Annual Report 2015

LURN is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to

bringing people together to design, build, and promote

sustainable communities that allow everyone to live

their greatest potential.

The idea for LURN began in 2008 when a group of professionals from various sectors came together over lunch to talk about their love for cities.

While our dreams for cities were big, we saw serious challenges that seemed to be getting worse no matter what we were doing in the field.

LURN is working to be a “new school” response to those challenges, leveraging our roots as a multi-disciplinary volunteer group to craft solutions that are creative, impactful and always community-centric. LURN believes that the answers to income inequality, the housing crisis, and other urban issues already exist in the communities we serve; everyday, residents in low-income areas are adapting and innovating to survive, and we believe policymakers and community development practitioners can learn from them.

We’re making progress.

This year was a milestone year for our organization. In 2015, we hired our fourth full-time staff member (two years ago, we only had one!), we secured our first federal grant, we seeded our first micro-loan fund, and we even moved into a new office space.

In the rest of the document, you’ll get a sense as to what happened at LURN in 2015. We’ve organized our work into three primary focus areas: LURN Labs, our advocacy arm, LURN Capital, which houses our economic development initiatives, and LURN Advisors, our in-house consulting arm.

As we’ve said before, we haven’t done this alone. We had a great year because we have great community partners, friends, and contributors who came to our events, donated when they had a little extra cash, or connected us to a funder or major donor. We’re so grateful.

– Rudy, Luis, Natalie, and Marlene

Team

Rudy Espinoza Executive Director

Luis GutierrezSenior Associate Marlene SalazarAssociate Natalie Kamajian Operations Associate

Board of Directors

Alfred Fraijo Jr.ChairmanPartner of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP Ginger HitzkeTreasurerPresident of Hitzke Development Vikram JadhavSecretaryPrincipal of Crux Objectives Edgar AguirreManaging Director of ExternalRelations and Strategic InitiativesSouthern California Public Radio Monique ChavoyaProject Director Texas OfficeMcCormack Baron Salazar Jeanmarie HancePresident of Collaborative Planning Reagan MaechlingDevelopment Analyst of Enterprise Community Investment, Inc.

Sarah Magana WithersDirector of Development of WSS Ricardo MirelesExecutive Director of Academia Avance Ami Pascual SpearRegional Director of Philanthropy of Southern California Mercy Housing California Bill Roschen, FAIAPrincipal of Roschen Van Cleve Architects Christopher Goett, MSWSenior Program Officer of California Community Foundation Jorge GarridoVice President of Mercury Public Affairs

LURN Labs

LURN Labs is the idea generating and advocacy division of our organization. Through this arm,

LURN advocates for policy that can make urban areas better places to live for their residents.

LURN believes that in order to make an impact in areas that are struggling, we need

“systems change,” and that comes from cultivating leaders who develop new ideas, and by

advocating for policies that provide a framework for everyone to succeed.

LA Street Vendor Campaign

Advocating for a street vending policy was LURN’s first project back when

we incorporated our organization in 2009. We were inspired back then,

and more so now, with the entrepreneurial spirit of street vendors who

work hard everyday to take care of their families.

LURN has been working as part of the LA Street Vendor Campaign to

advocate for a permit system for street vendors in Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, LA is one of the only major cities in the country without a

permit system for sidewalk vendors.

To this end, the City heard the issue twice in the Economic Development

committee, and most recently moved the issue forward to the Public

Works committee. The topic has garnered media attention from various

outlets in 2015.

Free Lots Angeles

Free Lots Angeles, a coalition of six organizations in which LURN is a

member, is an initiative that aims to activate under-utilized and vacant lots

in urban areas. In 2015, we organized three “pop up” events on vacant lots,

and we began putting together a policy proposal to help Angelenos

access vacant lots in their community so they can transform them

into neighborhood-serving spaces.

Eastside Sol

Eastside Sol, a new partnership with organizations that include the

Environmental Defense Fund, CALO Youth Build, LAANE, Self Help

Graphics & Art, and East Yards Communities for Environmental Justice, is

working to raise awareness of alternative energy resources in low-income

communities like Boyle Heights. In 2015, this coalition hosted the first ever

community festival fully powered by solar energy. Another event is being

planned for 2016 along with advocacy efforts.

Events

LURN works hard to bring people together to do good work for cities. In

2015, we organized our most successful Planning and Land-Use Strategies

Summit (PLUS2), this time focusing on the “Informal City.” Speakers from

all over the country shared their ideas on entrepreneurship, housing,

and water conservation, and how we can learn from the practices already

taking place in the “informal city.”

Our Summer Nights & City Stars event, hosted at City Labs Boyle Heights,

was a hit, where we honored Lou Calanche from Legacy LA and Pamela

Paige for the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles.

We also branched out and hosted a special evening at the Pasadena

Playhouse with the cast of Real Women Have Curves and partnered with

the LA Food Policy Council to host a luncheon on the lessons we’ve

gathered by working with small food retailers in low-income neighborhoods.

