Community Redevelopment Agency, Los Angeles (CRA/LA)

The Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA/LA) is a public agency that serves as a catalyst for community growth and prosperity. It lays the groundwork and provides the preconditions that enable private investors to revitalize neglected communities. Its work is authorized by California Community Redevelopment Law (California Health and Safety Code). A board of seven commissioners appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by City Council oversee the CRA/LA.

Since its founding in 1948, CRA/LA has brought new hope to residents, business owners and others who dream of seeing their communities share in the city's prosperity. It continues to develop innovative responses to changing economic conditions, with the goal of creating a better quality of life today and for future generations.

CRA/LA projects include building affordable housing, creating living-wage jobs, developing commercial and industrial sites, making public improvements, and helping neighborhoods become greener and pedestrian friendly. It focuses on 31 communities throughout Los Angeles that have been designated by the City Council as redevelopment project areas. These communities are organized into seven regions: Downtown, Eastside, East Valley, West Valley, Hollywood & Central, South Los Angeles, and Watts & Harbor. For each project area, CRA/LA develops a comprehensive redevelopment plan. It provides goals, strategies and timetables for revitalizing neglected neighborhoods, and generating growth and new opportunities.

Redevelopment is financed primarily through tax increment revenue—additional funds generated by the increased assessed value of properties in a redevelopment project area. Tax increment funds new projects and repays the bonds that funded redevelopment activities. CRA/LA sets aside 25 percent of tax increment revenue from each project area for affordable housing.

To ensure that we understand the needs and concerns of the areas it serves, CRA/LA stays in close contact with neighborhood and homeowner groups, business and labor organizations, and elected officials and City departments. It fosters alliances with advocates for affordable housing, environmental issues and community and economic development. And it holds forums and public meetings to attract the widest possible community input.

CRA/LA improvements include: Wilshire Center/Koreatown, LA Live!, Downtown, Hollywood & Highland, The GRAMMY Museum, and 2nd Street Connection, Downtown. Additionally, for Little Tokyo area, it runs a Little Tokyo Business Incentive Program to provide assistance for businesses in the following categories: Facade Improvement Program with grants up to $25,000 per storefront; Business Loan Program matches loans up to $250,000 to property owners and business tenants toward both interior and exterior improvements. Both program components also provide up to $10,000 in architectural services provide by a preselected pool of design firms.

Grateful Crane Ensemble

Ten years ago, the Grateful Crane Ensemble began its journey by singing songs for Nikkei seniors at the Keiro Retirement Home in Boyle Heights. This idea of "giving something back" to Japanese American elders soon turned into the telling of their stories, and in telling their stories and singing their favorite songs, the group realized that there also needed to add a heartfelt message at the end of every show: "thank you."

Two simple, yet powerful words. Grateful Crane has thanked the Issei and Nisei for everything they endured so that we could live a better life in America. They were thanked for paving the way, for opening the doors, and for what they endured and suffered "for the sake of the children." For 10 years, Grateful Crane has been entertaining and educating our community throughout Los Angeles, up and down the State, and across the country.

One of group's most popular shows is "The Camp Dance: The Music & The Memories" (2004 to 2010). Based on research and interviews with former camp inmates, Grateful Crane created a series of entertaining vignettes based on their recollections of the high school dances they used to have behind the barbed wire fences of America's concentration camps. The show also includes the music of the 40s as well as some Japanese favorites.

In 2006, San Francisco's Japantown celebrated its 100th anniversary. To celebrate this occasion, the Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) commissioned Grateful Crane to create a musical show that would tell the story of California's Japantowns. Through research and interviews, the story of "Nihonmachi" was told through the eyes of a manju-making family as they faced the closing of their store after 99 years in business.

Looking back at the past 10 years, Grateful Crane has also done a number of other shows throughout the community. Along with Japanese songs and American favorites from the 1940s, the group has also performed Broadway show tunes, Motown classics, Christmas songs and jazz standards in its jazz club show (JACL Convention in Chicago, 2010).

