March 21, 2019
LAWT News Service
Dr. Jeffrey D. Holmes, Los Angeles City College Dean, has been named as one of sixteen researchers from colleges across the nation to participate in the CTE Research Program at North Carolina State University. The program is sponsored by the ECMC Foundation.
Dr. Holmes will research Disabled Students Program and Services (DSPS) student Success Factors for Career Education in California community colleges. The project will examine how poverty cycles are broken by credentialing students with disabilities and preparing them for work through California community college Career Education and Instructional programs.
“I am very proud to represent LACC and be a part of this unique opportunity sponsored by the ECMC Foundation to help improve and advance postsecondary CTE research,” said Dr. Holmes.
During his fellowship, Dr. Holmes will participate in two national research training institutes, research methods webinars, work with CTE research mentors and conduct postsecondary CTE research.
Jeffrey D. Holmes serves as a Dean for Los Angeles City College. As a graduate of the Community College Leadership (CCLP) Doctoral Program at the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Holmes has over two decades of leadership experience in higher education at four- and two-year institutions, and has served on California State Advisory Committees assisting in the formation policy recommendations for disabilities and workforce related issues. Dr. Holmes has advised many institutions utilizing his expertise in ADA/ 504, pathways and career education. As a former tenure track faculty member, and administrative executive, Dr. Holmes has keynoted at national and regional conferences, while providing administrative leadership for Americans with Disabilities Act and the integration of policy planning, curriculum development, facilities planning, resource allocation, and accessibility for faculty, staff, and students through support, career and instructional programs. His presentations, technical reports, lectures, and books follow his research agenda towards student success outcomes, and pathway navigation,The Guide to Transition Students with Disabilities, and Broken Toys: The NCAA Community College Male Athlete have helped a number of high schools and colleges serve students towards achievement results.
March 21, 2019
By Lapacazo Sandoval
Contributing Writer
The facts don’t lie but it’s only been a recent shift that Hollywood brass has started to really listen. Insiders know the drill. Black has been on trend many times and then it fizzled out as if it never existed at all. Halle Berry spoke her truth; so to speak when former Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Elaine Welteroth interviewed her about her Oscar win (2002 win for “Monster’s Ball”).
“That moment really meant nothing,” Berry lamented. “It meant nothing. I thought it meant something, but I think it meant nothing.”
Fast forward to 2019 and the struggle continues even with the record-shattering success of films like “Black Panther" and the consistent box-office track record of producer Will Packer, to name a few. So it’s to Creative Artists Agency’s (CAA) credit that they are constantly looking for ways to make sure that those that are not represented or grossly underrepresented get their opportunity to leave their mark and make some serious money in the process, and the television and new streaming business is serious money.
Keeping the good news flowing in the right direction CAA recently launched the Showrunner Mentorship Program. It was announced in an exclusive article that appeared in Vanity Fair.
To make their case and really understand the market, in 2018, the agency launched Amplify Database, a searchable directory of more than 800 TV writers of color, in concert with the multicultural Amplifynetworking conference. CAA knew exactly how to change the game and in creating the Showrunner Mentorship Program, they are poised to disrupt the white-male boy’s club.
The talent Showrunner Mentorship Program is described as an initiative that pairs veteran showrunners with mid-level writers of color and that’s good news because CAA clients and showrunners Misha Green (“Underground”) and Courtney Kemp (“Power”) will be part of the team guiding the emerging writers from the agency, including Janet Mock (“Pose”) and Marquita Robinson (“GLOW”), through “the often problematic path to power.”
It’s understood that the transition from staff writer to showrunner can be more the just difficult. Showrunners are at the top of the TV pyramid, traditionally responsible for everything from a show’s creative vision to the hiring of writers, directors, and actors.
It’s big money on the line to the tune of $80 to $100 million dollars with many people working for you. Again, I lean into the facts. A recent report by U.C.L.A. sociology professor Darnell Hunt found that over 91 percent of showrunners of network, cable, and streaming programs during the 2016–2017 TV season were white—so finding a way to get more writers of color prepped for that top job seemed like a smart move.
In the vanity.com article, Luke Cage writer Matt Owens and Green’s mentee praises the program saying: “I don’t know how to run a writers room and be in the position of power. So hearing how she deals with it is incredibly valuable, even if it doesn’t end up being my exact experience.”
For Misha Green, the creator of WGN’s historical drama Underground and who co-created the forthcoming HBO series Lovecraft Country for HBO the CAA’s Showrunner Mentorship Program is a welcome and positive alternative to other initiatives that want to make diversity hires without actually listening to diverse voices. In many interviews, Green has expressed her frustration about the lack of diversity in the writers room and has underscored the importance of hiring multiple writers of color. Now with the Showrunner Mentorship Program, it's making the impossible, possible.
CAA head of multicultural business development Christy Haubegger has been vocal and on point for years. In the Vanity Fair article, she placed a proverbial highlight over the problem. “We still have people in the industry saying, “Oh, I couldn’t find [a diverse writer],” or “I didn’t know where to go,” CAA head of multicultural business development Christy Haubegger said. “I always joke that we have to kind of cut their meat for them. If you want people to do the right thing, you have to make it really, really easy.”
March 21, 2019
LAWT News Service
Sen. Holly J. Mitchell of Los Angeles today issued the following statement after being appointed to the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission:
“As a third-generation Angeleno, I value the role the Los Angeles Coliseum plays in our community,” Mitchell said after her appointment was approved by the Senate Rules Committee. “It is my hope that the commission will continue to serve the community and keep working toward improvements that will help our community thrive.
