2021 SJPLA Impact Report
We hoped that 2021 would be the year of recovery, the year we began to rebuild and reimagine Los Angeles with lessons learned from a season of racial reckoning, the pandemic, and all the truths it laid bare. But, instead, it quickly became clear that our recovery must integrate an ongoing pandemic as we continue to process loss, suffering, and uncertainties.
Organizers spent the year fighting for reimagined systems in the wake of the spotlight on LA's injustices. They pushed for abolition, won justice-centered policies, shined a light on racist systems, and invited us to find our ways to contribute to the work.
Our growth this year allowed us to partner with even more of the leaders and organizations creating the Los Angeles we envision. These are the folks across Los Angeles solving homelessness, leading racial justice movements, dismantling racist systems, and building anti-racist communities. We are so grateful we spent 2021 gathering remotely and finding new ways to support and learn from our partners in this work.
A New Chapter
We became Social Justice Partners LA this year, welcoming new faces, growing our programs, and starting our next chapter with a new name, look, and a more inclusive community.
2021 was a year of change and growth for SJPLA. Though we are grateful to have been able to expand our work, what we reflect on and value the most is how we have done it.
At every step, we ensure that we are grounding our practices in the values that create more justice in our world.
We prioritize opportunities for BIPOC leaders and leaders with lived experience of the issues they are tackling.
We develop application processes that minimize the burden and when possible develop a process that generates value for the applicant.
We co-create application and selection processes, and programs in partnership with our alumni community.
We mindfully design ways to include and create spaces of belonging.
We look inward at our own culture as a living experiment honing our practice in shaping a liberatory workplace.
We challenge ourselves to grow by designing community learning spaces.
This is our annual impact report, so you'll see a summary of our year and some numbers below. We're proud of these highlights and how we did it, including building in rest and renewal with two periods of quiet time. What doesn't appear in these numbers is the impact we believe we are having on our sector, challenging former assumptions and spreading justice-centered practices.
We Became Social Justice Partners LA
We marked a milestone in our five-year journey towards justice by becoming Social Justice Partners LA. We welcomed over 200 people to our virtual open house introducing guests to our programs and the folks we work with.
Expanding our Team
The development of our programs was met with growth in capacity. We expanded to a team of nine this year when we welcomed Michelle, Frank, and Teresa.
2021 SJPLA Team
New Board Members
We were excited to welcome two Accelerator alumni as board members this year. Helen Leung of LA Más and Sam Prater of LA Room & Board.
2021 SJPLA Board
Growth in Programs and Budget
Our goals are always to live and create in ways that honor our values. We have been fortunate to build relationships with funders and Partners who have expanded our opportunities to do the work. They appreciate our processes and partner with us to co-create thoughtful ways to redistribute wealth.
Partner Community
We needed to take one final step before becoming SJPLA: Make our Partnership model more inclusive and reflective of who we are.
There is no longer a financial contribution floor to being an SJPLA Partner. Partners make a personally significant financial contribution while committing to our values and our community.
I joined as a SJP Partner because I value collective visioning and believe that achieving justice and equity requires all of us to work together. SJP is intentionally committed to liberatory practices and I want to learn how to bring that approach to other communities and organizations.
