Transfers between LA and NYC
Transfers within New York City
Transfers within Los Angeles

New York and Los Angeles Transfers*

Descriptions of Cross-Neighborhood Transfers: The urban innovation transfers which resulted from this progress span a range of issue areas including urban gardening, health care, job training, street vending, family preservation, youth gang prevention, domestic violence, and many others. Each transfer involves an idea which emerged at a neighborhood scale, and is now being transferred and adapted to a new location. Eight of these transfers are between neighborhoods within Los Angeles, ten are between neighborhoods within New York and eleven are between neighborhoods in New York and Los Angeles.

Transfer Partnerships Between Los Angeles and New York City

1. Proyecto Esperanz is adapting economic development initiatives from New York: In the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, Clif Cartland formed Proyecto Esperanza, a small organization dedicated to helping homeless Latino men find jobs, places to live, and most importantly, self-esteem. Recently, Cartland has been looking for ways to strengthen Proyecto Esperanza's job training component. Toward this end, he has used his Mega-Cities mini-grant to site visit four innovative economic development initiatives in New York City which were documented by the New York Mega-Cities team. As a result of that visit, Cartland is now working to adapt the approaches used by several of them, including 52nd Street Project, Posse for Change, and Harlem Textile Works. The most immediately applicable program is Posse for Change, which helps gang youth form small businesses in Manhattan. Cartland is already applying some of the principles he learned from this program, such as the hands-on empowerment workshop. For the other two innovations, Cartland is looking for ways to adjust the approaches to make them appropriate to the cultural context in which he works. For example, the strategy of the Harlem Textile Works, which trains African Americans to use traditional African designs in the production of fabrics, may be replicable in Echo Park, substituting ancient Aztec colors and patterns.Similarly, the basic idea of 52nd Street Project, which helps disadvantaged inner city youths write and produce plays, could be replicated in Los Angeles using Spanish-speaking theatre artists.
2. The ERAS Center is borrowing new approaches to family preservation from New York: Barbara Cull created the ERAS Center in Culver City to serve the educational and developmental needs of children with mental disabilities, learning challenges, or other "at risk" conditions. She began by serving eight children through a small operation at her educational consulting office and has since established a non-profit organization with a large permanent staff, school buses, and classrooms. Cull has decided to use her mini-grant to enhance an aspect of the ERAS Center which she feels can be improved: its efforts to preserve families. Last summer, she site-visited four organizations in New York which have utilized creative approaches to family preservation, and use their experiences to enhance the services of the ERAS Center. The groups Cull is adapting ideas from include: Alianza Dominicana, the 52nd Street Project, Institute for Children and Poverty, and Citizens' Committee for Children. From Alianza Dominicana, she learned techniques for collaborating with other local institution to avoid duplication of service; from the 52nd Street Project, she learned a model for an arts mentor program; from the Institute for Children and Poverty, she is learning about ways to make the ERAS Center more welcoming to families; and from the Citizens Committee for Children, she is learning tactics for transforming the ERAS Center into an advocate for policy change.
3. Jovenes Inc. is expanding their Immigration Mural Series into New York: In Echo Park, Father Richard Estrada heads a grassroots organization called Jovenes, which provides a wide range of outreach and support services to homeless and runaway youths. One of the innovative strategies utilized by Jovenes is its use of art projects to alter public perceptions of immigrants. Jovenes first tested this approach with two public exhibits after the 1992 riots. With its Mega-Cities mini-grant, Jovenes is expanding this program through a series of new public art displays, three in different locations throughout Los Angeles, one in New York in collaboration with the group CHARAS, led by Chino Garcia, and possibly, in Chicago and Miami as well. These displays consist of colorful murals depicting the promise and opportunity of immigration, painted on billboards and the sides of buildings. They have already unveiled a mural in New York (on the side of a publicly-owned building) and a new mural in Los Angeles, on a billboard along Cesar Chavez Boulevard.
