Annual Report
Fiscal Year 2020
Annual Report
Fiscal Year 2020
Kathleen Brown
Chair, Board of Directors
Deidre Lind
President & C.E.O.
Dear Partners, Supporters, and Angelenos,
In the face of an unexpected year, the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles expanded programming and lifted its impact to help Angelenos and their families as they confront the COVID-19 crisis. In coordination with our partners at the City, we immediately launched new programs and innovative solutions to address some of our city’s toughest challenges. Launched as an ‘experiment’ in 2014, this year saw the Mayor’s Fund prove our value to the City and its residents in an unprecedented fashion.
With donations from more than 10,000 compassionate individuals, families and organizations, the Mayor’s Fund supported more than 100,000 Angelenos hardest-hit by the pandemic. We quadrupled our revenue and activated quickly to get resources into the hands of those who needed them most. At the same time, we continued to build on long-term initiatives such as LA College Promise Works, the Evolve Entertainment Fund and Hire LA’s Youth, which expand opportunity and level the playing field for all.
Over its six years, the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles has operated as an independent charitable organization uniquely positioned to create partnerships and fill gaps that improve the City’s ability to serve its residents. We do not know what next year will bring, but we do know that it will be drastically different than this year. What is certain is that the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles will be needed, and it is ready.
Kathleen Brown
Chair, Board of Directors
Deidre Lind
President & C.E.O
COVID-19 Programs
Angeleno Campaign
The Angeleno Card initiative provided direct and immediate financial assistance via no-fee debit cards to Los Angeles residents experiencing extreme financial hardship because of the pandemic, including low-wage hourly workers, day laborers, street vendors and self-employed individuals, regardless of immigration status. Recipients were randomly selected from more than 450,000 applications and distributed in record time with the majority of funds spent on food expenses.
Partners: Accelerator for America, Mastercard, City Possible, Oracle, Apex IT & LA Housing and Community Investment Department (HCID) & its 21 Family Source Centers (nonprofit partners)
Carol
Olga
Gaudencia
Jeffrey
Maria
Mohammed
Daniel
Felix
Project Safe Haven
With domestic violence cases spiking at the beginning of the pandemic and the regional shelter system at capacity, Project Safe Haven launched to provide safe housing, meals and supportive services for survivors of domestic violence. Project Safe Haven served as the largest emergency domestic violence shelter in the country and increased the County’s shelter bed capacity by 150%. Project Safe Haven is now operated with public resources and has been expanded through the end of 2020.
Partners: Mayor’s Office of Public Safety, City of Los Angeles Housing & Community Investment Department (HCID), 11 nonprofit DV service providers, 6 hospitality partners, Usio, Lyft
Emergency Childcare Initiative
When schools and child care centers closed because of the pandemic, we provided child care support so essential healthcare workers at L.A. hospitals could continue their work on the front lines. We also funded a child care referral service to match hospital workers with licensed child care providers in their neighborhoods.
Partners: City of Los Angeles, County of Los Angeles/Child Care Alliance of Los Angeles, Carina, 15 regional hospitals
Emergency Senior Meals
When senior dining centers closed and Angelenos were ordered to stay at home to curb the spread of the virus, thousands of seniors found themselves without access to nourishing meals. The Mayor’s Fund stepped in to expand the city’s senior meal delivery program from 12,500 meals per week to 120,000 meals per week until public funding could accommodate these seniors’ needs.
Partners: Everytable, City of Los Angeles Department of Aging, Mayor’s Office of City Services
Protective Gear for Vulnerable Communities
The Mayor’s Fund supported the distribution of reusable face masks within immigrant communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, launched a pilot with the LAPD Community Safety Partnership Bureau to distribute face masks to adults and children across the city, collaborated with local companies to 3D-print face shields for hospitals, and partnered with small businesses and nonprofits to produce and distribute protective equipment for unhoused and low-income Angelenos.
Partners: LA Protects, Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, American Institute of Architects + University of Southern California, Logistics Victory LA (LOVLA), 5 local businesses producing personal protective equipment, 9 community-based organizations
Program Spotlight
Summer of STEM
Summer of STEM united eight STEM education service providers, cultural institutions and community-based organizations to deliver free Science, Technology, Engineering and Math summer learning activities to roughly 70,000 K-12 LAUSD students, with a focus on those most in need of learning support. The success of this initiative led to an expanded partnership with LAUSD for the Fall 2020 semester.
