Little Tokyo Service Center

Meet Mariana, resident at one of our buildings and a community leader ?? Fideicomiso Comunitario Tierra Libre (FCTL) and LTSC acquired and rehabilitated the building 700 Simmons in East LA as part of the LA County Pilot Community Land Trust Partnership Program. Under this new model, Mariana now sits on the property’s Board of Directors to ensure it serves as a pathway to affordable home ownership in the East LA community. Hear what Mariana had to say at our recent ribbon cutting ceremony for 700 Simmons through the ?? below! https://lnkd.in/gqeg-sw5

Solar?panels?are in place atop the all-electric Crocker Umeya Apartments! Little Tokyo Service Center | Morley Builders

"There has been an intentional, historical disinvestment in our communities, but today is a great day in East LA. The Los Angeles Community Land Trust Partnership Program, championed by Supervisor Hilda Solis, has provided us the opportunity to remove this building, 700 Simmons, the home of 10 families, from the speculative housing market... our homes are not commodities; they are homes, and they deserve to be safe, dignified, habitable, and affordable." -Vanessa Gonzalez, Co-Director, Fideicomiso Comunitario Tierra Libre (FCTL) Congratulations to Fideicomiso Comunitario Tierra Libre (FCTL) and Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC) on yesterday's ribbon cutting for 700 Simmons! ?? In 2022, through NFF’s zero-interest Capital Advancing Racial Equity (CARE) Fund?– funded by Wells Fargo's Open for Business Program and The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation – we partnered with FCTL and LTSC to provide a $200,000 predevelopment loan for essential repairs and renovations to the building. We proudly support this project and celebrate its impact on fostering affordable housing and community ownership in Los Angeles. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gRwgGk98.

Thanks to our partners 華埠服務中心 Chinatown Service Center, KYCC (Koreatown Youth and Community Center), Little Tokyo Service Center, Pars Equality Center, Thai Community Development Center & United Cambodian Community for their work in our communities!

We're proud of the affordable housing experts under LTSC's roof, such as our Director of Real Estate, Debbie Chen. Watch the video linked below to hear her explain how this year's Prop 5 could have an impact on the projects we build, such as the recent award-winning Santa Monica and Vermont Apartments! https://lnkd.in/gxpwUbfa

If you've ever hooped in Budokan, ate in the Far East Building, or slept in one of our affordable housing apartments, you were under the roof of an project touched by LTSC's Minako Shirai Ferrante. Minako first joined LTSC in the 90's, working on LTSC's iconic, inaugural projects including Casa Heiwa, Far East, and even Budokan (née Rec Center). Between 2010 and 2016, nearly every single project (more than half a dozen) saw safe passage in her capable hands. In 2017, Minako took over project management of the Budokan, successfully closing and breaking ground in early 2018. Budokan was a behemoth of a project, made even more complicated by steering construction through the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, Minako also contributed to the rehabilitation of Kosumosu (our housing for domestic violence survivors), which she describes as her favorite project. For her closing act, Minako took the Santa Monica Vermont Apartments, our most complex project to date, to the finish line. Last week, LTSC staff threw a small farewell celebration for Minako, complete with cake and well wishes on the next chapter of her journey.

Many thanks to Little Tokyo Service Center for having us join this crucial conversation about mental health and Asian American young people.

Last week at the Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing (SCANPH) conference, Brilliant Corners' Director of Multifamily Housing Development Vanessa Luna was a panelist at an interactive workshop on ULA's social housing program. She joined fellow panelists Alfonso Directo Jr., Advocacy Director at ACT-LA; Roberto Garcia-Ceballos, Co-Director, Fideicomiso Comunitario Tierra Libre (FCTL); Jessica Melendez, Director of Policy at T.R.U.S.T South LA; and Debbie Chen, Director of Real Estate at Little Tokyo Service Center. #AffordableHousing developers learned background and next steps on how to begin developing social housing, introducing them to the growing network of #developers and community-based organizations involved in this vital work.

In case you missed it, our partners Fideicomiso Comunitario Tierra Libre (FCTL) and Little Tokyo Service Center were featured in this Los Angeles Times article for leading the way in showing how renovation does not have to come at the expense of affordable housing. Through innovative models like community land trusts, these organizations are preventing displacement. . Read more: https://lnkd.in/gSf-J4kV