4. L.A.s' Mountains Conservancy Foundation is adapting the "Urban Greenway" concept from New York's Greenway Heritage Conservancy: Headquartered in the green mountains of Malibu, the Mountains Conservancy Foundation is dedicated to preserving parklands, sanctuaries, and greenspaces in Los Angeles. Under the leadership of Ruth Kilday and Garrie Mar, they are engaged in park design and construction, stewardship projects, and most recently, the promotion of urban greenways which connect existing greenspaces through the Los Angeles region. The Mountains Conservancy Foundation has received a mini-grant to site visit the New York Department of City Planning and the Greenway Heritage Conservancy for the Hudson River Valley, which has initiated several innovative approaches to creating wildlife corridors (including the use of utility rights-of-way for greenspaces, and the creation of trails through the assembly of donated land parcels). Their aim is to find ways of introducing these approaches to interested groups here in Los Angeles, and to create the support to get these ideas incorporated into public policy. As a result of their visit, Kilday created a slide show which she uses to introduce the New York greenway concepts to policymakers in Los Angeles. She has also been asked to head up several new urban greening committees and succeeded in getting the urban greenway concept incorporated into the General Management Plan of Los Angeles.
5. Performing Tree is adapting student assessment techniques from New York's ArtsConnection: Based in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) building in downtown Los Angeles, Performing Tree aims to find new ways to introduce art into public schools, and to treat it not as a separate discipline, but as the first step in developing creative and critical thinkers in all areas. Initiated by the Junior League, Performing Tree began as a quasi-volunteer effort to bring guest artists and performers into public schools in underprivileged communities. The project has since been professionalized and is now expanding in scale. Executive Director Joan Palmer used her mini-grant to network with similar organizations in New York and adapt some of their innovative techniques, such as ArtsConnections' unique method of assessing the creative abilities of "at risk" students. She is now working to get this assessment technique incorporated into the policy of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
6. Latino Unity Forum is modelling a new organization after the Hispanic Federation of New York: The Latino Unity Forum is a grassroots network of Latino leaders who are working to create a unified political voice for Latinos in Los Angeles. The Latino Forum recently decided to create a "Latino Federation" of Latino non-profit groups in Greater Los Angeles. This federation would serve as a clearinghouse of resources and information within the Latino community in Los Angeles and an institutional framework for advocating political change. At present, however, its precise structure and agenda are unclear. LUF Coordinator Hector Perez-Pacheco used his Mega-Cities Project mini-grant to visit the Hispanic Federation of New York, which has developed a model grassroots federation structure which involves the participation of corporations and businesses. Upon return to Los Angeles, Hector began a series of neighborhood briefings across Metropolitan Los Angeles to describe the New York experience to neighborhood groups and get their feedback on which elements of the New York model should be built into the Latino Federation of Los Angeles.
7. HOPE LA Horticulture Corps is introducing its job training curriculum in Harlem and the Bronx: In South Central Los Angeles, George Singleton founded the HOPE LA Horticulture Corps, which creates urban gardens on vacant lots and then uses those as vocational training sites for local youths. HOPE LA is part of George's overall strategy to transform South Central Los Angeles by introducing ecologically sound industries and lifestyles. The full strategy has seven components: ethnography of gardening; urban agro-forestry; land acquisitions; production of health foods (dehydrated crackers and cookies); sustainable life science curriculum; the use of algae to combat malnutrition; and innovative funding. With his inter-city grant, George travelled to New York City to present his approach to three organizations: Action for Community Empowerment in Harlem, Banana Kelly in the Bronx, and Cornell University. As a result of his visit, Action for Community Empowerment is doing six of these components; Cornell University is doing two; and Banana Kelly is doing all seven.
8. PASA is adapting a Leadership Program for Deaf Teenagers from the Greater Los Angeles Deaf Council: Kathy Dee Zasloff is the Director of People Against Sexual Abuse (PASA, described above). She has developed a two-phase pilot leadership program which trains adolescents to teach their peers about sexual abuse. In order to expand this program to include a deaf constituency, Kathy has reached out to the Greater Los Angeles Deaf Council (GLAD). GLAD has developed a model program for developing leadership among teenagers who are hearing impaired. This program, directed by Heidi Kleiger, involves peer-to-peer counceling that is "of, by, and for deaf people." Although Heidi has not wished to aggressively export her model, she was excited by the idea that it could be used to prevent sexual abuse, or support the victims of sexual abuse. As a result of her week-long visit to Los Angeles, Kathy has now hired a deaf staff person, Marcia Banks, and created a "Safe Sex/AIDS Prevention" workshop for deaf adolescents based on the GLAD model. PASA has also purchased a TTY machine (which allows for typed communications over the telephone lines).
