Dear Neighbors,
I am pleased to share the first installment of my new newsletter series focused on the top priorities for our district. Over the coming months, I will provide updates, background information, and opportunities for community engagement as we move major projects forward.
This first issue comes at an important moment. In a recent meeting with the Park Mesa Heights Community Council, many residents raised thoughtful questions about the future of the long vacant former EDD property at 5401 Crenshaw Boulevard. I want to respond directly to the constructive feedback that you shared and how we can better engage the community. We heard you loud and clear.
This issue follows the passage of SB 572, the law I authored to finally create a path for this site after nearly a decade of inactivity. The property remained vacant for years because of an unresolved lease-purchase dispute that prevented the state from repurposing or transferring the site. SB 572 changes that. It makes the property eligible for transfer for the first time since its closure and allows it to move into a community land trust that can provide affordable housing, retired worker senior housing, workforce opportunities, and community-serving space.
Residents have been clear about what they want for this corridor: Real pathways to good jobs, housing that keeps families rooted, support for local businesses, and preservation of cultural identity. SB 572 reflects these values. As we welcome the new South LA WorkSource Center on the block, it is critical that 5401 scales workforce empowerment, ensuring this site continues the tradition of worker advancement that dates back to its historic connection to labor and the AFL-CIO.
This progress belongs to the advocates, families and neighbors who have fought for years to see this site come back to life. For the first time in almost a decade, South LA has a real path forward. I look forward to keeping you informed as we move from legislation into planning, design and community engagement.
Moving Our Vision Forward:
From Vacancy to a Community-Led Future
Recent photos of the former EDD building located at 5401 Crenshaw Boulevard in South LA.
For two decades, the former EDD building at 5401 Crenshaw Boulevard served as a place where residents accessed job support and opportunity. In 2017, the building closed when a lease-purchase agreement between the state and the property owner broke down. When the dispute could not be resolved, EDD vacated the building, and the property entered a long period of vacancy.
In the years that followed, the building fell into deep disrepair, with water damage, break-ins, theft, and prolonged unauthorized use. Although the state later secured the property and installed fencing, the structure was already far beyond repair. EDD has since confirmed it does not plan to reopen a workforce office at this site, leaving the community with blighted state property and no clear path forward.
After I was first elected in late 2022, residents raised concerns about the worsening blight and an emerging encampment at the site. My team worked quickly to secure the property and address those issues. Residents have continued to share direct and constructive feedback, including at recent neighborhood council meetings, expressing a clear desire for a future that reflects the cultural identity and needs of Park Mesa Heights and the broader Crenshaw corridor.
Resolving this longstanding issue became a priority as soon as I entered the Senate. For nearly a decade, the site had been stuck in legal and bureaucratic limbo, and no forward movement was possible until the law changed. That is why I authored SB 572. The law designates the site as surplus land and opens the legal process needed to transfer the property and begin community-guided redevelopment. For the first time since its closure, there is a real path forward.
The vision for this site comes directly from community priorities. During our recent meeting, residents lifted up deeply affordable housing for local families, small business stabilization, workforce programs, mixed-income and mixed-use social housing, community-serving space, and preservation of the area’s historic cultural identity.
To advance this work, my office is partnering with the Los Angeles Black Worker Center, located directly across the street with deep ties to Black workers and families in the Crenshaw community, and Estolano Partners, a planning and policy team experienced in community-centered engagement. Together, they will support outreach and develop recommendations for the state’s disposition process. This newsletter marks the kickoff of our community engagement process.
What We Heard and What’s True
For the three years I have had the honor to serve in this office, residents have consistently shared strong expectations for what this site should become. That feedback guides every step of how SB 572 is being implemented.
How We Are Engaging Residents
I am proud to announce the kickoff of a robust community engagement process as we work in partnership with the state, residents, housing, labor and racial justice advocates to ensure the site addresses the needs of working families and the local historic community. This work comes at a time when South LA faces high levels of underemployment and unemployment, alongside rising displacement due to gentrification and skyrocketing housing costs as new development continues along Crenshaw.
