In 2020, LISC-LA created the South LA Economic Inclusion Implementation Plan, a 3-year implementation plan that supports an integrated, place-based approach to advancing economic mobility for communities in South LA.
The plan recommendations seek to connect South LA residents and businesses across three distinct districts in South LA: the Crenshaw Corridor, Exposition Park, and the Goodyear Tract to the regional economy and foster connection across local organizations to create ladders of economic opportunity for South LA residents.
The recommendations outlined in the South LA Economic Inclusion Implementation Plan seek to grow South LA’s strengths, combat the root of institutional oppression, and connect local organizations to bring more accessible economic opportunity for all South LA residents.
In this episode, Tunua sits down with three of our South LA Implementation partners and HUD S4 grantees to discuss what can be done for advancing economic mobility for communities in South LA.
Joining LISC LA for this conversation are:
In this episode we explore:
About our panel:
Ośunkoya Chavon is a holistic chef who believes nourishing wholesome food is the key to fostering community strength and sustainability. As the Program Coordinator of SEE-LA's new Seasoned Accelerator, she's esteemed to be matching local business owners with educational and economic resources traditionally unavailable to many. Through this initiative, she's able to connect food entrepreneurs in SEE-LA's network of farmers' markets throughout Los Angeles to regional and national industry mentors and seasoned professionals. Additionally, she has a coaching and wellness brand, Sunbelly Foods, in which she hosts special food events and does one-on-one nutrition coaching. Outside of her work with farmers' market-based programs, Chavon has done public outreach with the Isla Vista Food Cooperative, the Long Beach Grocery Co-op, and LA Food Policy Council's, Good Food Economy Working Group. Ośunkoya is committed to creating harmonious models within the local and global food systems for self-sufficiency and sovereignty.
Tamika Taylor has been tasked with designing programs that deliver tangible impact to South Los Angeles as the Business Strategist for Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation. She has secured millions of dollars of contract opportunities and grant for her clients that include corporations, Universities non-profits and small businesses. Tamika is a true master planner in innovative program infrastructure and program development management. She has become the chief program architect crafting proposals and launching the following since 2017:
Benjamin Torres is the CEO and President of CDTech. CDTech is a nonprofit organization focused on addressing issues of racial equity and economic justice in low-income areas of Los Angeles. CDTech empowers marginalized residents to lead the process of community development efforts. For the last 23 years, Benjamin’s leadership has supported the South LA region’s Black/Brown residents in increasing their political capital and economic opportunity. He serves on the Board of Directors of several key local and national organizations, as President of City of LA Commission on Community and Family Services and on the LA County Public Health Equity Task Force Commission.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 0:14
Hello, and welcome to the latest episode of the Changemakers LA podcast. It's presented by LISC LA. The Changemakers LA podcast is a tribute to the people and policies that make work in Los Angeles neighborhoods that much better by making sure their places good places to live, work and play. My name is Tunua Thrash-Ntuk and I'm executive director of the Local Initiative Support Corporation Los Angeles office. In today's episode, we'll be talking about advancing economic mobility for communities with a specific emphasis on South LA.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 0:50
Today we've got some special guests with us. And I'd like to invite them to say hello and tell us a little bit about the work that they're doing in community in South LA.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 0:59
First up, we have Osunkoya Chavon. She's a program coordinator with the food based accelerator at SEE LA. Osunkoya is a holistic chef who believes nourishing wholesome food is the key to fostering community and sustainability. As the program coordinator of SEE-LA new seasoned accelerator, she's esteemed to be matching local business owners with education and economic resources that have been traditionally unavailable to many. Osunkoya, thanks for being here. Tell us a little bit about that work at SEE-LA.
Osunkoya Chavon 1:33
Yeah, Thank you for having me. Yes, our new season accelerator has been going on now for about a year we started the program, right when stay at home orders were announced.