9. New York's Homes for the Homeless is transferring their "AfterCare Program" to Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter: Ordinarily, when a homeless individual leaves a homeless shelter, there are services available to help him or her make the adjustment to independent living. But these programs are typically fragmented and fail to address the needs of families. In response, New York City's Homes for the Homeless has developed an innovative sequence of Aftercare services designed especially for families. These include PLUS Housing Workshops that prepare families to join their new neighborhood, and PLUS INC., a continuum of in-home services coordinated by a team of specialists. Rene Shere of Homes for the Homeless travelled to Orange County, in Metropolitan Los Angeles, to lead a week of technical assistance workshops at the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter. Under the leadership of Executive Director Sandee Gordon, Orange Coast has now designed a modified version of the program for their constituents.
10. Bronx's Banana Kelly is adapting the Childrens Bureau's "Principle-Based" Staff Training and the Vaughn Center's "Participant Reciprocity" Model: Named after the banana-shaped curve of Kelly Street in the South Bronx, Banana Kelly is an extraordinarily diversified community-based organization that has addressed issues of housing, economic development, social welfare, and the environment. Led by Yolanda Rivera, the staff of Banana Kelly travelled to Los Angeles to visit Yoland Trevino at the Vaughn FamilyCare Center in the San Fernando Valley. Banana Kelly was particularly interested in the "Participant Reciprocity" model utilized by Vaughn, through everyone who comes to the FamilyCare Center for a service must also give something back (such as time donated for teaching English, childcare, or cleaning the Center). Banana Kelly also visited the Children's Bureau of Southern California, where they observed "Principle-Based" staff development at work. They have adapted both of these problem-solving approaches into their ongoing work.
11. New York's La Coalition Deportiva is introducing its extracurricular sports programs to LA's Latino Unity Forum: La Coalition Deportiva, headed by Jim Storey and Pete Velasquez, is a sports league which substitutes competitive athletics for the community-building activities which newly-arrived Latino immigrants often miss. Hector Perez-Pacheco, who heads LA's Latino Unity Forum, met Jim and Pete while working on his transfer with the Hispanic Federation of New York. Together, they hit upon the idea of setting up a La Coalition Deportiva-style Soccer League in Los Angeles as a way of helping to build the Latino Unity Forum network. This soccer league was launched at a major assembly in Los Angeles in May 1995, with the formation of a local Committee (which includes Hector Perez-Pacheco), the sign-up of more than 65 teams from across Metropolitan Los Angeles, and a radio press conference.

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Transfer Partnerships Within New York City

1. Bridge the Gap is learning UHAB's approach to "Urban Homesteading": The Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) led by Andrew Reicher, works with low-income New Yorkers to help them take over dilapidated apartment buildings, fix them up, and form resident cooperatives to manage and maintain them. Bridge the Gap is a grassroots group in Harlem with a dual mission: (1) to offer inexpensive childcare so that low income women can find jobs and get off welfare; and (2) provide the women with childcare skills so they can find work as childcare providers. The Director of Bridge the Gap, Shirley Middleton, was interested in securing an abandoned building in her neighborhood as a affordable housing for her women and a permanent site for her childcare facilities. Toward this end, Andrew has been teaching his "Urban Homesteading" method to Shirley. Shirley has pushed this process forward with remarkably few resources. In April 1995, she received approval from her community board to gain access to the abandoned building she wishes to rehabilitate. She is now making plans for how the building will be redesigned, and working out the financing.
