aDVISORY sERVICES
Enterprise Consulting & Mentorship
A brilliant idea rarely survives alone. Successful entrepreneurs and leaders, especially those hailing from nontraditional networks or disinvested communities, require support and mentorship to grow and evolve. Community-generated ideas often have the authenticity and knowledge to solve big problems. But leaders may not be experienced in how to launch or scale a business. And investors may not listen well. Social entrepreneurship requires investment beyond capital.
We are proud to have advised and assisted, in many small ways, a portfolio of inspiring leaders and networks, such as:
Strategic advisory relationship with the Gonzalez family of Northgate Markets, a 40+ chain of independent supermarkets that bring healthy and high-quality foods to Latinx communities at working-class prices. Supported financings of over 200,000 square feet of new grocery space in five low-income communities.
Advisory and Board Oversight of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, committed to an inclusive green economy by unlocking innovation, transforming markets, and enhancing communities.
Project New Village, a resident-led, community-rooted movement in Southeastern San Diego seeking to acquire land, build a multi-use commercial food hub that strengthens the Mt. Hope neighborhood and its local food supply chain while addressing social inequities.
Village Market Place at the Paul Robeson Center, a food oasis and social justice movement in the heart of South Los Angeles.
The North Flint Food Market, a cooperative grocery seeking to revitalize its community and address the water crisis by bringing jobs and fresh produce to their neighborhood through land acquisition and food sovereignty investments.
The Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab, an academic center at the USC Marshall School of Business, where college students are prepared to create and launch new enterprises.
A portfolio of community-based projects, mostly involving the intersection of commercial redevelopment and new enterprise launch, seeking access to tax credit or other public finance programs and catalytic capital. We are proud to have produced the business plan for the Detroit People’s Food Coop, which will be launching as part of the Detroit Food Commons in 2024.
Financial consulting for individuals, startups, and nonprofits seeking to increase their capacity for financial structuring or to improve their financial controls.
Community resident Board of the Project New Village working to strengthen the local food chain. RIP Tambusi
LACI is one of the nation’s leading incubators of climate tech innovations.
Financial advising for North Flint Food Market, a startup grocery based on cooperative economics.
Real Estate Advising & Project Management
Be the change you wish to see. This personal adage applies to the built environment around us, which in turn can determine how healthy and inspiring a community can be. Real estate development need not occur simply for the sake of financial return. It can be a powerful tool to create the places that we want to live, work, and play for the next century.
We are proud to have contributed, across a variety of roles, in a number of important and community-oriented real estate projects, such as:
On-call Financial Advisor for LA METRO’s Joint Development Unit in support of an updated Policy to build as much affordable housing near transit as soon as possible – meaning a target of 10,000 units in ten years across a broad set of Metro-owned properties adjacent to transit lines.
Pre-development support of the Biddy Mason, a South Central LA affordable housing project driven by local community members taking back their block.
Redevelopment of the Los Angeles River corridor, including conversion of older industrial facilities into cleaner and modern uses; as well as jumpstarting construction of the first cable-stay river bridge in Los Angeles.
Renovation and re-occupancy of a blighted and vacant 19-story tower in a small midwestern town as the cornerstone of a main street revitalization strategy.
Exploration of new community-owned real estate models such as neighborhood REITS, Community Investment Trusts, and other structures as part of a national community of practice.
Design, entitlement, and activation of underutilized industrial and commercial buildings to support emerging creative and tech enterprises as well as workforce housing.
Development of Accessory Dwelling Units in single-family districts as a means of responsibly increasing density and providing low-impact housing.
Advising on the disposition of a portfolio of troubled assets acquired and developed as part of a philanthropically-motivated urban core redevelopment strategy.
The first cable-stay river bridge in Los Angeles. Awarded 2021 Bridge Project of the Year by the American Society of Civil Engineers (LA Section).
Accessory dwelling unit (ADU) construction in the Crenshaw District.