Osunkoya Chavon 1:44
But it's been a great journey of working with these entrepreneurs. Last year we started out with about 17 food businesses. This year, we have 10. And it's really great to see how the relationships that they've formed with their advisors and the resources to building generational wealth that they've been able to access. And so the season accelerator, you know, connects food industry experts with these entrepreneurs that are bringing their passions to the table. And we're really excited to have them.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 2:18
That's great Osunkoya. And at this moment when food access has been so critical during a pandemic, and the importance of having access to healthy food, it's exciting to see SEE-LA's efforts and being able to connect those passionate entrepreneurs of color in community with those who've got some of those resources that are needed most to make those successful ventures. We'll talk a little bit more about what you all are doing at SEE-LA
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 2:44
Next up, we have Tamika Taylor, she's a business strategist at the Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation. Tamika has been tasked with designing programs that deliver tangible impact to South Los Angeles. As a business strategist for the Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation, she has secured millions of dollars and contract opportunities as well as grants for her clients, including from corporations, universities, nonprofits and small businesses themselves.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 3:14
Tamika tell us a little bit more about your work at the Vermont Slauson's EDC, we also see that you're a true master and planner in innovation. Tell us a little bit more about some of the work you all are doing.
Tamika Taylor 3:26
Well, currently we are full into our legacy business program, which actually officially launched in January. And we are super excited to have 40 legacy businesses from the South LA community. These businesses range from restaurants to actually have a donut shop, we have a yoga studio, there is a plethora of South LA businesses that we are helping to survive and thrive right now.
Tamika Taylor 3:52
You know, we had COVID hit us we had to go from crisis to resiliency. And what we're looking to do is basically keep our shops on the block, keeping shops open. And we're looking to create generational wealth, we're looking at succession strategies, we're looking at the owner occupied models, where if you're owning, looking at the value of the land, so we're really trying to bring a new innovative model to South LA, to how we do business, how we think about wealth, how we strategize and keeping our businesses reflective of our community, which are primarily black and brown.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 4:25
Wonderful to meet you. That is great. And I'm so excited to hear the tagline that LISC partnered with you all on that we started our keep our shops on the block, making sure that they had the grant dollars and the technical know how.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 4:39
You've shared the term legacy businesses. These are the businesses that have been in community, have been able to be successful over the years, and we want to make sure we don't lose them during this very uncertain time. So we're very glad that you and Vermont Slauson are there to make sure that doesn't happen.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 4:56
And in addition to our other two guests, we also have and are pleased to present Benjamin Torres, President and CEO of CDTech. CDTech is a well known nonprofit organization that has focused on addressing issues of racial equity and economic justice in low income communities of Los Angeles. For more than 23 years, Benjamin's leadership has supported the South LA region, including ensuring that black and brown residents increase their political capital and economic opportunity.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 5:27
Benjamin, thanks for joining us, some of us call you Benny as well tell us what is happening right now over at CD tech, and how are you all ensuring that there is access to economic opportunity in South LA?
Benny Torres 5:41
Well, first of all, thank you for having me on the podcast. It's a pleasure to be here with all of you folks. So first of all, I was born to understand that we all stand on the shoulders of giants. So CD Tech was actually started or founded by Dr. Denise Fairchild, about 25 years ago, and she actually was a personal tutor who mentored me to take her place when she left to do bigger and better national level things.
Benny Torres 6:02
CDTech you know, what we believe in as a we need to invest in the leadership and economic capacity of residents in South LA, black, brown, and immigrant folks to affect change, create economic opportunities for the existing South LA residents that can also allow them to affect policy change, the resource distribution, and to bring the kind of resources that are needed to affect the economic conditions of communities, while at the same time investing in that leadership capacity.
Benny Torres 6:27
So these individuals also understand that these are career pathways that they can pursue. So they can also improve the quality of life, while transforming our neighborhoods, to a vision that is about creating a healthy and vibrant South LA for black and brown and immigrant folks in the future.
Benny Torres 6:42
And so that's what we believe in, thats what we make our investment in and we believe that the nonprofit sector is one of the critical opportunities for that to happen but we also work with government and the public sector as well.