Over the past year, my office, Estolano Partners, and the Los Angeles Black Worker Center have met with residents, neighborhood leaders, agencies and stakeholders through one-on-one meetings, small group discussions, and roundtables to understand community priorities and ensure they shape this project. This also included a listening session with Congresswoman Kamlager-Dove this past spring on South LA’s housing challenges and the models, including community land trusts, that support long-term stability and affordability.
Beginning last month, our partners launched the next phase of community engagement, bringing together leaders from local businesses, faith-based organizations and community groups. Community feedback is welcome at any time through our website or through the Los Angeles Black Worker Center. My office will continue to share updates as this work progresses.
Senator’s Social Housing Teach-In Link: Senator Smallwood-Cuevas’ Social Housing Teach-In - YouTube
Why EDD Is Not Returning
Before I entered the Stated Senate, EDD had already confirmed that the 28,000-square-foot office would not return in its previous form, though the possibility of a future government presence at the reimagined site remains open. Nearby resources already serving the community include the new South LA WorkSource Center across the street, Los Angeles Black Worker Center, West Adams WorkSource Center, Los Angeles Urban League, AADAP, and Brotherhood Crusade Youth WorkSource Center.
Why Housing Is Part of the Vision
I support efforts to bring government services into the site as part of the community’s vision for workforce-centered, mixed-use and mixed-income social housing. Transforming this long-vacant state property into affordable homes invests in South LA families and strengthens neighborhood stability. This project is about dignity, opportunity, and ensuring that residents who make this community vibrant can continue to call it home. A lot has changed since 2017, and the stakes are too high for an either-or approach. We can and must do both.
Why Community Leads This Work
This redevelopment belongs to South LA. Residents have the history, experience and vision needed to guide this work. My role is to ensure that decision-making power remains with the community and that every step of this process is accessible and transparent. To support this, I secured a $1 million investment to ensure a community engagement process, in partnership with state agencies, is conducted. This work also honors the years of advocacy, organizing, and neighborhood leadership that brought us to this point and shaped the direction of SB 572.
Community Voices
Cynthia Mitchell-Heard
“Transforming the long-vacant building at 5401 Crenshaw Boulevard into affordable housing and a workforce center represents the kind of forward-thinking investment South Los Angeles has long deserved. This project honors our community’s resilience by expanding access to stable housing, career pathways, and real economic opportunity.”
–Cynthia Mitchell-Heard, President & CEO of Los Angeles Urban League
Jason Foster
“Repurposing this long-vacant building into mixed-use affordable housing and a workforce hub is exactly the kind of investment our Crenshaw community deserves. It means stability for families, pathways to careers, and a commitment to keeping longtime residents in South LA.”
– Jason Foster, President & CEO of Destination Crenshaw
Jacquelyn “Jackie” DuPont-Walker
“This site has always been an invaluable community asset that offers an opportunity to address unmet needs in the surrounding neighborhoods and region. At this juncture, transforming 5401 Crenshaw Boulevard into affordable homes and workforce space creates an expanded added value and protects the original goal. For too long, its vacancy has represented a missed economic promise to South LA. Reinvesting in this corner strengthens the economic base for the workers and families whose sweat equity and investment of time and talent built this community. Most importantly, it affirms that they deserve to live, work and thrive here. The proposed use represents a 'promise kept' to the trailblazers and current stakeholders.”
– Jacquelyn “Jackie” DuPont-Walker, President, Ward Economic Development Corporation
Trina Traylor
“Community land trusts give South LA real ownership. Redeveloping the former Crenshaw EDD building into affordable housing and workforce services is how we build stability and opportunity here in our community for the next generation.”
– Trina Traylor, Campaign & Coalition Manager, Los Angeles Black Worker Center
Julia Smith
“Transforming this long-vacant building into affordable homes and workforce services is exactly what our community needs. South LA deserves developments that uplift people.”
– Julia Smith, Representative At-Large, Park Mesa Heights Community Council