2023 SJPLA Impact Report
In 2023, we deepened our commitment to nurturing a culture of care for those working towards more justice in Los Angeles. Recognizing the essential role of our workforce, we focused on fair wages and wellbeing for LA’s nonprofit and homeless services sectors. Through initiatives like the Living Wage study, our Healing Justice work, and the expanded reach of our Liberatory Workplaces curriculum, we've moved towards a more liberated workforce and a more liberated Los Angeles.
As we reflect on 2023, we are filled with gratitude to be a part of a movement that values both the wellbeing of its workforce and the broader community. Together, we are laying the groundwork for a Los Angeles where care, justice, and liberation are realities for all. We hope you join us as we continue to create more systems of care and support for LA’s changemakers.
Our Community
SJPLA is shaped by the idea that relationships are the work and relationships are what make the work possible. It's in the connections to one another that we find both the driving force for change and the supportive framework that turns vision into action. We’re so grateful to everyone who was with us in community in 2023.
Our Team
The team bid farewell to Kelli Poole at the end of 2023 as she transitioned from her role as the Director of the Racial Equity in Homelessness Initiative. Her advocacy for frontline workers and BIPOC leaders, and emphasis on workplace wellbeing and balance have shaped both our organization and the homeless sector in Los Angeles. Kelli remains connected to us continuing her contributions as a facilitator in programs like Liberatory Leadership and the Racial Equity in Homelessness Fellowship. Read more about Kelli’s time at SJPLA here.
2023 SJPLA Team
Our Board
Kaci Patterson and Carolyn Rojo wrapped up their six-year terms at the end of 2023. Kaci's role as a partner and mentor has been instrumental in our evolution into a justice-centered organization. Carolyn's generosity and insightful counsel have been a cornerstone of our transformation. We will miss their presence on the board but are thrilled that they will continue in other capacities.
2023 SJPLA Board
Our Partners
In 2023, our SJP Partners played such important roles across our work. Our Partners channel their individual gifts - funds, time, expertise, and passion - to advance racial and social justice in Los Angeles.
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Our partners have been instrumental in community grantmaking, serving as evaluators in the LA2050 Grants Challenge. For SJPLA’s own Systems Change Accelerator, Partners took on dual roles as coaches and evaluators in the selection process - guiding applicant teams through virtual workshops on problem definition and systems change strategy while they explore potential fit for the Accelerator program.
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In 2023, Partners served as coaches supporting our Systems Change Accelerator cohort members over 10 weeks of intensive training to hone a compelling 3-minute pitch. Partners also volunteered their time serving as coaches on our tailored, short-form Fast Pitch training sessions helping leaders across a range of social impact organizations to craft pitches grounded in personal narrative and a justice lens.
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Our community of partners match their skills and experience with the needs of our Accelerator cohort leaders. This year, they have generously volunteered their time for messaging/communications coaching, executive/strategy coaching, and more.
Partner Jennifer Happillon provided ad-hoc Pitch coaching to Alba Velasquez of LA Food Policy Council as Alba was preparing to pitch to new funders. Alba delivered her pitch and was selected for funding!
Welcome to our new Partners in 2023
Amanda Beer, Christopher Contreras, Oxana Ermolova, Tammy Khan, Noah Kuhn, Lukas Liebischer, Adrianne McCurrach, Zachery Scott
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Teo Alfero, Iosefa Alofaituli, Eric Ares, Lee Bailey, Sonia Bell, Ashley Bennett Boardman, Grayce Bentley, Denise Berger, Michael Boardman, Ev Boyle, George Bryson, Calvin Chan, Way-Ting Chen, Greg Cherry, Jessica Cohn, Marie Condron, Patricia Conklin, Betsy Densmore, Vera deVera, Elyssa Elbaz, Gil Elbaz, Ann English, Jeanne Fauci, Alison Fedyna Villa, Laura Ferretti, Marta Ferro, Cynthia Freeman, Jennifer Gaeta, Shakira Gagnier, Kelly Gallagher Nick, Andrea Garcia, Bernadette Glenn, Kathryn Gwatkin Goulding, Jennifer Happillon, Margaret Hardin, Jennifer Hark Dietz, Carrie Harlow, Bentley Holmes, Ashley Housman, Cecily Jackson-Zapata, London Jones, Melissa Jones, Sarah Kalter, Angela Kim, Chris Ko, Jacqueline Laine, Elaine Lasnik-Broida, Helen Leung, David Levitus, Selena Liu Raphael, Angela LoBue, Mark Loranger, Elaine Loring, Peter Lynn, Becky Margiotta, Malcolm McVay, Lance Miller, Gayle Northrop, Kelly O'Connor Kay, Kaci Patterson, Sahar Pirzada, Bill Pitkin, Sam Prater, Molly Prather, Meisha Rainman, Carolyn Rojo, Samuel Rotter, Alina Sanchez, Elliott Schwartz, Amber Sheikh, Brielan Smiechowski, Allison Thomas, Amy Turk, Eileen Ung, Robyn Watkins, Judy Weinstein, Charlotte White, and Ángel Zapata
88 Partners invested:
791 hours and $158,200 in skilled pro bono support and contributed $98,021 in unrestricted funding, supporting both our Accelerator program and general operating funds.