Benny Torres 6:53
We believe that many of the skills that you learn through the nonprofit sector are applicable and in private and in government to really engage residents in that process of ownership and transformation of neighborhoods. So looking at yourself from the economic capacity that we have in the value, but at the same time creating leadership so that the kind of jobs and economic opportunities that we're bringing into South Central Los Angeles reflect the vision of what residents would like to see, that is about creating a new economy, a vibrant economy and connecting with the past for those legacy based organizations and businesses, but at the same time trying to make sure how do we redefine the economics of AAA to move people in pathways out of poverty.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 7:34
I mean, this is a fantastic conversation, to be able to hear Benjamin about the work that you're doing a CDTech and thinking about the residents themselves and connecting them with real career pathways and opportunities to be able to access a better economic experience for them and their families.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 7:52
So let's pivot this conversation a bit and start to move towards some of our questions. So in 2020, LISC certainly in partnership with organizations like all of you here, created the South LA economic inclusion implementation plan. This was a three year implementation plan that supported an integrated approach, much like you all have talked about here, focusing on small business, focusing on health and focusing on people to ensure that there was economic mobility for residents of South LA.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 8:21
The plan recommends that we connect South LA residents and businesses across three distinct districts in South LA, we looked at the Crenshaw Corridor, Exposition Park, and the Goodyear Tract and wanting to make sure we connect that to a regional economy, as well as foster connections with grassroots organizations like yourselves and local leaders to be able to create those ladders of economic opportunity.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 8:45
And finally, the recommendations outline that we seek to really build upon South LA strengths leaders like you organizations like you. And we would have to do that in order to combat the root of institutional oppression, connect with local organizations and bring more opportunity. So let's move into our conversation. Let's talk about what you all are doing in a little more detail to advance economic mobility.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 9:10
Tamika, one of the goals that we have for the South LA economic inclusion plan is to provide resources during this COVID-19 recovery. What are some of the ways that Vermont Slauson has pivoted during the pandemic and its support of small businesses?
Tamika Taylor 9:27
Yes, we absolutely had to pivot. In the beginning of 2020, everyone was excited. You know, we were having businesses planning to scale we had a list of startup, we were launching a new cohort of women that we were going to take to the next level, and everything stopped. So what we had to do was basically spin on a on $1 and go from growth to crisis mode. What we wanted to do was immediately stabilize our businesses access resources. He loved the fact that LISC was able to extend that helping hand through those grants throughout Local opportunities specifically targeting the South LA community because a lot of our community, they felt like they were edged out a lot of the legislation and a lot of the resources that came to help business firstly went to corporations big business. Then he went to like the larger level of small businesses, which are hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate opportunities, labeled small businesses, but the mom and pop the micro entrepreneurs, the solo entrepreneurs, they were essentially left out of that process.
Tamika Taylor 10:28
What we did was we connected them with brands that provided very specific technical assistance that was language relatable, we also had to be very innovative, like using WhatsApp, that's an app that we had to touch on to reach the monolingual communities from the Central American region, because a lot of times they were left out of the opportunities. And they could actually absolutely apply for the grants and get them. But there was a barrier, there's a language barrier does act as a barrier. And we were also able to connect with some corporate opportunities, and then have some preparations like Netflix, Southern California Gas, also provide financial resources.
Tamika Taylor 11:05
And what we were trying to do is let our businesses know, not only did they need a cash influx, but they also needed strategy. So we were able to introduce different strategies to make sure that they could sustain introducing e commerce, looking at their point of sales, looking at their books, looking at their infrastructure, because a lot of our businesses, they operate on a cash basis, and they get a lot of money in on a daily basis, but they're not accounting for the past. They're not paying themselves, you know. So essentially, when it comes to going through the traditional opportunities of getting financial resources in crisis, we were edged out. So we went from growth to crisis.
Tamika Taylor 11:41
And I would say right now, we're trying to pivot into resiliency. And I think we've learned a lot of great lessons, you took this opportunity to make sure that we were able to talk about what true equity looks like. Actually I would say, we gave a magnifying glass of what it looks like in South LA, you know, if it really magnifies the actual challenges that we face on an everyday basis and and magnified them times ten.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 12:04
Wow, I love the you know, you started out with the growth and then you had to pivot around crisis. And now that we are really in 2021, looking at resiliency and all the things that you described. I watched Vermont Slauson up close and personal and under your direction of your President, CEO, Joe Rouzan. I mean, you all have been such an important source of hope and resource for the South LA community. And I loved hearing using what's app to connect with those communities that may not be connected any other way. And to make sure that you were able to provide information in language so people could reach it.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 12:41
Great. So Benjamin, let's talk about one of the biggest focuses of years two and three of that South LA economic inclusion plan. And that's really to elevate career pathways into emerging industries. And you've already started talking about how CD Tech is working to ensure that the workforce is trained for key opportunities. Can you talk a little bit about connecting young people to the health sector during the pandemic?
