Our Story

Open Air Economy Collaborative is a partnership of four organizations - Inclusive Action for the City, California Reinvestment Coalition, Public Counsel and East LA Community Corporation - that have worked together to serve Los Angeles’ micro-entrepreneurs for over a decade. Over the years, the partner organizations advocated for greater investment in street vendors in Los Angeles and throughout California. They contributed to successful efforts to protect street vendors from criminalization and secure millions of dollars in resources to support vendors and other micro-businesses. Open Air Economy Collaborative is a three-year initiative to further integrate services to support Los Angeles’ local economies. It marks one of the largest investments into building out Countywide programmatic infrastructure to support Black and Latina ‘open air’ entrepreneurs.

Los Angeles street vendors gather to advocate for legalization of their businesses in 2018.

  • Inclusive Action for the City (IAC) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to bring people together to build strong local economies that uplift low-income urban communities through advocacy and transformative economic development initiatives. IAC is the co-lead of the Open Air Economy Collaborative, and provides tailored business coaching and micro-loans through this initiative.

  • California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) builds an inclusive and fair economy that meets the needs of communities of color and low-income communities by ensuring that banks and other corporations invest and conduct business in our communities in a just and equitable manner. CRC is the co-lead of the Open Air Economy Collaborative, and provides financial systems education services through the Economic Equity Promotoras program.

  • East LA Community Corporation (ELACC) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advocate for economic and social justice in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles by building grassroots leadership, developing affordable housing and neighborhood assets, and providing access to economic development opportunities for low and moderate-income families. ELACC provides microloans and access to tax assistance through this initiative.

  • Public Counsel is the nation’s largest provider of pro bono legal services. Through its Community Development Project, Public Counsel provides critical technical and legal support to nonprofits and small businesses, including child care providers, health care clinics, and nonprofit affordable housing developers, and works to build the capacity of grassroots groups to lead movements for economic and housing justice. Public Counsel provides legal assistance and advisory services through this initiative