“The Coliseum showcases the best L.A. has to offer and has a promising future. I am honored to be a commission member.”
Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins of San Diego said Mitchell’s background make her uniquely qualified to serve on the commission.
“Sen. Mitchell’s experience running California’s largest family and child-development organization and overseeing the passage of two consecutive state budgets of almost $200 billion each will help ensure stability at the Coliseum Commission,” Atkins said about her nominee to the LACC. “Sen. Mitchell has consistently demonstrated unwavering commitment to invest in ongoing improvements for her community.”
The Memorial Coliseum Commission meets monthly and is comprised of six voting members and two ex-officio, or non-voting members, of which Mitchell is one. There is no compensation.
The Commission meets monthly and oversees the Coliseum’s lease agreement with the University of Southern California, which has day-to-day management and operation responsibilities for the 98,000-seat stadium. Located in Exposition Park, the stadium is adjacent to Mitchell’s District Office.
USC recently began a $300 million project to renovate and improve the Coliseum. It is the first major upgrade of the stadium in 20 years. Construction is scheduled to be completed later this year.
March 14, 2019
LAWT News Service
Victor B. MacFarlane, chairman and chief executive officer of MacFarlane Partners, has been recognized for his long-standing work in and commitment to urban real estate investment and development by the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce (GLAAACC).
Mr. MacFarlane received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Urban Real Estate Investment and Development at GLAAACC’s 26th Annual Economic Awards Dinner, which was held on March 8 at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
“I am deeply honored to receive this award. I thank GLAAACC Chairman Gene Hale and all of the members of the GLAAACC executive board and board of directors for their recognition of MacFarlane Partners and its urban real estate accomplishments,” Mr. MacFarlane said in accepting the award.
Mr. MacFarlane, who has 40 years of real estate experience, founded MacFarlane Partners in 1987 as one of the first African American-owned real estate investment management firms in the United States. He pioneered the urban investment concept among institutional real estate managers in 1996, when his firm teamed up with Earvin “Magic” Johnson to form the first institutional real estate venture dedicated to urban properties.
Since that time, Mr. MacFarlane and his firm have become industry leaders in urban/smart-growth development, having invested in $13 billion in urban properties that total eight million square feet of commercial space and 15,000 multifamily housing units in major cities nationwide on behalf of some of the world’s largest pension funds and institutions.
“When we started putting our urban real estate program together 25 years ago, we were looking to make the business case for investing in underserved urban areas—which we did—and things quickly took off from there,” Mr. MacFarlane noted. “Urban living grew wildly popular and the concepts of smart growth and sustainable development became more widely accepted. Looking back, it’s been very rewarding to have had a role in helping to reshape cities as places where we all want to live, work and play.”
In the Los Angeles area, Mr. MacFarlane has overseen investments in $4.5 billion in property development, redevelopment and renovation projects through his firm’s urban program. Past investments include the renovation and market repositioning of Ladera Center, an open-air shopping center in L.A.’s Ladera Heights neighborhood; the development of Hikari and Metropolitan Lofts, mixed-income rental apartments in the city’s downtown; and the development of the Hotel & Residences at L.A. LIVE, two hotels and residential condominiums that serve as the cornerstone of the L.A. LIVE entertainment complex downtown.
Currently, MacFarlane Partners is completing construction of two adjacent rental apartment communities across from Pershing Square in downtown L.A. The two properties, Park Fifth and Trademark, will consist of 347 and 313 apartment units, respectively, and a total of 12,800 square feet of neighborhood-serving retail space. Both projects are expected to welcome their first residents by this summer.
MacFarlane Partners also is one of three minority-owned real estate firms that are preparing to develop Angels Landing, a two-acre site on the east side of Bunker Hill, one block north of the Park Fifth and Trademark properties downtown. The firm and its two partners, Peebles Corp. and Claridge Properties, plan to build two high-rises that will include a mix of hotel rooms, retail space, rental apartments and residential condominiums, along with an outdoor public plaza and an early learning center. The $1.5 billion project is tentatively scheduled to begin construction in late 2021.
Mr. MacFarlane began his real estate career in 1979 with Aetna Life & Casualty Company. In addition to receiving the lifetime achievement award from GLAAACC this year, he was honored as Executive of the Year by the organization in 2008. He also is a past recipient of the National Inner City Economic Leadership Award from the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh, and holds an honorary law degree from the University of the District of Columbia.
Property developments in which his firm invested have won awards from such organizations and publications as the National Association of Home Builders, the National Association of Office and Industrial Properties, the Los Angeles Business Council, the San Francisco Business Times and Los Angeles Downtown News. Two such properties—the Hotel & Residences at L.A. LIVE and the Time Warner Center in New York City—earned the prestigious Global Award for Excellence from the Urban Land Institute, an honor bestowed on a handful of properties worldwide each year.
Mr. MacFarlane is one of the founding members of the Real Estate Executive Council, a professional trade organization that promotes the interests of minority real estate executives. He currently serves as an emeritus board member of REEC and on the advisory board of directors of the Robert Toigo Foundation, a non-profit organization that offers a leadership development program for minority undergraduate and graduate students focused on the field of finance.
Mr. MacFarlane also sits on the board of directors of Site Centers Corp., the board of advisors for UCLA School of Law, and the board facilities committee of Stanford Hospital & Clinics. He is a member and former director of the Pension Real Estate Association and a member and former trustee of the Urban Land Institute.
He holds a juris doctor degree from UCLA; a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Pittsburgh; and a bachelor’s degree in university studies from the University of New Mexico.