2. Brooklyn Perinatal Network: Extending Their Pregnancy Prevention Program Through High Ideals for Youth: In 1984, Ngozi Moses organized a group of neighborhood associations, consumer groups, and healthcare agencies into a task force for increasing the availability of maternal and infant care to undocumented immigrants in the Bedford, Bushwick, Brownesville, and Fort Greene areas of Brooklyn. Now incorporated as a non-profit, the Brooklyn Perinatal Network (BPN) coordinates and targets community health services, conducts neighborhood health workshops, and does policy advocacy aimed protecting the health rights of expectant mothers and newborns. High Ideals for Youth, created by David Ellison, runs a diversity of innovative youth activities aimed at leadership development. Ngozi and David hit upon the idea of incorporating pregnancy prevention initiatives into some of the High Ideals for Youth programs.. In this way, BPN could extend its reach into new neighborhoods, and High Ideals for Youth could extend its scope to address issues of pregnancy. This transfer has faced formidable obstacles, most notably the closing of High Ideals for Youth due to lack of funding. However, both Ngozi and David are still committed to this joint venture and determined to make it happen and have continued to work on the design of these pregnancy prevention workshops.
3. EVAC is Adapting Westside Cares' Food Voucher Program to the East Village: On Manhattan's Upper Westside, Westside Cares has created a system through which residents can food vouchers at local grocery stores and give them to homeless people instead of cash. The homeless can in turn redeem these vouchers at the participating stores. n the East Village, Eastside Volunteers Against Crack (EVAC) is a neighborhood movement organized by Charlie Dworkis... After learning about Westside Cares, Charlie decided that the food voucher program might help keep drug dealers off the streets, because too often, money given to the homeless is spent on buying drugs. EVAC made significant progress with this transfer: They convinced the major supermarket chains in the neighborhood to participate; they obtained the pro bono support of a PR firm; and they designed a business plan. Unfortunately, this transfer was interrupted when EVAC closed abruptly in July 1994. Westside Cares argues that one reason the transfer failed is that EVAC viewed this transfer as a case of straightforward technical assistance and failed to adopt the main underlying principle: decentralization of responsibility. The Upper Westside voucher program is not run by a single organization, but by a coalition of block associations and neighborhood groups. If one of these shuts down, the program can go on. But EVAC chose to run the program in a centralized manner. So when EVAC died, so did the transfer.
4. 14th St. Business Improvement District is replicating the "Central Park Conservancy" in Union Square: In Midtown Manhattan, the residents who live around Central Park have formed the Central Park Conservancy, an association through which they raise money for the park's upkeep and act as co-managers with the New York City Parks Department. Despite the fact that the New Yorkers living on the perimeter of Central Park are among "the richest people in the world," Linda Davidoff, executive Director of the Parks Council, believes that this model of citizen participation can be replicated in a wide range of neighborhoods. She is now working with Rob Walsh at the 14th Street BID/LDC to see if the idea can be implemented in Union Square Park in lower Manhattan. The Board of the 14th St. BID/LDC, which is eager to do all it can to improve Union Square Park, is in the process of considering changing their by-laws to allow for the creation of a Union Square Park Conservancy. They are also negotiating with the Park Commissioner regarding a power sharing arrangement.
5. Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence: Adapting the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project's Database System: The New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project (AVP) is a grassroots organization working to reduce hate crimes against New Yorkers on the basis of their sexual orientation. One of the innovative tools they have devised is a database -- of research institute quality -- which tracks the number and nature of bias crimes against gays citywide. Matt Foreman of the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project is eager to share these data collection methods with other organizations so that it may be used to assimilate information on all types of bias crimes. They have worked with Monona Yin at the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, an unlikely alliance, to help her adopt the database for her own use. The database is now in place, monitoring crimes against, Chinese, Japanese, Philippinos, Koreans, Indonesians, Thai, Veitnamese, Cambodians, Lao, and other Asian groups.
6. Project Greenhope is Replicating Harlem Textile Works Small Business Strategy: Harlem Textile Works (HTW) is a unique micro-enterprise led by Kerris Walsky. It trains low-income minority youths to design, produce, and market their own hand-printed fabrics and textile products. Professional artists and business leaders are enlisted to train the students for future careers in garment design, silkscreen printing, product development, marketing, or merchandising. HTW has become well-known for its Afrocentric designs by young urban artists, and its products are now marketed by J.C. Penney and Hallmark Cards. Project Greenhope, led by Malika Lee Whitney is a halfway house for women ex-offenders who are struggling with substance abuse problems. It offers a range of creative workshops and an alternative to incarceration. For some time, Malika had been interested in learning more about Harlem Textile Works. Their Mega-Cities transfer grant made it possible for Kerris and Malika to do a successful pilot program at Project Greenhope. Kerris gave a series of workshops on textile design specifically for the ex-offender women. They produced beautiful handbags of their own design. Malika is now seeking funding to make the program sustainable.