Benny Torres 13:09
So our collaboration with LISC, and the robust approach to South LA economic inclusion was really key around looking at corridors, looking at building capacity, and also investing in businesses and trying to figure out how do we get more capitalism. So these are all very important. From a comprehensive perspective, what we found, specifically around capacity building that was super important was the need to really identify what are the ways that we remove barriers to employment opportunities and pathways by really investing in getting people ready for the nonprofit sector.
Benny Torres 13:41
So as we had to pivot as well, we focus a lot on economic development opportunities within the nonprofit sector, but as a result of COVID, and the disparity that demonstrated not only economically but also in terms of health access, health preparation, and the social safety net that was really destroyed by COVID. And when you also add the layer, of course of the Black Lives Matter movement and the need to address systemic racism, and inequality, right, and that happening for many years in South LA, and then you have the election opportunities in terms of opportunity for maybe new legislation, a new way of looking at reform in the nonprofit sector, we just thought it was a great opportunity to look at the health sector, because the health sector and I'm talking public health in a broad sense, right?
Benny Torres 13:45
The relationship between economics, housing, employment, environment and land use issues is something that our community has never been able to really understand the intersectionalities of that kind of career pathway and so when people think of the health sector, we think of hospitals, but when we think about it, from our perspective, it's about connecting people and creating a healthy environment in our neighborhood so that people have access, whether it's to look at nonprofits that do housing work, nonprofits that do specific health outreach and health engagement pieces, right, are looking at organizations that focus on improving the economic conditions.
Benny Torres 14:56
We wanted to make sure that our folks understood the holistic understanding of Public Health, but also knowing that there are community based clinics and health serving organizations that are looking to hire individuals who know how to get to the residence, especially right now in these next two to three years, right? Where the idea of that - how do we strengthen the social safety net? How do we connect people to really understand what their health needs are? And so we felt it was important to take our existing community planning and Economic Development Program and LA Trade Tech college, and really emphasize a kind of cohort that looks at health access, quality of health and communities, and really train people up to that, so that they could be able to pivot from looking at economic opportunities to looking at the health sector, and public health as an economic opportunity piece.
Benny Torres 15:43
So we've been able to get young people to the themselves, we have a internship program, six months into the program that does outreach and engagement of residents. So we had them, take the class, take the actual course, and actually outreach to the community about this course, so that we can identify that as a career pathway for them to pursue. And so we've been very successful at that we're very excited that our young folks, and I'm talking about the outreach team is 18 to 21 year olds.
Benny Torres 16:10
So this is the after high school, I don't really know what to do yet kind of folks right, who are still kind of grappling with the post high school experience. We wanted them to be at the forefront of this because we're trying to look at that 18 to 25 year bracket.
Benny Torres 16:24
And the reason why is that COVID has also shown us that the biggest impact economically was under 18-25. Like they lost their jobs. And the recovery for them is very unclear, because these are not professional folks who are already in an industry, right? They're not high wage folks, these are people who are just kind of trying to get their footing and figure out how they maintain some level of sustainability and their families and so that's why we thought it would be an important part of the South LA Inclusion program to really continue to focus on capacity building, but just pivoting a little bit more to the larger context of health and the whole cross sector perspective of health. Because we know that's what the investments are going to do for the next two to three years. And, you know, when we're doing economic development, we're always trying to figure out how do we train to what careers, you know, we don't focus on jobs, we look at careers, we think that people need to have a pathway to move out of poverty. And that's not what short term jobs, it's about careers.