Summer Night Lights
Summer Night Lights, in its 13th year, successfully adapted its free community programming to align with public health guidelines and included a targeted response to neighborhoods heavily impacted by violence, lacking resources due to racial and social-economic disparities, and disproportionately impacted by the economic fallout due to the pandemic.
VolunteerLA
VolunteerLA recruited hundreds of Disaster Service Worker Volunteers to help with COVID-19 testing, the Department of Disabilities Meal Program and emergency efforts to shelter the unhoused. VolunteerLA also launched a nonprofit directory to connect Angelenos with meaningful opportunities to make a difference in our communities in partnership with the City.
Evolve Entertainment Fund
Evolve Entertainment Fund, despite the pandemic, partnered with leading industry organizations to secure 493 paid internships and 60 full-time job placements, and is still on track to meet its 2020 goal of 500 internship placements for low-income and underrepresented youths. In January, the Mayor’s Fund and the Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti launched a transformational collaboration with LA Collab to support emerging Latinx talent and increase Latinx representation in Hollywood.
L.A. College Promise Works
L.A. College Promise Works, builds on LA’s College Promise (which made LA community colleges tuition-free for two years) and provides students with job training, paid employment opportunities, and wraparound services via dedicated Career Coaches serving all nine Los Angeles Community College District campuses.
Program List
Fiscal Year 2020
THE MAYOR’S FUND SEEKS TO SUPPORT INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS THAT MAKE THE LIVES OF ANGELENOS MEASURABLY BETTER.
Education & Workforce Development
Careers by Design – creates a pathway to professional service jobs in the architecture, engineering, and construction sector for underserved residents of South Los Angeles. Participants receive comprehensive training, case management services, internships, and direct placement opportunities.
College Promise Works – increases direct services on community college campuses to help College Promise students stay on track for completion and provides job training and paid opportunities for students.
Evolve Entertainment Fund – creates career pathways into the entertainment industry for underrepresented communities, including women and people of color, and connects low-income Angelenos with paid internships, mentorships with industry professionals and educational opportunities.
Find Your Future – provides an online platform to help Los Angeles youth find their future job, access free career planning resources, and connect to an online community for support.
Hire LA’s Youth – coordinates public and private resources to expand job opportunities for L.A.’s next generation of talent.
LA STEM Enrichment Intermediary – coordinates the region’s STEM education enrichment providers by building multi-sector partnerships and increasing access to quality out-of-school educational opportunities for youth across Los Angeles.
Mayor’s Young Ambassadors – provides international experiences to College Promise students to build multi-cultural appreciation through targeted activities and experiences.
Disaster Relief & Recovery
COVID-19 Angeleno Campaign – provided direct financial assistance for residents via prepaid debit cards available to low-wage/hourly workers whose jobs were affected by the pandemic. A majority of the funds have been used for food and household essentials.
COVID-19 Crisis Fund – more than 10,000 Angelenos have contributed to support critical efforts in partnership with the City to directly respond to unmet needs as a result of the pandemic: childcare for low-wage hospital workers, critical protective equipment for frontline responders, meals for homebound seniors, and doubling the capacity of the region’s support system for survivors of domestic violence.
Disaster Relief – enhances the City’s emergency preparedness and response activities and provides vital supplies and relief personnel so the City can immediately and effectively respond following a catastrophic event.
Economic Development
EY Entrepreneurs in Residence – supports experts in their fields appointed over a one-year term to study L.A.’s entrepreneurial landscape and develop policies and initiatives to foster entrepreneurship and local business development.
LA Original – showcases Los Angeles’ diverse makers and promotes locally designed, assembled and manufactured goods through a line of LA-branded products, with proceeds supporting creative entrepreneur programs. LA Original encourages people to shop local, introducing a new badge of LA pride for residents and visitors alike.
Homelessness & Housing
Bloomberg Mayor’s Challenge – pilots an innovative approach to expanding the region’s housing inventory through incentivizing accessory dwelling unit (ADU) construction and resident matching tools.
Housing R&D Initiative – explores the opportunity of new, low-rise housing (2-5 units) to improve affordable housing options for low-and middle-income Angelenos.
Safe Parking Pilot – provides a safe and stable environment for residents living in their vehicles along with individualized support.
