Since 1991,  Community Scholars have worked with graduate students on solution oriented research related to the theme of building grassroots economic development policy in Los Angeles:

2011-12 Right to Health in South L.A.

2010-11:  Green City Games

The 2011 Community Scholars class focused on making games that support community education and engagement.  The end product consists includes three original games -- Make Your Market, In Construction, and Secret City, as well as well as 17 rapid prototypes.  All of these and more may be found on  the Games for Change website.

2009-10: Tools for a Greener Economy:  A Popular Education Strategy

Participants in the 2011 Community Scholars program, Popular Education 2.0: Explaining Green Jobs to the People included graduate students in urban planning and law, community activists, leaders, artists, and popular educators. 

The course was led by Urban Planning faculty member Gilda Haas with assistance from Marcie Hale, a graduate student in UCLA's Department of Urban Planning, Uyen Le from the California Construction Academy and Janna Shadduck-Hernandez of the Downtown Labor Center and UCLA's Department of World Arts and Culture.

Course participants divided into five working groups to produce popular education products for specific constituencies, which included:

• An interactive health and nutrition workshop that includes a cartoon and game to help the Market Makeovers program build a customer base for a local market in East L.A. that will be upgraded to provide fresh fruits and vegetables.
• A web-site, brochure, and other presentation materials for Native Green, a fledgling green landscaping cooperative comprised of former day-laborers.
• An interactive Green Economy Curriculum produced for the Black Workers Center's leadership academy for young workers entering building trades apprenticeships.
• A homeowners' guide to green retrofits that can save money on utility bills as well as programs that are available to assist, targeted towards residents of East L.A. and Crenshaw.
• A poster designed for the California Construction Academy that targets building trade union leaders and explains what policy strategies can both improve the environment and build union density.

The course  culminated in report entitled Tools for a Greener Economy: A Popular Education Strategy and a "Gallery" event where those organizations could receive their product, and see those produced for others along with other interested parties.   All attendees received a DVD of all of the above products and the report.

2008-09:  Green Collar Jobs, Green Buildings & Social Justice:  Pathway to a Sustainable City

Led by Linda Delp, Director of UCLA's Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program (LOSH), the 2009 Community Scholars class (UP 219 Green Collar Jobs, Green Buildings and Social Justice: Pathway to a Sustainable City) focused on a recent Los Angeles City ordinance to retrofit more than 1,000 LA City buildings and to create job opportunities in underinvested areas of the city. The Green Building Retrofit & Workforce Development Ordinance is the result of a years-long campaign spearheaded by the Los Angeles Apollo Alliance/SCOPE. Successful implementation will highlight Los Angeles as a leader in innovative policies to address the environmental and economic crises and to spur action to improve worker health and community economic development.

This year’s class culminated in two separate events. The historic site of LA City Hall was an appropriate setting for the June 11th presentation of Roadmap to Retrofits, a working report on the implementation of the new ordinance. Recommendations ranged from the specific and technical aspects of green building retrofits to the social justice aspects of investing in underserved communities and, ultimately, to the broader goal of building a movement for good, green, safe jobs and a more sustainable Los Angeles.

On August 5th more than 100 people attended a conference held at the UCLA Downtown Labor Center. Discussion at the “Working in Unity, Greening our Communities” conference centered on the goals of the ordinance in the context of the current sociopolitical and economic environment, and challenges and opportunities involved in moving the ordinance forward, including creating safe and healthy green jobs. In addition to a presentation by the Community Scholars class, speakers included community leaders, activists, environmentalists, academics, and policy-makers.

2007-08:   Building Skills, Building Communities:   Worker Training and Education as a Community Development Strategy for Los Angeles

Every year, hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in commercial and residential development across the Los Angeles region. Well-crafted policy would ensure that investment of public and private dollars provide economic opportunity for Los Angeles’ low income communities.

There are many strategies to craft and implement such policies. Conditions exist to increase the likelihood of success:

• A building boom and an aging construction industry workforce has created a high demand for new trained workers.
• Increased demand provides opportunities for sustainable jobs in low-income communities.
• The City’s redevelopment agency and other city deparments are considering policies that would require large, subsidized projects to implement local hiring, project labor agreements, and worker education and training strategies.
• Job development in low-income communities is a key goal of Mayor Villaraigosa’s administration.

2006-07:   Fighting for a Right to the City:  Collaborative Research to Support Community Organizing in L.A.