7. Homes for the Homeless is replicating its "Jump Start" program at Concourse House in the Bronx: While most programs aimed at reducing homelessness focus on providing shelter, "Homes for the Homeless (HFH)," a New York-based grassroots organization, emphasize the education and family support services that homeless families need to rebuild their lives and find their own homes. HFH has created four pilot "Residential Education Training (RET) Centers" in existing shelters as a way of setting up a family education and anti-poverty system. One innovative component of the RET Centers is called the "Jump Start" Program. In contrast to the federally-financed pre-school program called "Head Start" which tends to favor low-income children in permanent homes, Jump Start offers comprehensive child development services for children in shelters. HFH Executive Director Aurora Zepeda and Training Coordinator Rene Shere have been working with Manuela Schaudt of Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation (FBHC) in the Bronx, to replicate the Jump Start Program at FBHC's Concourse House shelter.
8. Fresh Youth Initiatives: Borrowing PASA's "Partners in Leadership" Model: In Washington Heights, a young man in his early 20's, Andy Rubinson created Fresh Youth Initiatives (FYI) a small grassroots initiative aimed at helping kids to design and run their own neighborhood service projects. Andy's philosophy is that helping other people ultimately helps the kids themselves. He was concerned, however, about how to help the youths take ownership of FYI. Kathy Zasloff is the Director of People Against Sexual Abuse (PASA). PASA is a grassroots organization in Brooklyn which offers tailor-made, on-site education programs aimed at reducing sexual violence.Kathy has channeled a lifetime of experience into PASA. One of the unique attributes of her organization is a unique leadership development model called "Partners in Leadership" which involves a series of workshops designed to get the youths to make key strategic decisions for PASA. Through an this ongoing minter-generational mentorship, Kathy has shared her workshops with Andy and his kids, and continues to pass on to Andy her wisdom and experience with a range of organizational development issues.
9. Action for Community Empowerment is learning to create "vacant lot gardens" from the Greening of Harlem Coalition: Led by Bernadette Couzart, the Greening of Harlem Coalition has created dozens of urban gardens on vacant lots. Bernadette, who has mastered the techniques for gaining access to land and supplies, encourages people to borrow her ideas and create "copycat gardens." Action for Community Empowerment (ACE) undertakes tenant organization and youth leadership development in Harlem. After learning about the Greening of Harlem Coalition, the Director, Rima McCoy, decided that urban gardening could become a powerful component of her youth leadership-building activities. With technical assistance from Bernadette, Rima successfully mobilized local youths, cleared a vacant lot, and created a vibrant urban garden. They are now planning to add an outdoor stage for community theatre.
10. The Bushwick Play Project: Designing a Neighborhood-Based Theatre Program Based on the 52nd Street Project: Willie Reale, the Artistic Director of the 52nd Street Project, who recently won a MacArthur Genius Award, has created a model program through which low-income kids learn to write, direct, stage, produce, and perform their own plays. Through this process, kids develop self-esteem and learn valuable job skills. Tom Carey, an Episcopalian monk in Brooklyn, had organized some neighborhood kids that were interested in theatre and wanted to learn about Willie's experience. Willie has transferred his approach to other communities before and has clear ideas about which aspects of his philosophy and approach are essential to replication. He conducted a weeklong workshop/camp for Tom and his kids, taught them how to make what Willie calls a "universal set," and helped them to a mount a performance in August 1994.