Biddy Mason was one of Los Angeles’ first real estate moguls. A new South Central LA affordable housing project will bear her name.
Community Capacity Building & Ecosystem Development
Even if a community is seeking strategic investment, it must be prepared to attract and receive that investment. The infrastructure, leadership, and opportunities must have coalesced into a compelling investment offer for outsiders. And guardrails must be established to channel market forces to accomplish policy. The evolution of a place, be it a corner, neighborhood or region, to ready it for investment requires intentional and thoughtful preparation.
We are proud to have contributed to a number of well-regarded place-based initiatives that utilize community engagement and collective impact strategies to engage market forces, including:
The design and execution of an ecosystem development strategy intended to amplify and coalesce the bioscience cluster in Greater Los Angeles, including the founding, capitalization, and launch of a nonprofit with the sole purpose of cultivating that ecosystem.
Exploration and design of “social innovation hubs” as ecosystems that recognize, cultivate, and accelerate community voices and social entrepreneurs to launch and scale social change strategies. This includes the publication of Social Innovation directory for Greater Los Angeles as an open source for funders, founders, investors, and community champions to find one another.
The design and execution of a portfolio of multi-year place-based strategies in low-income communities across the nation, in coordination with place-based economic development investors including large corporations, private philanthropies, and public municipalities.
Community engagement and partnership-building associated with specific investments and commercial activity, such as the launch of a new bank branch or supermarket in a disinvested community.
Design and launch of BioscienceLA, a innovation catalyst supporting the life sciences ecosystem in Southern California.
“The thesis is credible, that good food makes healthy communities, but stakeholders must continue to invest and study in order to validate our social impact.” - Daniel Tellalian, founding member, LAFPC leadership circle
2020 Food System Dashboard, Los Angeles Food Policy Council
Research, Strategy, & Thought Leadership
Our primary efforts are as practitioners. However, we have been asked to speak, write, and advise as subject-matter experts across a number of topics. We believe that those engaged in a particular sector or arena will know us without having to call out a laundry-list of public-facing activities.
A few products or roles that we are particularly proud of include:
During Mission Investors Exchange’s inaugural convening in Los Angeles in 2024, honored to curate four Day One “Impact in Action” site visits for the record-breaking number of attendees. Introduced national audience to LA gems like the Community Coalition, LA Cleantech Incubator, Everytable, and Slauson & Co. and the corresponding impact investment opportunities they present. Daniel also had a chance to make the case why Los Angeles is an emerging social innovation ecosystem for trade periodical Impact Entrepreneur.
A community engagement project, Grand River Voices, for the Greater Grand Rapids and Kent County community. It captured and presented community voice regarding the Grand River and who can benefit from it. Our team was active at public events, at community workshops, and online.
Our substantial market research and socialization of nontraditional metrics to evaluate the economic power of low-income and immigrant communities that are consistently under-measured by the U.S. Census and traditional algorithmic estimates of purchasing power.
Publication of a Los Angeles Equity Mapbook, in response to the civil uprising of 2020, visualizing injustice and exclusion in a portfolio of 79 maps for use by activists, policymakers, and investors. A data update is in the works.
A publication by the Federal Reserve Board entitled Place Matters that helped spur greater place-based investing by regulated financial institutions.
A pair of publications by the Pew Charitable Trusts entitled Unbanked by Choice and Slipping Behind that culled and presented insights about the financial behaviors of low-income individuals from a massive longitudinal study of Los Angeles residents, which was part of the case for the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Participation in advisory boards for Nielsen, to help improve its statistical measurements of communities of color and the Los Angeles Food Policy Council, guiding the creation of a local and equitable food system.
Grand River Voices was a 2022 community engagement initiative that authored a detailed equity framework for a major infrastructure spend along the Grand River corridor in Kent County.
Los Angeles Equity Mapbook produced in partnership with the County of Los Angeles - 79 free maps visualizing injustice and exclusion across LA region.