Senior Leadership Spotlight: Alexandra Dawson
Get to know the staff members that drive our work forward.
Meet Alex Dawson
Number of years at LISC LA: 6 in October
What you do at LISC LA: I manage our affordable housing investment portfolio and oversee our housing-related technical assistance programs including the CA Statewide Housing Development Training Institute.
What LISC LA accomplishment are you most proud of? In 2020, when the pandemic hit and we began to witness the strain it was putting on our small businesses, LISC LA went into emergency response mode and our team partnered with the City and County of Los Angeles to manage the LA Regional COVID Recovery Fund. Over the course of the fund, we helped distribute close to $100 million in grants to 7,325 organizations across the county. I am very proud of LISC LA’s all-hands-on-deck approach to the work during both the program development and implementation. And while small business is not my area of expertise, I am proud to know that I was able to help bring relief to struggling small businesses in our neighborhoods.
Favorite thing to do in Los Angeles: This is tough! Since I am usually parenting if I am not working, I will give a family-oriented answer: We love bringing our 4 year old to Los Angeles State Historic Park to kick a soccer ball around or let him run free. Afterward, we usually head over to Angeleno Winery for a glass of whatever their latest harvest brings. Maybe if we are super ambitious we will head to Little Tokyo for dinner!
Favorite quote: This is a new favorite but a few of us LISC’ers recently went to hear a conversation with Angela Davis at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. She talked about hope and quoted Mariame Kaba who says in We Do This ‘Til We Free Us, that, “Hope doesn’t preclude feeling sadness or frustration or anger or any other emotion that makes total sense. Hope isn’t an emotion, you know? Hope is not optimism. Hope is a discipline… we have to practice it every single day.” This really resonated with me in this current moment we are living, working and raising our children in. (Thanks to the LISC LA Book Club for introducing me to the book!)
What you are most looking forward to at LISC: I am always energized by the students in our Housing Development Training Institute who bring so much passion and drive to their work in affordable housing. I get overwhelmed with the amount of work we need to do to build and preserve affordable housing in the state of CA but the cohort members give me hope that there is a field of dedicated emerging leaders who are ready and willing to do the work and think innovatively about it.
