Investing in Los Angeles: UWGLA’s 2023-2024 Strategic Investments

United Way of Greater Los Angeles is proud to share a recap of the strategic investments made over the last year and the impact we accomplished in partnership with changemakers across Los Angeles County.

Across the 2023-2024 UWGLA fiscal year, we were proud to deploy over $15M into the community across 200 contracted commitments to local partners working to provide immediate relief and build shared prosperity.

These funds were committed through both competitive and targeted investments across 20 different strategic investment moments throughout the year, including advancing housing justice, supporting Black tenant retention, assisting struggling community college students, building the capacity of homeless services providers and older adults, sparking localized efforts to build shared prosperity, and investing in strengthening the homelessness workforce.

But money is not the only thing we invest in our communities this year, we also invested in our community partners through research and analysis, training and technical assistance, and convening and celebration. UWGLA believes in drawing on all the assets and resources we have to support our partners and communities in doing more, together.

Here are some examples of the outcomes we achieved together in the fiscal year 2023-24.

Investment Spotlight: Improving Spaces and Places for Unhoused Residents

Where do unhoused people go during the day? Where do they find shelter at night? For many individuals, daytime service spaces, senior centers, and our homeless shelter system are the first steps toward permanent housing and exist as important spaces that offer safety and resources. Informed by previous investment strategies and a UWGLA-commissioned landscape report, UWGLA’s Shelter Improvement Initiative and Daytime Services Expansion investment, aimed to expand access to and increase the impact of these types of spaces.

Building on a first phase of targeted shelter investments, UWGLA this year opened a competitive funding opportunity that welcomed applications from local shelters funded in partnership with the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Through that process, 42 shelter sites with over 3,500 beds serving adults experiencing homelessness were selected for trauma-informed physical site upgrade funding.

These grants recently ended with partners reporting that over 3,406 adult beds were impacted through the investment and over 9,561 clients were served at these sites over the year. Our partners shared that the site improvements positively impacted their staff and client’s perception of the spaces and have resulted in a more collaborative and supportive environment. As one client shared, “When I walk into the living room, I feel like I am getting a warm hug.”

Spaces feel updated and more dignified fostering a more positive association that can allow clients to feel more comfortable staying and engaging in services, shortening the time to exit from the shelter to a long-term housing opportunity.

With funding support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and Cedar Sinai, UWGLA also invested nearly $7M across 76 spaces at daytime services and senior centers. Based on initial applications, we know that these Daytime and Senior Centers sites collectively provided over 180,000 unduplicated services to unhoused individuals and families in any given year. This investment is still underway, but we anticipate seeing partners reporting increased capacity and quality of services to assist people experiencing homelessness with immediate and long-term needs.

Going Beyond Money: Supporting Emerging Leaders in Homeless Services

While funding will always be an important part of how ideas are initiated and effective solutions are sustained and scaled, UWGLA has so much to offer in support of our community’s work that goes beyond money.

One example this year was targeted support for smaller-sized organizations looking to grow into becoming publicly funded homeless services providers. In partnership with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), UWGLA selected 15 local service providers to join a cohort experience to provide assessment, training, technical assistance, and targeted funding to support them in operational improvements that would allow them to be better placed to apply for and manage public funding. This effort targeted smaller-sized organizations, with a majority of the selected organizations having fewer than 5 employees and under $1M operating budget. Almost all of the organizations are led by people of color and many have been impacted by homelessness and housing instability themselves.

UWGLA invested in bringing on key consulting partners, Center for Nonprofit Management and BDO, to help individually assess the organizations and provide direct technical assistance while also working with UWGLA to plan a series of workshops focused on topics that are critical for becoming competitive for public funding opportunities and ensuring that organizational systems are in place to sustainably scale and manage that growth.

All of the organizations were provided a stipend to support their participation in the series and working with the consultant and at the end of the training series were eligible to request up to $85,000 to support one-time operational upgrades aligned with their needs for growth, such as continued leadership development, financial software purchase, and HR consulting.

At the end of the capacity-building cohort experience, partners reported meaningful growth which is anticipated to continue to build with more time for the changes implemented to be realized. 60% of the partners reported growth in staffing size, 73% shared financial stability or growth in their operating budgets, and there was a 50% increase in the number of partners that had successfully completed pre-qualification processes needed to apply for homeless services funding locally.

We are excited about all the possibilities ahead of us in 2025, investing strategically in change and expanding training and technical assistance supports for our partners. Learn more about our current funding opportunities on the UWGLA Grantseekers webpage here.

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