Systems Change Accelerator
The fifth Accelerator cohort culminated with us in 2023 and we welcomed the sixth cohort in September. The program brought together leaders with lived experience tackling a wide range of interconnected systemic issues. Over nine months, cohort members use the space to refine their systems change strategies, explore liberatory team culture, and integrate their personal stories with the work of their initiatives.
Support and Development:
Coaching and Counsel: Leaders were paired with two coaches, focusing on refining their three-minute Fast Pitch presentations through workshop sessions and individual meetings. SJPLA’s partner network support extended through other needs including project pitching, sponsorship deck updates, and fundraising expansion.
Peer Support and Community: The curriculum built relationships through cohort discussions, breakout groups, and one-on-one conversations. A new addition of “cohort buddies” enhanced connectedness contributing to full attendance at all sessions.
Learning and Reflection on Systems Change Strategy: The program is a space to hone systems change strategies, reflect on intersectionalities in the work, and explore practices of creating a liberatory team culture.
Funding: The unrestricted $10k grants, thanks to individual donations and funders, fostered the cohort’s continued growth and impact.
2022-23 Accelerator Cohort
Fast Pitch 2023
The cohort began 2023 with their 10-week Fast Pitch training. The virtual Fast Pitch event connected over 100 live attendees with impactful connections with the Accelerator leaders and their organizations.
Beyond the Accelerator:
Support for cohort members extended beyond the program, with ongoing access to pro-bono coaching and connections to potential funders and supporters.
2023-24 Accelerator Cohort
The sixth Systems Change cohort began in September together with the REI fellows at a joint programs launch. After a virtual applicant workshop, eight organizations were invited to join this year’s cohort.
Racial Equity Initiative
Racial Equity Fellowship
The Racial Equity in Homelessness Fellowship explored critical issues within the homeless response sector, including burnout, wage disparities, and the systemic racism that causes homelessness. The Fellowship focused on equipping BIPOC managers and directors with communal support, resources, and frameworks to center racial justice and dismantle white supremacy culture in their workplaces.
Fellowship Impact
The Fellowship has already seen significant career advancements among its participants, with several moving into director-level positions like:
Continued Relationships and Partnerships:
The Fellowship has created an environment of sustained connection and partnership beyond the program. The ongoing impact of these relationships is seen in collaborations on initiatives like living wage advocacy and workforce development.
Moments of Connection:
The 2023-24 Cohort's Conversation Series has been a standout addition, offering powerful moments of dialogue and reflection among Fellows, alumni, and sector leaders.
Hilton Foundation Policy & Systems Change Fellowship
The Hilton Foundation Policy & Systems Change Fellowship is an initiative aimed at bridging the gap between frontline experience in homelessness services and policy-making roles within the public sector. The Fellowship aims to have individuals with direct, on-the-ground experience creating responsive and informed policies to address the urgent challenge of homelessness.
Moving into Policy Roles
The Fellowship has already seen significant successes in advancing the careers of its participants into policy-making positions. All five participants from Cohort 1 successfully transitioned to full-time roles within the public sector, with two Fellows securing positions at their placement sites within the LA County Chief Executive Office Homeless Initiative and LA County Department of Health Services Housing for Health.
Care and Retention of Workers in the Homeless Response Sector
The Wellbeing Fund
We created the Wellbeing Fund to provide some short-term financial relief to LA’s homeless sector workers, while we also work at the macro level toward a living wage for the sector. The response to the Wellbeing Fund application was overwhelming.
A total of 5,430 applications were submitted, requesting a combined total of $31,934,931, significantly highlighting the gap between available resources and the needs of those in the workforce.
The Wellbeing Fund also sparked important conversations about the sustainability of the sector’s workforce, the critical need for systemic changes to enable a living wage for all workers in the system.
The Wellbeing Fund distributed:
$896,966 to 270 workers
and
$550,000 to 26 organizations.
The Living Wage Report
We partnered with the RAND Corporation to conduct a study assessing the wages of LA County’s homeless response sector and recommending a path forward to a living wage for the sector. We released the findings in May of 2023 shedding light on the critical discrepancy between frontline workers’ salaries and the living wage in Los Angeles. The findings call for systemic changes in funding practices to ensure workers earn a living wage and create a sustainable homeless services sector in Los Angeles.
According to the study, a living wage in Los Angeles County should be a minimum of $64,000 annually for someone living in a 1-bedroom home and $82,000 annually for a two-bedroom home. The average salaries of frontline workers, however, range from just $40,000 to $60,000, well below what's necessary to afford basic needs.
“[w]e are the community we serve. . . . To have people sit on one side of the desk helping people address housing crisis, and they are in their own housing crisis because rents have outpaced salaries, it’s ridiculous and not appropriate.”