Benny Torres 17:18
And that requires community building capacity, at the same time, connected to industries that are growing, are they're really committed to transforming ourselves and the community. So that's, that's the program that we run. That's the relationship we've had with LISC, and this need to pivot during this pandemic. But like I said earlier, the needs for systemic change to challenge anti black racism that exists systemically in our communities in South LA, and also to adjust to the new elected officials coming on board with maybe a more open minded idea of how do we really begin to address this income inequality that's existed historically, in South Los Angeles for Black and Brown, folks,
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 17:55
thanks for providing all of that background and context. And I got excited even listening to the program again, and hearing you know, the experiences of some of the young people, I mean, South LA skews to having a younger population. So that's one thing to think about the fact that well, you know, not only did they potentially miss the things that we all think about prom and some of the fun things, but we also want to be able to give young people and a way to contribute, and to provide them with an understanding as to what that pathway looks like. And I love how we are you are thinking about the healthcare sector or the public health sector as not just the hospitals. And I think the pandemic as one of our other panelists said Tamika or Osunkoya has shined sort of a magnifying glass, giving us a sense of the fact that health starts long before you get to the hospital. That's great.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 18:50
So let's get Osunkoya in this conversation. So we've talked about our small businesses, we now have young people on pathways towards health careers in community, Osunkoya. Your work is really focused around the food industry. And the food industry has been so critical in communities and we know that SEE LA has been helping food entrepreneurs cope during all of this time and the changes. Tell us a little bit more about what that has meant in terms of how you've been helping food entrepreneurs during the crisis?
Osunkoya Chavon19:23
Yeah, I would say there's definitely been several angles that SEE LA has gone about like helping food entrepreneurs or workers in the food industry. Shortly after a lot of the stay at home orders and new regulations, we pivoted towards doing a lot of distributions and so helping workers in the hospitality or ministry sector who had been laid off connect with getting direct aid and food distributions from farmers and so able to provide a lot of income for farmers who are looking at laying off a lot of their workforce.
Osunkoya Chavon 19:36
And so yeah, just really saving a lot of those farms. And it was really great to see the farmers in our network being able to not only keep on their workers but maintain a lot more income than they'd even had years before, because of the people that showed up for that work once those distributions started.
Osunkoya Chavon 20:20
And so seeing our partners and our stakeholders network support those distributions and donate early on was very, very amazing for us. And being able to continue those distributions throughout the summer and later in the year was something that we'd never seen before. And being able to keep those going has been just tremendous, and able to shift those to not just workers in the industry, but like tapping into our houses community and how they've been affected through COVID. And through CARES Act and a lot of other grants a lot of other support that we've seen. That's been Yeah, just really, really taken well within the organization also like volunteers, etc.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 21:06
Well, Osunkoya, I don't think people really realize the impact of the pandemic on small farms and some of their employees and what that has meant and how that has even disrupted the food supply chain in communities. So it's great that we've got SEE LA working to ensure that there's a chance to be able to, you know, make the connection.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 21:27
So I'm gonna wrap up in just a moment here, Tamika South LA has always been plagued with unemployment. Can you tell us a little bit more about the Legacy Vusiness program and how businesses can get connected?
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 21:41
You shared with us a bit about the program itself but if you're a business in South LA, how do you get connected to the Legacy Business program?
Tamika Taylor 21:50
To access the resources for the Legacy Business program,you can visit our website, which is v. s. e. d, c, Vermont Slauson, so vs. E, like Economic Development Corporation, that org. And you can actually sign up for the program, we have a button which says, apply here. And we have some preset boxes where you can check for Legacy program and you'll be routed to a coordinator.
Tamika Taylor 22:16
I would like to mention the success of the program. Right now we are on a waiting list. But we do anticipate that as businesses can commit to the whole process, because it is a 10 month program, that, you know, we'll be bringing on some more businesses.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 22:30
Absolutely.
Tamika Taylor 22:31
And we're looking to be a bit legacy business. Ideally, we would like a business that's been in the community 10 or more years, but for those very strong businesses that are just starting out that we know is making change in the community, we have extended it to about three years, if you have a very strong business model, you survived COVID, you're making money, and you're poised to scale, you know, we're accepting those type of businesses as well.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 22:53
That's great. On one hand, it's great to hear that you have a waitlist because that means that there are many more businesses out there, then people often probably would think of in terms of South LA. And the other is that let's hope some funders are listening to this and know that you need some more resources so that you can help all of those businesses that are on that list.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 23:11
So Benjamin over at CDTech, you know, you've been leading the effort around the Slate Z 100 apprenticeship program, it seems to me that what I'm hearing from you is that there's a call out to young leaders and young people in community, how do young people get connected with your program as they're potentially looking at what options might be out there for them to get on a career path.
