Revisiting the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative (LANI)

The dual public policy tensions of people prosperity versus place prosperity and need-based versus asset-based approaches to community development provide a conceptual framework to evaluate the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative. In 1994, this thirty-month program set out to revitalize eight inner-city Los Angeles neighborhoods through technical assistance and seed money. Three distinct categories capture the observed discrepancies among the communities that aimed to sustain revitalization efforts. The emergent themes emphasize consensus building (enhancing social capital or networks of trust and reciprocity), image building (short-term visible improvements to restore pride and confidence), and capacity building (leveraging resources with outside funds by joining public private partnerships).