adult program and coupled with our streets-to-home program; trying to move hundreds of people directly from street encampments into permanent housing.
Veronica Lewis 19:18
I know it sounds over-simplistic, but we listened and we looked at the existing resources we have, and if we can shift and contort them to try things differently than what the structure is then we do that. If it does need new funding, then we push for that or we look for opportunities to try to fill the gap.
Veronica Lewis 19:32
We literally simply listen and never feel like we've gotten this thing all together, and we know what works and everything we're doing is great. We are constantly learning, constantly assessing, and constantly trying to get better, not just to look better. But to actually meet the needs in a way that's meaningful, that's culturally relevant, that's responsive, and sustainable.
Becky Dennison 19:58
Yeah, for me personally and for VCH, I started this work as a case manager and then was a Community organizer for a very long time.
Becky Dennison 20:08
And so I think that everything we do is kind of informed from the lens that I spoke to, which is folks have just been worked over in so many of these systems, including housing and services.
Becky Dennison 20:26
In the way that we build our staff, we have a shared leadership approach which is similar to collaborative decision-making. One person can't always make the right decisions, so we need to be creative, have input and incorporate what people are really saying to you.
Becky Dennison 20:39
And I think that it, VCH has long been very committed to housing first we weren't strong-armed into that.
Becky Dennison 20:50
I personally did a lot of work with land when that was first coming up, so we really do take the whatever it takes for as long as it takes approach. Because people are just different and going through things in different ways.
Becky Dennison 21:05
The last piece is more recent, which is we're really trying to uplift people with mental illnesses in a different way. Those who just get continually demonized in our sighting of affordable housing in ways that are just beyond unacceptable.
Becky Dennison 21:14
So we're trying to think through what does that mean in terms of the way we provide service, the way we advocate, who spokespeople are in certain ways. We're uplifting voice, we are uplifting strength, but also providing some protection and solidarity to that level of conflict in just a variety of ways.
Becky Dennison 21:38
The takeaway for me is just you can never stop doing that it has to be a part of our work all the time. In which, we're talking to folks outside of our own circle, even outside of our own programs, To keep thinking about how we do better, how we do more, and how we need to break some of the boundaries that have stopped us from making more progress.
Erika Hartman 22:00
To the part of over time, Safe Place for Youth began in 2011 as a result of our founder recognizing that there weren't dedicated services for youth. And I think one thing that's important for people to understand is that there are so many walks of life that result in homelessness and that there's not one size fits all.
Erika Hartman 22:21
To what Veronica shared about providing gender-affirming services or reaching unique subpopulations; I think as greater recognition of that has occurred there's been more intentional efforts around that. So for SPY, we started with that focus on a specific subpopulation, and because of the increase in homelessness across the board we've been growing exponentially.
Erika Hartman 22:44
Between 2019 and 2021 we were doubling in size, each year, just to try to keep pace with the inflow.
Erika Hartman 23:00
Some of the things that we've tried to do more structurally, to be intentional about how we're addressing the unique demographics that we're seeing.
Erika Hartman 23:12
In 2021, with a greater collective awareness of racial injustice, our organization updated our mission to incorporate addressing racial and systemic inequity. We also added inclusive it to our values, so that we're constantly reminding ourselves of these things as North stars.
Erika Hartman 23:31
Looking at opportunities, looking at our approach to our work, and recognizing that that is what we have centered in how we're going to meet folks needs.
Erika Hartman 23:42
I think that there is an element of the evolution of understanding and making that more specifically embedded in how we're operating; so it doesn't get lost or go by the wayside. And to have ongoing touch points, work groups, and things that we're holding ourselves accountable to specific milestones; to make sure that we're living our mission.
Alex Dawson 24:13
Thank you all so much, this has been really wonderful. I think we have time for one more quick question, so I’ll ask you to give me a speed answer here.
Alex Dawson 24:24
If you had a magic wand and you could change the current ecosystem for service, delivery, and or affordable housing development to better address the needs of our unhoused neighbors. What would you do? Anyone can start.
Becky Dennison 24:53
I don't have the best answer for that. But I think, for me, I would just get to scale. Everything we do, we know how to do. We're certainly getting better at really calling out and breaking down the systems of structural racism that have been a part of our systems as well.