London Jones - New SJPLA Partner
51 Partners invested 533 hours and $79,943 in skilled pro bono support, and contributed $145,731 to SJPLA.
-
Teo Alfero, Iosefa Alofaituli, Brent Armitage, Lee Bailey, Grayce Bentley, Denise Berger, Ashley Bennett Boardman, Michael Boardman, Ev Boyle, George Bryson, Janice Burrill, Calvin Chan, Way-Ting Chen, Greg Cherry, Jessica Cohn, Bentley Coplin, Jenna Culotti, Betsy Densmore, Elyssa Elbaz, Gil Elbaz, Ann English, Jeanne Fauci, Alison Fedyna Villa, Laura Ferretti, Marta Ferro, Cynthia Freeman, John Garcia III, Bernadette Glenn, Kathryn Gwatkin Goulding, Jennifer Happillon, Margaret Hardin, Jennifer Hark Dietz, Carrie Harlow, Diane Helfrey, Cecily Jackson-Zapata, London Jones, Melissa Jones, Sarah Kalter, Jackie Laine, Alicia Lara, Janet Lee, Helen Leung, David Levitus, Selena Liu Raphael, Mark Loranger, Elaine Loring, Peter Lynn, Kit Mac Nee, Becky Margiotta, Christine Margiotta, Lance Miller, Hilary Moglen, Gayle Northrop, M-K O'Connell, Kelly O'Connor Kay, Kaci Patterson, Alexa Pearl O'Connor, Sahar Pirzada, Bill Pitkin, Sam Prater, Molly Prather, Meisha Rainman, Maura Rampolla, Carolyn Rojo, Sam Rotter, Wally Rudolph, Alina Sanchez, Elliot Schwartz, Amber Sheikh, Dina Silver, Brielan Smiechowski, Sara Templeton, Beatina Theopold, Allison Thomas, Eileen Ung, Liz Vogel, Elana Wien
Systems Change Accelerator
We met organizations from across LA as we conducted our Applicant Workshop completely online this year and emerged with our fourth Systems Change Accelerator Cohort. These ten powerful leaders are tackling the root causes of Los Angeles’ most pressing social problems and are creating a more just LA.
2019-21 Accelerator Cohort
We spent extra time with our third Accelerator cohort who began in 2019 and weathered the pandemic and our first-ever virtual Fast Pitch with us. They culminated their program journey in June. We look forward to supporting and amplifying their outstanding work and initiatives.
SJPLA provided $100k in second-year grant supports to the 2019-21 cohort (on top of $200k distributed the previous year). The cohort raised an additional $432,000 through connections made through SJP.
-
ACT-LA, LA Forward, and Los Angeles Walks helped to launch and lead Healthy LA, a coalition of 330+ organizations who successfully pushed the LA City Council and County Supervisors to enact over 20+ crucial protections for tenants, workers, small business owners, and immigrants disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) played a key role in a countywide effort to pass Measure J, requiring LA County to allocate 10% of locally-generated annual tax revenues (roughly $500 million) to community-serving programs like mental health services, affordable housing, job creation, and other alternatives to incarceration in Black, brown, and low-income communities.
Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) led advocacy on the Racial Justice Act. This “first-in-the-nation law” combats racism in the criminal court system, and will establish a task force to study reparations for slavery to the Black community.
LA Compost became part of a statewide grant to establish community composting across all of California, facilitating community involvement in and ownership over their local food systems.
Initiate Justice spearheaded Prop17's coalition efforts building power with groups including Anti Recidivism Coalition to successfully restore the right to vote to 50,000 Californians on parole ensuring that all formerly incarcerated people in California can now vote.
Racial Equity Initiative
Racial Equity Fellowship
We launched our first ever Racial Equity Fellowship, gathering 17 BIPOC leaders in LA’s Homeless Response Sector. They spend nine months together building relationships and thinking through questions around equity and inclusion in the homeless sector workforce.
In their first meeting, Fellows worked through the Problem with Problems Framework to articulate the problem with homelessness in Los Angeles.
Care and Retention of Workers in the Homeless Response Sector
We began an important conversation on living wage and equity in the homeless sector workforce when we partnered with Cedars-Sinai for a two-year effort focused on the care and retention of workers in the homeless response sector.
Supporting Frontline Workers Fund
Thanks to funding from Cedars-Sinai and United Way of Greater LA, the Supporting Frontline Workers Fund distributed $2.5M in to provide financial support to frontline workers in the homeless services sector.
$2.5 M
Dollars distributed
53
Organizations
3,000
Homeless Sector Frontline Workers
Living Wage Report
We launched the search for partners to develop an analysis report and recommendations on living wages for workers across the homeless response sector in Los Angeles County.
