Our first City Impact Lab of the year couldn’t have been more needed. As LA moves from reaction to recovery from the wildfires that started on Jan 7, we brought together leaders from across the city to talk about leading during times of crisis at January’s City Impact Lab, hosted at COMUNITYmade. Our panelists, who have all been active in the response and recovery after the fires, discussed their main motivations for their work, how to sustain your leadership during a crisis, and how to channel people’s desires to do good into actual good work.
Julee Brooks, CEO, Woodcraft Rangers
Originally from a small town in Kentucky, Julee moved to LA in 2011 to work in children’s theater and arts education, before finding her way to the Woodcraft Rangers in 2018. She led Woodcraft through the pandemic, experiencing the highs and lows of leadership during those years. Coming out the other side stronger, Julee has aided meaningful work to increase access to youth programs for underserved communities and is currently focused on making sure that the kids most affected by the fires are able to receive the support they need, from mental health programs to special needs services.
“We were an alternative to Boy Scouts before a lot of people were allowed to join the Scouts,” she said. Seeing the joy and excitement from kids being kids is one of the main motivators for her in her work, along with the community and collaboration she’s been part of to solve the really complex problems we face in LA. “Finding folks that are also trying to solve those problems and doing the hard work is exciting to me.”
Now facing the devastation of the wildfires, Julee has a few lessons to share from the pandemic:
“A lot is going to be asked of leaders in ways that we don’t even know yet. I also need space to give myself the blank space to imagine and ideate and create and be in community with people so we can come up with the solutions that are necessary. In our community, there’s going to be a childcare crisis, a mental health crisis that’s going to be exacerbated. I think I have learned this time that I need my own social support, I need protein, I need exercise, and it’s easy to lose sight of that when there’s so much to be done.”
Julee also says that the two most important things to keep in mind for both local organizations and individuals looking to help right now is to practice deep listening with the folks that are experiencing the most trauma, after giving them time to process the experience, and to know your lane. Ultimately, it’s not up to us to decide what people need and what we can do is try to understand what we can do to be the most effective, which might not always be what makes us feel good. This could mean pushing for new policies to help rebuild and continuing to have these conversations to look for solutions to make our communities more resilient.
Her advice for anyone looking to make an impact in LA is to know your lane. “There are a lot of people who are already doing great work, find your lane and hook into something that’s already happening. Figure out what you’re good at, where you can make the most impact, and find a like-minded group of people.”
Vahid Khorsand, President, Los Angeles Board of Public Works
In his role on the Los Angeles Board of Public Works, Vahid has been front and center in the wildfire response for the communities impacted by the fires. He comes from the small business world, but pivoted to public service on the Public Works Commission during the Eric Garcetti’s term as mayor and worked on Mayor Bass’ campaign before rejoining the Board of Public Works as its president.
As an appointed role, Vahid is aware that his term will end with the mayor’s and uses this as his motivation, saying that, “This is it, this is the one day I get to do this. One day, I’m going to be back where I was in 2019. All these different people across the city have my number, so I have a personal responsibility of making sure that my time in this role counts. I could have a much easier life, but I’m holding myself accountable to what I wanted to be and what I wanted to do when I made this choice.”
Vahid reiterated the importance of meeting people’s needs where they are, especially in times of crisis. He’s been talking to the people and businesses in the areas close to the fires to understand exactly what it is that they need right now, and shared that though many Angelenos have rallied to gather clothes and other supplies, what people want the most is information: when they can return to their homes, when they can begin to rebuild, what that process will look like.
The silver lining, though, is seeing the community come together.
“This crisis is an example of how great LA is. I don’t think ever before we’ve seen so many organizations and so many individuals want to help and show concern. It could be taking a bunch of donations, but that part of LA, it took a crisis for us to see that it really exists. We just have to channel it.”
Vahid has two pieces of advice for people — one to manage a crisis and one to make an impact. First, overcommunicate. Make sure that everybody knows what’s happening, what your gaps and partnership opportunities are, and share resources. For the latter, he says to find the groups that most align with what you want to do and join them. “Any change you want to make,” he said, “you can’t make it alone, you have to make it in a group.”
Nella McOsker, President & CEO, Central City Association
Nella grew up in LA in a civic-minded family always asking the question “How do we set ourselves up to be the most effective society?” She grew interested in DTLA and what it could be after seeing the downtowns in other cities, like Chicago. She joined the Central City Association in 2019 and worked through the pandemic to support and enhance DTLA.
Through the pandemic and now the wildfires, Nella sees the silver lining in how crises can compel some of the best collaborative impact. She’s fueled by the partnerships and connections she forms in her role. “Every time I enter a space with this hat on, I’m often surprised, delighted, and discovering something new that someone outside of that scope is working on that becomes an opportunity for a new partnership. I stay motivated through the continual delight in the goodness of people and the unique ability to take their assets, network, strengths, and do right by us and each other.”
We’ve seen the community rally to donate items like clothing, bottled water, and other necessities, and while it’s an incredible testament to the kindness of LA, some donation sites have been overwhelmed with goods. Nella said it’s a delicate balance to strike between being an intake entity and having those resources when people ask for them and decreasing the stress on the system. The second is, like Vahid’s advice, to constantly share information.
She also spoke on the role that she plays as a non-profit organization and not a first responder:
“The conversation over the past two weeks has pivoted to what is each organization going to own? There are others similar groups to mine and we have to be honest and direct, to raise your hand and be clear about needs. We have to direct people to another source for that version of the problem. In a health crisis, there’s triage and there’s long-term care. Even if I want to help with triage, I’m not trained for it. It’s necessary to be direct and honest and bold about the ownership of each category.”
Nella has an adage for getting involved in organizing and making an impact: no permanent enemies and no permanent friends. “People who want to make an impact start out with certain values and missions that lead to certain friends and partnerships. We should stop being so concerned about who’s an enemy and who’s a friend. A lot of us are going to be in this space for a long time, so we’ll see you on the next train.”
As the rebuilding process continues, we look forward to bringing the community together again to continue discussing how to make an impact in LA. Join us on February 25 for the next City Impact Lab!
