| Inclusive Action for the City | |
| Type: | Non-profit CDFI |
| Founded: | 2008 |
| Location: | Los Angeles, California |
| Key People: | Rudy Espinoza (Executive Director) Nicole Anand (Deputy Director) |
| Fields: | Community Development, Economic development |
| Services: | Community ownership, Legal Assistance, Microfinance |
| Homepage: | https://www.inclusiveaction.org/ |
Inclusive Action for the City (IAC) is a certified community development financial institution (CDFI) based in Los Angeles, California, that provides policy and legal advocacy, provides access to funds to underserved and underinvested communities, and incubates novel projects to create and foster pathways for community members.
Inclusive Action was originally founded as the Leadership for Urban Renewal Network (LURN) in 2008. LURN was founded by a multi-disciplinary group of young professionals as a "laboratory" for innovative community development initiatives.[1]
In the early years, this “laboratory for the city” was volunteer driven. The original meeting was organized by Alfred Fraijo, a Boyle Heights native and land-use attorney, who brought together a diverse group of practitioners who envisioned community development that was equity driven and transformative. After obtaining its non-profit status, the founding members brought together, many others and hosted thematic meetings and social gatherings to highlight important issues in the city like affordable housing and small business development. The founders also partnered with local universities to study issues that were impacting low-income neighborhoods like the criminalization of street vendors.
Part of the successful efforts includes the new law that reduced the fee for annual vending permits in Los Angeles. It will allow many more L.A. vendors to become protected by the law and takes into consideration the average annual income of street vendors. The law will go into effect on July 28, 2024, and will apply to food as well as merchandise vendors.[2]
In 2013, the organization hired its first full-time staff member and has since then continued its work to redefine community development. Inclusive Action became a CDFI in 2020. As a result, in the following years, Inclusive Action became a leader in the citywide campaign to create a permit system for street vendors; hosted over 7,000 Angelenos in topical events; developed a purchasing cooperative to bring healthy produce to small markets located in "food desert" communities; launched micro-finance programs to support small businesses in low-income neighborhoods with capital and coaching; and advised major cities and organizations on how to engage communities effectively.[3]
Inclusive Action is certified by the US Department of Treasury's CDFI Fund and part of the Small Business Anti-Displacement Network (SBAN).
In May 2024, IAC was awarded $1 million and is a part of the fourth cohort of the Community Progress Makers initiative by Citi Foundation. On top of the unrestricted capital, they will have access to a learning community where they can collaborate and share best practices, as well as receive technical assistance delivered by national experts and leading researchers.[4]
Inclusive Action's mission, as stated on its website, is "to serve underinvested communities and build thriving local economies by improving access to transformative capital, and advancing policy through collaborative research and community-driven advocacy."[1]
As a CDFI, they specialize in lending to micro-businesses in the retail, service, and manufacturing sectors with BIPOC, immigrant, or low- income owners. In their first 7 years of lending, Inclusive Action deployed nearly $5 million in microloans and grants to Los Angeles street vendors, brick-and-mortar retail, food, art, and service entrepreneurs.
Inclusive Action for the city is also a lending partner with Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) LA in the "Entrepreneurs of Color Fund", which aims to provide low cost, flexible capital and technical assistance resources to diverse-owned small businesses. As a fast response to the financial crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, IAC developed the "Street Vendor Emergency Fund" (SVEF) in collaboration with their partners in the LA Street Vendor Campaign: Community Power Collective, East LA Community Corporation (ELACC), and Public Counsel. In 2020 and 2021, they disbursed $956,134 to 2,390 street vendors through the SVEF. Additionally, IAC provided personal protective equipment (PPE) and other community resources at their cash card distributions.[5]
The Policy Advocacy & Legal Strategy focus recognizes the structural injustices inherent in our current economic system. IAC seeks to create conditions for true community leadership in policy design and advocacy.
One of the major programs created was the "Los Angeles Street Vendor Campaign" (LASVC), which incorporated many of the founding members' missions and current Executive Director's background and interests. IAC is part of the steering committee of the LASVC, a citywide effort to create a permit system for street vendors, to push forward the effort for an inclusive permit system structured to help low-income entrepreneurs build strong businesses and take care of their families.
Another important effort is their "Research Fellows." Each year, IAC convenes a cohort of research fellows to help guide the next generation of critical planners and policy makers. Each of the fellows conducts their own research under the guidance of Inclusive Action staff and is provided with trainings in pertinent skills to advance their career.
The Community Innovation team was created to focus on incubating novel projects, create deeper ties with community members, and foster pathways for community voices to inform and guide our programs and advocacy.
Part of IAC's effort was to acquire land and property in neighborhoods experiencing gentrification. This would serve as a tool to preserve small businesses: mission-driven land acquisition. Executive Director Rudy Espinoza shared that the idea was that "if small businesses can have a share in the property they activate, they will have much more power to stave off gentrification and stay in their community." Thus, IAC created their program, "Community Owned Real Estate" (CORE) in 2018. CORE is a collaborative project to acquire commercial buildings in Eastside Los Angeles. CORE's goal is to preserve local communities and culture by offering affordable spaces to small businesses and community-serving nonprofits. The project is led by three local organizations: Inclusive Action, East LA Community Corporation, and Little Tokyo Service Center. It started with the acquisition of five commercial properties.[6] The capital funding is consolidated, from many sources, into the New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) investment fund. The fund was used to purchase, rehabilitate, and operate the properties. Direct benefits to their tenants include: rent affordability, rent payment flexibility, ownership stability, but there were some challenges and improvements needed to their initiative. Primary recommendations were: (1) operations and management, (2) tenant relations and case management, and (3) policy.[7]