This project explores issues related to the Right to the City movement in different areas of Los Angeles:

• Building a Base to Prevent Displacement in Lincoln Heights
• Business Gentrification in Leimert Park Village
• Gentrification and Industrial Job Retention in Downtown Los Angeles
• Transit and Housing Development: Challenges and Opportunities for South Los Angeles
• The Right to Organize: A Feasibility Study for a Citywide Tenants' Union for Los Angeles

2005-06:  The Community Scholars Program was on hiatus

2004-2005: Wal-Mart and Wal-Martization:  Challenges for Labor and Urban Planning

In the first course of this two quarter sequence students examined Wal-Mart and the related phenomenon of Wal-Martization in the context of the Southern California Regional Economy. In the second quarter they focused on ways and means to address the challenges of Wal-Martization.

2003-2004: L. A. Models of Economic and Social Justice. FIGUEROA CORRIDOR: Better Neighborhoods, Same Neighbors: Strategies for Good Jobs and Affordable Housing

Biographies of the 2003-04 class of Community Scholars

2002-2003: L. A. Models of Economic and Social Justice -- Common Ground: Finding Common Grounds, Organizing Around Common Issues

Biographies of the 2002-2003 class of Community Scholars

2001-2002: Coalition Building for Social and Economic Justice in the L.A. Metropolitan Area

2000-2001: Participatory Democracy and Coalition Building--Organizing for Social Change in L.A.'s Communities and Workplaces

Executive Summary
Biographies of the 2000-2001 class of Community Scholars

The Care in Organizing report, a model of participatory and action research, documents the needs of homecare workers in housing, transportation, and employment. A series of GIS maps locates the homecare workers by race and ethnicity in LA County. A survey, the instrument of which was developed with the homecare workers and administered by them, provides original data that clarifies the issues facing these low wage workers. The results of the report are being widely used by Local 434B of the Service International Employees Union.

1999-2000: Models of L.A. Organizing for Social Justice:  Pushing the Boundaries, Crossing the Isms.

Biographies of the 1999-2000 class of Community Scholars

1998-1999:  Banking on Blight:  Redevelopment in Post-Proposition 13 California

list of the 1998-1999 class of Community Scholars

Proposition 13, the 1978 ballot initiative that restructured property tax rates and redistribution in the state, placed economic pressure on cash-strapped cities to recapture lost property tax revenues through redevelopment's powers of tax increment financing.   This report focuses on the role of redevelopment in California as the major vehicle of public subsidy for private development.   The research team investigated four cities (Burbank, Compton, Lancaster and Long Beach) which represent unique geographies and histories, economic assets and liabilities, demographics and redevelopment strategies.

1997-1998:  The Community Scholars Program was on hiatus

1996-1997:  Learning for a Change:  Experiences in Popular Education in Los Angeles

list of the 1996-1997 class of Community Scholars

Students and Community Scholars studied popular education and economic development and worked on two projects:  The Pacoima Team provided support and economic education in a community in northeast Los Angeles County that was experiencing major layoffs due to the plant closure of a major employer.  The South Los Angeles Team developed welfare reform educational workshops and programs for the Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment, a non-profit, social service agency in South Los Angeles.

1995-1996:  Worker Ownership:  A Strategy for Job Creation and Retention in Los Angeles

 list of the 1995-1996 class of Community Scholars

This project  conducted research with labor and community organizations to support their efforts to "put democracy to work" through worker cooperatives and employee stock ownership plans (ESOP's). The purpose of the research was to determine how to develop a supportive infrastructure of education, technical assistance, and financing that could help bring these efforts to scale.

1994-1995:  Los Angeles Manufacturing Action Project

 list of the 1994-1995 class of Community Scholars

This project conducted sectoral research in various manufacturing industries for ten labor unions that joined forces to develop a strategy for upgrading wages and working conditions in L.A.'s Alameda Corridor, the densest manufacturing region in the U.S. Scholars and students worked directly with labor union staff and community leaders in this participatory research effort.

1993-1994: Banking on Communities

  list of the 1993-1994 class of Community Scholars

This project engaged Scholars and students in how to conduct popular education on complex economic issues for their own diverse constituencies. The project resulted in a bilingual participatory workshop on money and banking that was documented on videotape. The accompanying report describes principles of popular education, how the workshop was developed, and includes the workshop script. The workshop is currently being replicated by diverse community organizations in L.A.

1992-1993: Manufacturing L.A.'s Future

 list of the 1992-1993 class of Community Scholars

This study examines three industries: apparel, electric bus, and manufacturing with recyclable resources in order to investigate the potential of an industrial policy that would benefit working class and minority communities in Los Angeles. This study was influential in the formation of L.A.'s first African American garment industry association.

1991-1992: Accidental Tourism

list of the 1991-1992 class of Community Scholars

This study critiques the City's existing tourism promotion strategy and proposes alternatives that would bring economic benefits to working class and minority communities, drawing upon experiences from other cities. The study was the basis for the establishment of the Tourism Industry Development Council, a labor/community nonprofit dedicated to spreading the benefits of L.A. tourism to tourism industry workers and L.A.'s ethnic neighborhoods.