To America’s Bankers, We are writing to ask you to join us. Join us in solidarity to fight back against COVID19 and take care of our communities. Together we are witnessing our economy ground to a halt like never before. People are suffering, and even the very wealthy are losing. We have an opportunity to…
By Rudy Espinoza This morning, one of our funding partners hosted a video call with several community organizations to gather information on what community groups are hearing on the ground. I’ve been grateful to the handful of institutions that support Inclusive Action who have reached out via email, calls or text to check in. One…
By Rudy Espinoza Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been listening to the fear and anxieties of the micro-entrepreneurs we work with as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. None of us can accurately anticipate how this will impact our communities, but what’s clear is that micro-businesses and their workers are already seeing a…
By Rudy Espinoza The Coronavirus has gone viral (pun intended). Over the last week, we’ve seen headlines taken over by the threat of illness in our communities. Supermarkets, big box stores, and even Amazon are sold out of hand sanitizer, anti-bacterial wipes, and toilet paper. Employers are telling their workers to stay home. Some countries…
By Lyric Kelkar In 2013, a group of organizations came together to address an issue that so many communities in Los Angeles are all too familiar with: vacant lots. Our cross-disciplinary group consists of ourselves, Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI), LA Neighborhood Land Trust, TRUST South LA and Esperanza Community Housing. We call ourselves Free Lots…
How Lenders & Investors Can Do More Than Just Talk About Equity By Rudy Espinoza When Trump established the Opportunity Zone program as part of his 2017 Tax Cut, people across the political spectrum were both happy and sad. Some thought this was an important moment to galvanize the super wealthy to invest in low-income…