It’s been an historic year for social justice in Los Angeles. Even a tropical-storm downpour couldn’t cool off our “hot labor summer,” as hotel workers, city employees, screenwriters, and actors are all taking stands to improve working conditions and pay. 

At Ocean & Mountain, we’ve helped Unite Here Local 11 share a fascinating story from the picket line about cross-racial solidarity and automated hiring and client Hennig Kramer Ruiz & Singh LLP shine a light on abusive workplace practices by the LA-based maker of Synergy Kombucha, GT’s Living Foods. 

After decades of work in housing and homelessness, we’re frustrated by the persistence of street homelessness, but encouraged by the new leadership of Dr. Va Lecia Adams Kellum at LAHSA. Her team has cut the time it takes to lease up supportive housing by 75%, from 120 to 30 days. 

Last month L.A. Mayor Karen Bass scored a victory that could be game-changing when the Biden Administration announced a policy change lifting bureaucratic requirements to speed up rehousing. While the notoriously decentralized governance of L.A. County persists as a root-cause challenge, these developments, plus the launch of LACAHSA, the new countywide agency created to accelerate affordable housing, are all promising signs.

We wish you cooler days this fall and a speedy and just resolution to LA’s worker actions. 

In solidarity,

Marie, Josh and Team O&M

Pushing for system change to end wrongful police killings & abuse

This spring, we had the honor of helping civil rights law firm Hadsell Stormer Renick Dai LLP seek justice for the family of Tony Garza, a longtime high desert resident who was shot 12 times and killed by San Bernardino sheriff’s deputies while in a mental health crisis. We also helped rapper Feezy LeBron, another Hadsell Stormer client, tell the story of a harrowing, abusive New Year’s Eve encounter with Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies to a national media audience.

Coverage highlights: Tony Garza in LA Times, Univision, KCRW; Feezy Lebron in Vice News, Inside Edition

‘L.A.’s kombucha empire exploited workers for years’

In July, an LA Court ruled that LA’s Kombucha King owes 11 workers represented by Hennig Kramer nearly half a million dollars in unpaid wages. The health and wellness brand claims to be made through a “labor of love,” but workers interviewed by LA Times business reporter Sam Dean tell a different story. Stay tuned—this is just phase one of a series of civil cases that seek justice for more than a decade of abuses, wage theft, and retaliation suffered by employees in GT Living Food’s Vernon kombucha factories. 

Coverage highlights: LA Times, Bon Appetit, BevNet, Inc.

‘Our corporate landlord tried to push us out. We saved our homes through a community land trust’

Community Land Trusts are a transformational approach to addressing the national housing crisis by preserving affordable housing. The CLT model, with roots in the civil rights movement, puts homeownership within reach in historically marginalized communities through community-based nonprofits, protecting against gentrification and eviction. O&M was proud to work with Liberty Hill and its partners to bring attention to the impact of CLTs with an op-ed in Next City by Koreatown residents Guadalupe and Ixchele Hernandez. 

Coverage highlights: Spectrum News, Inside Philanthropy

Read the full report: Liberty Hill CLT Program

‘Nonprofit homeless response staff struggle to afford housing. Will funders respond?’

‘California can solve homelessness. Lawmakers have the solutions in front of them.’

We’ve worked with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority for years on helping communicate not just the numbers but the meaning and the stakes behind the annual Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. This year, we got to continue working with the excellent comms team directed by Ahmad Chapman while welcoming new CEO Va Lecia Adams Kellum, Ph.D. 

The numbers are discouraging, but the fact is, we have the tools and the resources to solve homelessness in California. That was the argument that we helped promote through the Corporation for Supportive Housing, and the Los Angeles Times editorial board took note.

We also helped shine a light on the first board meeting of LA’s new affordable housing agency, LACAHSA, which promises to radically speed up and simplify funding and policy to preserve and build affordable housing across LA County. Chaired by LA County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, the board is currently searching for its first CEO. 

Coverage highlights: New York Times, Los Angeles Times, NBC

Read the full report: LAHSA