Neighborhood Walk and Local Organization Visits

In 2020, before the COVID-19 Shelter in Place Order, we closed the market for half the day and went for a walk around the neighborhood block to meet with local organizations and learn about their work. We visited Skid Row Community ReFresh Spot, The Hippie Kitchen, and Los Angeles Community Action Network. Our business sees the interrelations of economic and community development.

“Community economic development is an alternative to conventional and economic development. Its central tenet is that ‘…problems facing communities—unemployment, poverty, job loss, environmental degradation and loss of community control—need to be addressed in a holistic and participatory way…’” (Canadian Community Economic Development Network)

“The most significant aspect of community development aside from the fact that it focuses on economic development in specific localities, is that it focuses on the process of community building. This ‘community’ aspect of CED assumes that the community will play a dynamic role in economic development processes and that community development will contribute to sustained economic development and vice versa. In this understanding, the community is considered both as an input and output in this CED equation.” (Community Change: Theories, Practices, and Evidence, Fulbright-Anderson, Auspos)