— Homeless response sector leader
Community Care and the Workplace
Community Care and the Workplace is a cohort workshop series designed to address the disconnection, burnout, and unprocessed grief among workers in the homeless response sector, with a particular focus on the challenges faced by BIPOC workers. Through a five-week course that blends guided discussions, healing practices, and wellbeing practitioners, the program aims to equip participants with strategies for self-care and community care, grounded in the healing justice framework and embodied mindfulness practices.
We offered the Community Care and the Workplace program
four times in 2023
working with
59 participants
By offering space for learning, reflection, and connection, the program contributes to building a more sustainable, supportive, and effective sector, where workers have what they need to care for themselves and each other as they continue their crucial work.
Wellbeing Series
The Wellbeing Series offers monthly remote workshops that introduce diverse healing modalities to workers. The monthly practice encourages personal rest, renewal, and connection. By inviting skilled wellbeing practitioners who understand the unique challenges faced by workers in the Homeless services sector, participants receive practical tools and discussions to help sustain them in their work.
Liberatory Learning
Liberatory Workplaces
Offered for the first time to individuals in 2023, Christine Margiotta led 28 leaders in learning and discussions to help participants center wellbeing, liberation, and belonging on their teams. The course aims to redefine workplace culture by employing practices and policies that enable team members to show up fully and create powerfully in the world. Liberatory Workplaces will be back in September of 2024.
Liberatory Leadership
We offered Liberatory Leadership for the first time in 2023 and welcomed 31 participants. Kelli Poole facilitated conversations tailored to provide reflection and insight into each participant’s unique approach to leadership. The four-part series focused on developing leadership styles that are inclusive, equitable, and justice-centered, ensuring leaders are well-equipped to drive systemic change. We’ll be offering the course again in June of 2024.
Fast Pitch Workshops
After 15+ years of Fast Pitch training, we made our Fast Pitch training available to individual sign-ups for the first time in 2023. We welcomed 20 leaders to help them enhance their storytelling and pitching skills, enabling them to effectively communicate their missions and attract support. Participants were paired with coach volunteers from our community and were led by Frank Romero-Crockett and Sharon Stratton. Fast Pitch workshops will be back in May of 2024.
Anti-Racism for White People Self-Paced Course
Designed as a self-paced online course, participants move through 10 learning modules. The course helps participants understand the conditioning of white supremacy on identity and behavior, engage in difficult conversations about racism, and develop strategies for dismantling white supremacy in the workplace and beyond. 23 participants joined us in 2023 bringing our total community from the self-paced course up to 227 participants since 2020.
Customized Trainings
With tailored group trainings delivered to organizations such as AAIMM, Rainbow Labs, Venice Community Housing Corp, and Chrysalis, we engaged 154 participants in our customized workplace trainings last year. Offerings included covered topics across liberatory workplace culture, anti-racism, and pitch crafting.
Reimagining Philanthropy
Our philanthropic consulting services are designed to co-create equitable, inclusive, and accessible grantmaking practices. This work includes partnership on crafting applications, designing selection processes, and convening community to engage in selection.
My LA2050 Grants Challenge
In 2023, we proudly celebrated four years of grantmaking with the LA2050 initiative as the evaluation partner. Over the past ten years, LA2050 has directed resources towards projects and organizations that drive progress in health, education, housing, environmental sustainability, and social justice.
We brought a committee of 53 evaluators from the SJPLA community to this year’s Grants Challenge, reviewing applications and making recommendations to grant over $2.5MM to over 42 local organizations.
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Michelle Cárdenas, Crystal Cárdenas, Lee Gibson, David Levitus, Antoinette Ratcliffe, Karli Baumgardner, Sonia Bell, Evonne Biggs, Ev Boyle, Yelba Carillo, Calvin Chan, Greg Cherry, Cynthia Clemons, Amerylus Cooper, Sarah Eguchi Low, Oxana Ermlova, Alison Fedyna Villa, Marta Ferro, Jill Frank, Sophia Frontino, Oscar Guerrero, Jennifer Happillon, Margaret Hardin, Ashley Housman, Jamila Jabulani, Angela Kim, Noah Kuhn, Susan L. Petrella, Jacqueline Laine, Elaine Lasnik-Broida, Christine Leahey, Elizabeth Lewis, Ilir Lita, Selena Liu Raphael, James Lopez, Elaine Loring, Tammy Marashlian, Melanie Mcconnaughy, Adrianne McCurrach, Jordana Mendonça, Alyssa Plourde, Sam Rotter, Hannah Rudnick, Alina Sanchez, Shayna Sanderson, Layla Shakerin, Brielan Smiechowski, Marlene Theberg, Eileen Ung, Judy Weinstein, TaVia Wooley-Iles, and Andy Yu Reimer
2023 Financials
Throughout the year, we've been privileged to partner with funders and collaborators who have expanded our capacity for impactful work.
2023 Expenses - $3,743,752
Grantmaking
2023 Revenue - $4,875950
2023 Funders
We are so grateful to our funding partners for fueling our work
including the generous financial support from individual SJPLA Partners and donors