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Transfer Partnership Within Los Angeles

1. A Window Between Worlds is transferring their domestic abuse recovery program to shelters in San Pedro, South Central, Pasadena, and West Covina: A Window Between Worlds is a shelter-based arts program for battered women. Founded by Cathy Salser, it uses art as a form of empowerment for the battered women as well as a way to raise awareness about domestic violence in our society. It was started three years ago when Salser set out on a cross-country journey to bring art to battered women's shelters. The four month tour included art workshops and training for more than 450 residents and sixty staff in thirty-two shelters. Through the workshops, women learned to use the art as a safe way to express themselves, examine their experiences of abuse, and rebuild their damaged self-esteem. For many of the women, the art served as a "window between worlds," helping them to transition out of a painful past and into a more hopeful future. Upon returning home to Los Angeles, Salser began this pilot program at the Sojourn Shelter for Battered Women. Surprisingly, she has had much better luck introducing her program nationwide than she has introducing it in other neighborhoods in Los Angeles. In response, Salser has developed a curriculum manual (which lays out twelve different workshop options) and is now using it to introduce her program at existing shelters in four neighborhoods across Los Angeles: San Pedro, South Central, Pasadena, and West Covina. She also provides initial art supplies and ongoing consultation.
2. The Greater Hollywood Health Partnership is expanding their church-based health services into South Central through the Southern Area Clergy Council: In Hollywood, there are an estimated 30,000 underprivileged children, adults, and senior citizens for whom basic preventative health services are unavailable. Many of the staff members at the Queen of Angels Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center were eager to offer their services to the local community but lacked the neighborhood-level networks to reach a significant number of people. The solution was to organize the Greater Hollywood Health Partnership (GHHP), a coalition of sixteen churches through which the medical center can deliver informationinformation and services in a culturally sensitive manner. Volunteer physicians, nurses, dieticians, and technicians give lectures on subjects ranging from prenatal care to nutrition to heart disease and perform preventative medical tests such as cholesterol screenings, PSA tests, and mammograms. Now, the GHHP is transferring their model to South Central Los Angeles, in conjunction with the Southern Area Clergy Council and Healthy LA 2000. The Southern Area Clergy Council, with 75 churches and 35,000 parishioners of diverse denominations will more than double the impact of this innovation.
3. QWoD Plus is sharing its "First Chance" Gang Prevention Program with the Vaughn FamilyCare Center: In the San Fernando Valley, Qwod Plus is a grassroots organization which trains local individuals to fulfill unmet needs in the job market, raises income levels, and stimulates local business development. Founder and Director Kay Inaba does this through a range of creative approaches, such as "First Chance," which helps street gang members to find and nurture career interests. With a Mega-Cities grant, Inaba is helping Yoland Trevino, the leader of another Valley-based community organization, the Vaughn Family Care Center, to adapt the First Chance program. The Vaughn Center has now identified a young gang leader with aspirations of becoming an architect and helped him to develop those interests. Late last year, he was elected to the National Civilian Corps. The collaboration between Kay Inaba and Yoland Trevino has resulted in a modified, hybrid program. As part of revised First Chance Program, the young man was also hired as a paid program coordinator who has reached to a group of ten other at-risk youths.
4. Malibu's "LA WILD Challenge Program" is expanding into Watts and South Central through People for Parks: After Malibu fires, Garrie Mar and Tina Johannes of the Mountains Conservancy Foundation launched an innovative outdoor education/adventure program called the LA Wild Mobile Challenge Course. The Mobile Challenge Course is a movable obstacle course which brings a range of outdoor recreational activities and team-building exercises to inner city youths. With their mini-grant, Tina Johannes worked with Cathy Somers, the Director of People for Parks, to introduce the Mobile Challenge Course to new neighborhood. People for Parks is a network of ten neighborhood associations which monitor and care for their local parks and run recreational activities. In August 1994, Somers arranged for the recreation directors of several of these associations to come to Malibu for a two-day Mobile Challenge training given by Johannes. The aim was introduce them to all aspects of the Mobile Challenge methodology so that they could then recreate aspects of the program in their neighborhood parks. The long-term plan is to replicate the Mobile Challenge program in all ten communities in the People for Parks network.