Lastly, we created a new initiative this year with the support of LA’s

Department of Cultural Affairs and the Center for Cultural Innovation, AyE!

Boyle Heights (Artistas y Empresarios!). The effort aims to promote the

creative economy in our community through events like our successful

Alternative Black Friday sale, while bringing in artists to our office space at

City Labs Boyle Heights.

Taken together, we convened over 800 people through our events this

year.

LURN Capital

The initiatives under LURN Capital rethink how we get capital to communities that

historically have had little access to it. The circulation of capital can help support entrepreneurs,

affordable housing, and even access to healthy food. This year, LURN was able to take

some important steps forward in developing new tools to support wealth generation

in our communities.

COMPRA Foods Community Markets Purchasing Real and Affordable Foods (COMPRA Foods),

is an effort that began in late 2014 in partnership with the LA Food Policy

Council. COMPRA Foods is a purchasing cooperative and produce

distribution program for small grocers in low-income neighborhoods.

With little to no access to major grocery stores in neighborhoods

like South Los Angeles and MacArthur Park, COMPRA Foods aims to

amplify the capacity of small convenience stores to carry affordable and

healthy produce. Twelve stores became “members” this year, and LURN

was awarded its first Federal Grant from the USDA to support the

expansion of this program.

Semi’a FundThe Semi’a Fund (Semi’a = Semilla = Seed) is a new initiative, established

this past summer to offer micro-loans to healthy food entrepreneurs.

The loan fund offers low-interest loans, which incentivize borrowers

who demonstrate a track record of on-time repayment with

low-interest rates. The fund is inspired by our advocacy work on behalf

of street vendors, and is designed to support entrepreneurs at the

“bottom of the pyramid,” such as start-up businesses operating in the

informal economy, and entrepreneurs operating their food business

out of their homes. This loan fund was seeded with support from the

FreshWorks Fund, a public-private partnership financing grocery stores

in California.

(Re)store Fund 2015 was a development year for the (Re)store Fund, LURN’s

micro-equity program. This summer, we secured resources from the

California Community Foundation and Citi Community Development to

put some energy into this important initiative that seeks to invest in

businesses in low-income neighborhoods.

In the last quarter of 2015, we’ve built our loan and investment pipeline

to over 25 entrepreneurs, and in partnership with our legal counsel,

we’re scheduled to complete our first investment agreement by year

end.

LURN Advisors

LURN Advisors is LURN’s in-house consulting practice that has helped diversify LURN’s

revenue streams while assisting other mission-oriented organizations in the overall aim

of improving urban communities. Through LURN Advisors, we provide strategic

counsel, program design assistance, evaluation services, and meeting facilitation support.

This year, we had a full portfolio of amazing clients.

In 2015, LURN also worked on projects with the Mayor’s Office, AARP, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, DakeLuna Consultants, and the Pasadena Playhouse.

Self Help Graphics & Art We assisted the Board of Directors of this historic arts institution with

operational planning and an important leadership transition. We also

worked with them on developing a series of recommendations on how

the cultural and artistic assets of Boyle Heights can be used to responsibly

revitalize the community.

UMMA Health Clinic & Team Friday As part of the development of a marketing strategy for the UMMA Health

Clinic in South Los Angeles, LURN designed a survey tool to understand

the needs of residents around the facility and how UMMA can better serve

the population. To administer the survey, LURN hired local community

leaders to talk to local residents.

The California Endowment & EMH Creative Group This year, LURN served as part of the facilitation team for the South LA

Building Healthy Communities initiative. As facilitators, LURN helped clarify

the goals of the coalition, and catalyze work in the group’s policy

workgroup.

Community Partners

LURN loves to collaborate, and we were grateful to work great organizations all over Los Angeles. A partial list includes:

APIOPACALO Youth BuildCD TechCoalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)Community Health CouncilsEast LA Community CorporationEast Yard Communities for Environmental JusticeEmerging Markets, Inc.EMH Creative GroupEnvironmental Defense FundEsperanza Community Housing Corporation4Earth FarmsInvesting in PlaceKounkouey Design InitiativeLA Neighborhood Land TrustLA Food Policy CouncilLA KitchenPublic CounselSelf Help Graphics & ArtSt. Francis CenterTeam FridayTRUST South LAUrban & Environmental Policy Institute

Get involved!

We are so thankful for all our supporters in 2015. LURN strives to be an organization that forges new solutions to address challenges facing low-income residents in cities, and we’re so grateful to all the, foundations and major donors that contributed to our work:

US Department of Agriculture (NIFA)California Community FoundationCiti Community DevelopmentDurfee FoundationCalifornia Freshworks (FEMI-LA) FundOscar Mayer FoundationAileen Getty FoundationPG&EDepartment of Cultural Affairs and the Center for Cultural InnovationSheppard MullinHitzke Development CorporationPobladores Fund at the Liberty Hill FoundationThelma Pearl Howard Foundation

To continue this work, we need the support of a strong base of donors who believe that change happens by all of us working together.

If you’d like to donate to LURN, please visit www.LURNetwork.org.