Shelter Activation & Innovation Fund – augments publicly-funded shelters and temporary and bridge housing with flexible, private resources to activate bed availability as quickly as possible.
SDG Housing Accelerator – identifies emerging technologies that support and increase housing production, affordability and other upstream solutions to combat housing insecurity and homelessness.
Government Innovation
Bloomberg Innovation Team – advocates for civic innovation with an expert team who employ data and user-centered design to tackle complex local challenges and improve public services and government operations across City departments.
Community Building
2020 Census Goodwill Ambassadors – improves LA’s Census response rates in hard-to-count areas by mobilizing diverse community members to conduct neighbor-to-neighbor outreach and education.
Hollywood Opioid Overdose Pilot – empowers members of the public to become first responders using a holistic, harm-reduction model to reduce opioid deaths in the community.
Summer Night Lights – reduces violent crime by promoting peace, positive activities and healthy outcomes across 32 Los Angeles communities. In its 13th year, SNL pivoted to more online programming with a focus on communities heavily impacted by gang violence and unemployment, and with high concentrations of youth and young adults.
VolunteerLA – connects Angelenos to meaningful service opportunities, creating positive change through community service engagement and building stronger neighborhoods.
Arts
Leonard Hill Arts Plaza – inspired the design, construction and initial programming of an arts plaza beneath the new Sixth Street Bridge in the heart of LA’s Arts District. Plans include a stage and performing arts series that will attract valuable recreational and community-building opportunities to the area.
Sustainability & Resiliency
LA’s Green New Deal – activates around the vision of the City’s Sustainability pLAn, securing clean air and water and a stable climate, improving community resilience, expanding access to healthy food and open space, and promoting justice for all.
Sustainable Development Goals – enacts the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) locally through a set of commitments to end poverty, protect the planet and broaden prosperity. Tracking toward the SDG targets identifies gaps and opportunities for the City’s long-term planning.
Citizenship & Immigration
Cities for Citizenship – encourages and supports legal permanent residents to complete the citizenship process through a multi-city initiative co-chaired by Mayor Garcetti.
Step Forward LA – helps Angelenos find immigration and citizenship resources using a newly created web portal that includes a calendar of relevant events such as citizenship workshops, ESL classes and Know Your Rights presentations.
Equity
Civil & Human Rights Department – supports programming of the newly created department, which addresses long-standing discrimination impacting underserved and minority communities that denies equal treatment in private commerce, education, employment and housing.
State of Women and Girls Address & Young Women’s Assembly – convenes City officials, business and community leaders, and hundreds of students every year for inspiring conversations and workshops on gender equity.
WiSTEM LA – empowers women and girls at every level of their STEM studies and careers to increase gender equity in the region’s STEM industries. Programming includes mentorships, educational site visits, professional networking events and workshops.
Financials
Program vs Operations
Total Expenses by Program
Total Revenue vs Total Expenses
Dear Friend,
The Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles was formed six years ago on the foundation of a simple, yet essential idea: that government and philanthropy are far more powerful together than on their own — that when we unite around common goals of justice, fairness, opportunity, and possibility, good things happen for the people of Los Angeles.
The unprecedented challenges of this unpredictable year have put this notion to the test, and we have seen our vision come to life in the most difficult moments of our lives. Because even as we mourn loved ones lost, confront dire threats to our health, and fight for a more equitable society and a healthier world, we can take inspiration from the real-time manifestation of the Angeleno spirit and the outpouring of compassion and kindness for our neighbors in need.
Thanks to the leadership of the Mayor’s Fund from the start of this pandemic, we have provided shelter to domestic violence survivors, meals to vulnerable seniors staying “Safer at Home,” child care so essential hospital employees could work their shifts, and Angeleno Cards to help our hardest-hit families pay the bills and put food on the table.
The Fund has been innovative, partnering with City departments, private businesses, and non-profits to create urgently-needed initiatives from scratch. All the while, the Fund adapted its existing programs to the new COVID-19 reality and even launched initiatives to promote employment, increase diversity in leading industries, and empower our youth.
This is a testament to the organization, its leadership and staff. All of their extraordinary work is only possible because of generous partners like you.
The Fund and your support will remain essential in 2021.
Thanks for all that you do.
Sincerely,
Eric Garcetti,
Mayor of Los Angeles