5. Kingdom Kids is replicating its musical civics curriculum in the Hobart, Alta Loma, and Manchester elementary schools: In St. Andrews Gardens, Crystal Davis organized a small group of children in her housing development into the "Kingdom Kids," a troop of gospel singers who learn lessons about social responsibility and good behavior. With her Mega-Cities mini-grant, she is working in collaboration with LA's Best, a citywide afterschool program which currently has no musical activities, to replicate the initiative in its twenty participating elementary schools throughout Los Angeles. She has already succeeded in introducing her approach to three schools: Hobart, Alta Loma, and Manchester. This effort may culminate in the creation of a citywide chorus. Davis is also hoping to find ways to introduce the Kingdom Kids approach to organizations in other cities worldwide by putting her songs and music curriculum on cassette and video for widespread distribution and teacher training.
6. HOPE LA Horticulture Corps is transplanting its land acquisition strategy to Jovenes, Inc. in Echo Park: In South Central Los Angeles, George Singleton formed a unique organization, the Hope LA Horticultural Corps, which creates urban gardens in vacant lots and then uses them as vocational training grounds for local youths interested in careers in agriculture, nutrition, and food preparation. Jovenes, Inc. is a grassroots group that provides support and creative outlets to homeless Latino boys living in Los Angeles. Under the leadership of Father Richard Estrada and Andrew Conroy, Jovenes, Inc. has designed a long-term community development strategy that involves helping their young men to participate in neighborhood improvement initaitives. Toward this end, they are adapting aspects of George's HOPE LA Horticulture program. In particular, they are interested in George's creative approach to acquiring access to land, by utilizing an obscure tax law that accrues benefits to the landowner. Father Estrada and Conroy have already gained access to the site they wanted, and organized the local youths to clear the site and plant fruit trees. The groundbreaking ceremony was covered by two radio stations and attended by actress Valerie Harper.
7. Plaza Community Center is borrowing the "Principle-Based" Staff Training Plan from the Children's Bureau: Geraldine Zapata is the Executive Director of the Plaza Community Center, an organization in East Los Angeles which provides a range of youth services to local residents, including: a medical clinic, recreation clubs, and gang prevention activities. Zapata is reaching out to the Children's Bureau of Los Angeles, looking for ways to enhance her own efforts. The Children's Bureau of Los Angeles, which provides onsite health care, counseling, and other services to children through the public school system, has developed an innovative staff training and development method which it uses in all of its locations. The method, which is called "Principle Based Leadership" allows for all staff members to participate in the organization's key decisions and strategic planning. Zapata is using her mini-grant to study Principle Based Leadership and adapt it to her own organization.
8. Dunbar EDC is Adapting the "Community Impact Team" Strategy from the San Fernando Valley: The Dunbar Economic Development Corporation is now working to create a street-vending district in the Vernon Central neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles. According to Dunbar's Miguel Llorente, the primary challenge they are currently facing is the strained relations that currently exist between the street vendors and the police. In order to mitigate this tension, Miguel went to the San Fernando Valley, where the Mission Valley Community College has successfully organized the street vendors and worked out terms for a peaceful relationship with the local police force. Central to the Mission Valley approach was an initiative called the "Community Impact Team," a fast-track emergency response team run by Police Officer Steve Margolis that brought residents and government representatives to the table for the first time. The Community Impact team has effectively addressed many of the neighborhood's problems, including low housing quality, drug dealing, and poor relations between vendors and the police. Llorente plans to adapt the basic concept of the Community Impact Team for the neighborhood surrounding Dunbar EDC. The Dunbar Economic Development Corporation is now working to create a street-vending district in the Vernon Central neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles. According to Dunbar's Miguel Llorente, the primary challenge they are currently facing is the strained relations that currently exist between the street vendors and the police. In order to mitigate this tension, Miguel went to the San Fernando Valley, where the Mission Valley Community College has successfully organized the street vendors and worked out terms for a peaceful relationship with the local police force. Central to the Mission Valley approach was an initiative called the "Community Impact Team," a fast-track emergency response team run by Police Officer Steve Margolis that brought residents and government representatives to the table for the first time. The Community Impact team has effectively addressed many of the neighborhood's problems, including low housing quality, drug dealing, and poor relations between vendors and the police. Llorente plans to adapt the basic concept of the Community Impact Team for the neighborhood surrounding Dunbar EDC.

*This page displays a partial list of transfers. Click here to down a PDF for more information on NY and LA transfers.

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