Healing Justice Learning Series
We welcomed 15 homeless sector workers to our first five-week course to learn about the healing justice framework so they could bring practices to their workplaces. We will be offering the series once a quarter for free to people working to end homelessness in Los Angeles.
Wellbeing Series
We began offering monthly wellbeing practice workshops for people working to end homelessness in Los Angeles. We held six hour-long sessions with guests speakers who brought wellness practices to promote personal rest, renewal, and connection welcoming over 150 participants.
Anti-Racist Learning
Anti-Racism for White People
139 people joined us in community monthly to face internalized white supremacy and racism in our year-long course. The virtual meetings challenged the participants’ perceptions of race and identity while crafting strategies to be actively anti-racist.
We also continued to evolve our self-paced Anti-Racism for White People course. This year, 49 participants began a self-paced online learning journey with readings, videos, reflection questions, and action-planning.
"It comes down to changing how I behave in situations with white family, friends and colleagues. The course gave me a number of tools to do just that. I want to acknowledge that I had some anxiety about taking this course, but I couldn't be more happy that I had the opportunity to do so.”
- Laura Ferretti
Black Power Course
We had the honor this year of partnering with Dr. Melina Abdullah to offer this course for people interested in shifting power, privilege, and influence to support Black liberation struggles.
We welcomed 71 participants to the eight-week course. The course is posted on our YouTube Channel where the videos have gotten over 1,000 views.
Customized Anti-Racist Training
We continued to work with groups and teams who are interested in deepening their anti-racism work together. We led 335 people through customized workshops and trainings this year.
Reimagining Philanthropy
-
We prioritize opportunities for smaller organizations, BIPOC leaders, and leaders with lived experience of the issues they are tackling.
We trust grantees to allocate funds and provide flexible resources like general operations funds or direct cash to individuals.
We develop application processes that minimize the burden and when possible create a process that creates value for the applicant.
We co-create application and selection processes with our community.
Throughout the application, screening, and award process, we screen in applicants and not screen out, making sure we provide every opportunity for success.
My LA2050 Grants Challenge
We were thrilled to continue our partnership with the Goldhirsh Foundation to lead the evaluation process for the MyLA2050 Grants Challenge, which awards $1M in grants to 25 powerful local initiatives. SJPLA brought 39 evaluators to review nearly 300 applications. We supported the identification of a diverse cohort of organizations working to make LA the best place to live, learn, connect, create, and play.
-
Alli Simon, Ann English, Beatina Theopold, Bentley Holmes, Betsy Densmore, Brielan Smiechowski, Calvin Chan, Cecily Jackson-Zapata, Christine Margiotta, Denise Berger, Eileen Ung, Elaine Loring, Elliott Schwartz, Ev Boyle, George Bryson, Greg Cherry, Helen MacKinnon, Jackie Laine, Jeanne Fauci, Jennifer Hark-Dietz, Jennifer Happillon, Jennifer Maldonado, Jesse Aguiar, Kathryn Gwatkin Goulding, Kean O'Brien, Kenta Estrada-Darley, Lee Bailey, Marta Ferro, Melissa Jones, Molly Prather, Otha Cole, Peter Lynn, Sam Rotter, Sara Templeton, Sarah Kalter, Selena Liu Raphael, Sharon Stratton, Wally Rudolph, Yolanda Enoch
Reimagining Community Care and Public Safety
Thanks to a general operating support grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, we made $360,000 in grants to six visionary, Black-led organizations reimagining community care and public safety.
2021 Financials
We are grateful for the thoughtful stewardship by our Board, which helps ensure that SJPLA is in solid financial health and well-positioned to continue making meaningful impact and creating more justice in Los Angeles.
2021 Revenue - $2,657,697
2021 Expenses - $2,376,322
2021 Funders
We are so grateful to our funding partners for fueling our work
including the generous financial support from individual SJPLA Partners and donors