Benny Torres 23:35
People always reach out to our organization www.CDtech.org in terms of general information, but I really appreciate you bringing up the Slate Z 100 apprenticeship program.
Benny Torres 23:44
So as you all know, and we all heard, there was a demand for people in the community that money, resources must be kind of taken from places where there's been some challenges in this case that kind of reimagine public safety dollars that were removed from LAPD to reinvest them in black and brown communities.
Benny Torres 24:02
And so what we've been doing with Slate Z is the promising designation that we have in South Los Angeles from the Obama administration. And when we try and do there is move the economics needle. So the two things that that program is going to produce an opportunity for is to one get 100 participants to be placed, apprentice to be placed in 10 months paid apprenticeships through AmeriCorps funds that allow them to get on this job work experience in small nonprofits in the South LA area that cover the council district eight, nine and 10.
Benny Torres 24:33
And fortunately, our council members, all three of them have been very supportive of this idea and have invested some of the reimagined dollars into this pot to produce this apprenticeship program that's going to allow for us to not just not only get folks in career pathways into nonprofits, but also help support smaller nonprofits that wouldn't have the ability to financially support the stipend.
Benny Torres 24:54
So that will be covered by the reimagined dollars. And then the AmeriCorps funds will provide the support the Leadership, the coaching, the mentoring. And these participants will all be taking nine units at LA Trade Tech College, get them on a pathway through their academic preparation. And they also get financial support for college $7,000 worth of money for them to advance their education, pay back loans, which is critical for many of our young folks in our community right now or to prepare for college, to technical assistance and other types of services.
Benny Torres 25:25
So it's a way of building people's capacity, but also supporting these nonprofits that have been doing the deep work in our neighborhood for many years, but do not have the financial support, at least not now, to do this in sustainable manner. So we want to build the capacity to do so and connect them to all the county and city reform efforts to get more small nonprofits into these public sector dollars to really help transform our neighborhood.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 25:49
I mean, this is so great to hear Benjamin, you know, I was born and raised in South Central, I happen to have been an AmeriCorps member and have, you know, committed my career to community as well as the nonprofit sector.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 26:02
So I look forward to us and you and the team being able to raise up another Tunua, another Benjamin, so that we can continue this work going forward.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 26:13
So Osunkoy, we want to make sure that people know and understand you shared a bit about the SEE LA Accelerator program. Let's get some more food entrepreneurs out there. Let's help them be able to successfully run those operations. Can you tell us how people can get connected to the SEE LA Seasoned accelerator program?
Osunkoya Chavon 26:33
Yeah, well, currently, our current cohort is about halfway into the program and it goes into September. But next year, we're looking to expand the cohort, including vendors outside of our markets.
Osunkoya Chavon 26:48
This year, we have about three, three vendors from South LA and seven vendors from within our network of markets and outside. But yeah, we're really looking at how we can incorporate different tiers of the program to be accessible to entrepreneurs at different levels. And so yeah, definitely encourage people to get connected. And if you have any resources or ways that you've excelled as entrepreneur and would like to share that there's opportunities to come speak to the cohort, but as an entrepreneur, definitely stay involved and tune in about next year's cohort.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 27:26
Wonderful. So I want to thank you Tamika, Benjamin and Osunkoya for joining me in this conversation. It is a reminder that while there are disparities and there are matters that we have to address, we have leaders and we have organizations that are poised to do the work and do it well. And the people that you impact I know are pleased that you are on the path. Thank you for joining us today.
Benny Torres 27:51
Thank you. Thank you for the continued effort.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 27:55
This episode of Changemakers LA was made possible by our partners Wells Fargo Foundation, and Kaiser Permanente.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 28:04
LISC LA works to foster economic inclusion by leading and participating in efforts to advance a place based economic development agenda that's rooted in equity and inclusion.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 28:14
We know that when local economies are diverse and entrepreneurs of color are given equal opportunities communities thrive.
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk 28:21
If you'd love to learn more, please visit us online at www.lisc.org forward slash Los Angeles and follow us on Twitter at LISC L-I-S-C underscore LA you can find the rest of this series on Apple podcast Spotify and Google podcast. Follow to hear more conversations about the people and places that shape Los Angeles.