Upcoming plans include the continued development of the Grateful Crane Youth Singing Group, as well as presentations of Project Momotaro, The Best of Grateful Crane, The J-Town Jazz Club and the second annual Holiday Show.

Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

At Toyota, we believe an auto company can also be a vehicle for change. We are proud to partner with nonprofit organizations in the local communities where we live and work, and since 1991, Toyota has contributed over half a billion dollars to philanthropic programs in the U.S. We support programs focused on environment, education and safety that help strengthen diverse communities across the U.S.—for today and for the future.

Education - Toyota participates in a variety of programs to provide people the educational tools they need to improve their lives. These range from teacher grants and scholarships to cultural enrichment programs, vocational training and family literacy.

Environment - Toyota operates under a global earth charter that promotes environmental responsibility company-wide – from improvements in fuel economy and emissions in our vehicles to waste reduction in plants, offices and port facilities. Toyota is in partnership with a variety of organizations that use our support to teach and practice environmental responsibility.

Safety - Everyone deserves to be safe. This is why safety is a priority for Toyota—from the vehicles we put on the road to the people who use them. We sponsor programs across the U.S. that encourage safe behaviors for drivers and passengers alike.

Currently Toyota is implementing a "100 Cars for Good" program open through August 16. The program will award 100 vehicles over the course of 100 days to 100 deserving nonprofit organizations based on votes from the public.

Five organizations per day will be profiled on Toyota's Facebook page (facebook.com/toyota) where the public is invited to show their support by voting daily to help determine the winning nonprofit organization. Each of the 500 nonprofit finalists have created an online profile showcasing how the organization plans to use a new Toyota vehicle to do good in their local community. Voters may place one vote per day, over the course of the program.

The 500 finalists were chosen by an independent panel of judges and represent nonprofit organizations servicing the community across a broad range of categories including animal welfare, arts, education, environment, health, safety and human services. For a complete list of finalists, please visit the Toyota's Facebook page.

Tuesday Night Project

Tuesday Night Project (TNP) hosts 1st & 3rd Tuesday Night Cafe in Little Tokyo, one of the longest running free public art series in Los Angeles, with performance art, music, poetry, visual art, short film, and an eclectic array of performers and community members from spring through fall. But since 1999 the people behind the project and the series have grown into an actual community fiercely devoted to creating venues where art and community connect. It is a community of artists, organizers, activists, professionals, independent business owners, educators and community members of different generations, a myriad of artistic disciplines and all walks of life.

Tuesday Night Project maintains a passionate, positive space with a focus on new work from Asian American/Pacific Islander communities and from the greater Los Angeles area. TNP constantly introduces its audiences to new artists and organizations and the amazing work they do all over the city. While TNP offers modest stipends to some of its technical crew, they have kept the series alive and free to the public with sheer passion and the practice and belief that people are each other's greatest resource.

As an all-volunteer effort, TNP offers a space that goes well beyond a "showcase" and brings support that strengthens community and art. Expanding with every passing year, Tuesday Night Cafe now streams its events live and has had viewers from all over the world including Chicago, Seattle, and San Francisco...from Canada and the Philippines to Pakistan and Scotland.

With TN-On-Tour, Tuesday Night Project is beginning to make its way to colleges. TN-TV has featured artists in live-feeds to Downtown L.A. from places as far as New York, Toronto, and Qingdao, China. The series is now entering its 13th year as one of the longest-running free public arts series in downtown Los Angeles and is excited to continue to grow and provide a space for the intersection of Art + Community.

TNT's additional programming includes live webcasts from The 1st & 3rd Tuesday Night Cafe Shows and from cities around the globe to provide people all over the world a chance to stay connected; and TN-Radio Podcasting (i.e., series DJ Stories), its newest project creates original radio content through interviews, music and performances.