SBCC Thrive LA

SBCC believes that lasting social change happens when communities come together to support each other by sharing their gifts, talents, and abilities; and that every individual has something unique to contribute. SBCC will create a digital platform to facilitate this exchange on the local level and help build a more equitable and just society. Give Your Gift (GYG) is about organizing and scaling a community’s capacity to help itself. SBCC is paving the way for an alternative “gift economy” that will result in a more inclusive local economy.

Co/Lab will empower 10,000 Angelenos to co-create social impact innovations that improve civic engagement & social connection; putting the power of social change back into the hands of residents.

Preschool Without Walls (PWW) addresses the fact that 80% of the most vulnerable children in Los Angeles are not attending, and will never attend, preschool. PWW has a solution: bring early learning out of the classroom and into the community with pop-up preschools, place based learning, and community run co-ops.

Streetcraft empowers low income, at risk, and unemployed youth to improve their economic future through creative economy entrepreneurship.

July 13, 2012, The Los Angeles Times Business section: “Recession Erases 2.7 Million Youth Jobs, Widens Employment Gap.” If we didn’t know this already, the headline of the article reminds us that youth unemployment is one of the largest social issues facing Los Angeles. The current unemployment rate for 16 to 24-year-olds is 16.5% -- double the national 8.2%. More than 2 in 10 Latino youth are jobless, while 3 in 10 black youth are unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most of us—do-gooders, funders, policy makers—assume that the answer to youth unemployment is pretty straight forward: hope the economy gets better and provide kids training and education to help them get jobs when it does. Streetcraft LA has a different approach to youth unemployment. We don’t provide education and training to help young people get jobs. We provide education and training to empower youth to create their own jobs. Streetcraft empowers low income, at risk, and unemployed youth to improve their economic future through creative economy entrepreneurship. Don’t get the wrong idea—we are not talking about lemonade stands or bake sales. We especially support youth in building creative sector small businesses in three categories: apparel, design, and creative services. Why is this our strategy? Entrepreneurship and the creative economy are the future. The factories are closed, pensions are dead, and design studios are hiring freelancers. And this self-made creative economy is a natural fit for our kids. Streetcraft kids have a lot of creative capacity, energy and hustle that is being misapplied as graffiti on, well, the side of your building. How do we help kids create their own jobs in the creative economy? Streetcraft LA’s approach to launching creative micro-ventures is a three-step model we call engage, partner, launch. First, we engage youth misapplying their creative capacity through graffiti in a training and youth development program we call The Streetcraft Crew. Crew is a yearlong program taught by well-known street artists that empowers at-risk kids to see themselves as artists, designers, and entrepreneurs. Crew functions not only as a positive intervention in the life of at risk youth but functions as a Streetcraft human resources department sourcing the true talent that is ready for step two, a formal paid apprenticeship in Streetcraft LA's retail platform and design studio. Streetcraft LA operates a retail store in Los Angeles that showcases collaboratively designed and produced products and original apparel. Youth are formal partners in this social venture working with Streetcraft’s lead designer to design custom furniture and original apparel such as hoodies, lids, and t-shirts. Over a one-year period, Streetcraft partners are exposed to the product design process including market research, sales, marketing and promotion, distribution platforms and retail management through both direct instruction by industry professionals and experiential learning. Streetcraft partners are paid and also receive a percentage of all sales. Streetcraft partners are also required and supported to complete high school and attend relevant higher education while enrolled. After a year partnership, Streetcraft youth enter a process to launch their own creative micro enterprise. Youth can choose to enter a business planning process in one of three creative sectors: apparel, product design, and creative services. Youth are paired with industry mentors and attend lectures on product development, market analysis, financing and organization development. At the conclusion of the year planning process, youth pitch their venture to a group of funders including banking partners such as Wells Fargo.