Neon Tommy Publishes Investigative Package on ‘LA Urban League’ Crenshaw Renewal Plan

USC’s student run online newspaper Neon Tommy just published a comprehensive 10-story look at the L.A. Urban League’s Neighborhoods@Work program — a $25 million program to revitalize Crenshaw High School and its surrounding environs.

Neon Tommy editor-in-chief Callie Schweitzer wrote to tell us more about the package:

Though this three year old program is the largest of its kind in the city and is partnered with various corporations and a roster of public agencies, including LAUSD, CHP, and LAPD among others, this package is the first in-depth report and evaluation of the program.

The package, which gives mixed marks to the overall Urban League initiative, includes stories on tensions between the League and its primary partner, the LAUSD, and reveals frosty email exchanges between the two groups based on emails secured by Neon Tommy though public record searches. Searches of tax returns from the Urban League also suggest stalled out fund-raising on the program.

Also included in the package is a profile of chief program officer Pamela Bakewell, sister of Danny Bakewell Sr., and a look not only inside daily life at Crenshaw High but also inside the health, housing, jobs and public safety program (which includes a private security firm dominated by members of the Nation of Islam).

Read their findings in detail at Neon Tommy.

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