Becky Dennison 25:16
But both on the advocacy and organizing side, on challenging those systems more and doing what we know works, and we certainly know it does; it is just like getting to scale. So like having all levels of government fund at the level of need versus the scarcity model.
Becky Dennison 25:35
And there are enough folks out here who know how to do it and again can continually challenge ourselves to get better and be sure that we're building a system of care with justice in mind. But it really is just about this continual model of scarcity. Unless we move to the scale of need, we're just going to always feel, and so will people experiencing homelessness, feel this deep level of exclusion, frustration, and harm.
Veronica Lewis 26:10
I wholeheartedly agree with what Becky said. I would add, to be very clear, to have strategic alignment across all the different key stakeholders that hold the purse strings within our region within Los Angeles. And to do what we know works, not just take it to scale. Look at what we know actually works. there have been lots of pilots, programs, and projects so take that to scale.
Veronica Lewis 26:38
Remove all the political interference, all the egos, all the grudges, and all the other things that just simply impede our ability to serve people, the way we know how, well-resourced and strategically.
Veronica Lewis 26:54
The only other thing I’ll say is, for me, quite frankly in my region, we can see where the pendulum is swinging. We're going in the opposite direction, in some cases, and the public dollars, eventually, may be drying up with the opposite of this. We're trying to figure out how to really maximize every dollar so that we can do what we know works without government red tape constraints.
Veronica Lewis 27:20
And then the last thing I’ll say is, I think there's a lot of land in LA, there's a lot of abandoned land, there’s a lot of government-owned land, And there's also a lot of owners who are in the private market not accessing private dollars to build units.
Veronica Lewis 27:33
And I think that we just need to get a lot more creative when looking at what exists in our region. We can renovate and build on those existing dwellings to create more permanent housing. In addition, to obviously all the great work that's being done in affordable and PSH, we need to get more creative with the resources, with the land and physical resources that we have.
Erika Hartman 28:03
Yeah, I completely agree with those. I think part of it, for us, maybe just seeing the focus on youth is addressing the inflow, that providers are working as hard as they can to house people as quickly as they can. But we also have to address the number of folks that are falling into homelessness and that includes addressing system gaps.
Erika Hartman 28:27
At the end of December, SPY was called in to take in the youth who were aging out of the child welfare system when the COVID relief money ended. And so that was big, trying to provide that emergency response. But that's something that we know is coming, we know that problem exists, and that we really need to shore that up.
Erika Hartman 28:43
And for some of these things to just the bureaucratic process to try to move anything forward. The time and energy that goes into making this change take away from time for us to build housing or provide services.
Erika Hartman 28:57
And things like full funding for programs. one of the things that all providers have been dealing with, during this time, in particular, has been trying to have enough staff and being able to pay competitive wages to other government entities. So that we don't lose our teams, so that our teams are not completely over-maxed, and that we're walking the walk as antipoverty organizations, and paying competitive salaries. I think that those are a number of things.
Erika Hartman 29:33
We need more landlords that are willing to open their homes to folks. And, wherever we can get the support of the community and unit acquisition support. I think that those are all things that will make a difference along with Community education and getting community buy-in.
Alex Dawson 29:51
Thank you all so much, Veronica, Erika, Becky. Thank you so much for being here today and joining me for this critical conversation. Your insights are essential in understanding what is being done to address the affordable housing and homelessness crisis and helping our unhoused neighbors.
Alex Dawson 30:09
You also provided insight into how your organizations work and the way that your organizations operate to serve your communities. I look forward to seeing all of you continue to dismantle systemic barriers that cause homelessness through your groundbreaking work.
Alex Dawson 30:31
This episode of Changemakers LA was made possible by our partner, Roy and Patricia Disney Foundation.
Alex Dawson 30:37
If you would like to learn more about how we support place-based initiatives for housing and economic development at LISC LA, please visit us online at www.LISC.org/Los-Angeles. And follow us on Twitter @LISC_LA.
Alex Dawson 31:00
You can find the rest of the series on iTunes, Spotify, and Google podcasts. Subscribe to hear more conversations about the people and places that shape Los Angeles.
Alex Dawson 31:10
This podcast was produced in collaboration with Ronnell Hampton Founder of Growing Greatness Now. Growing Greatness Now is a consulting firm committed to social and environmental justice.
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