Dear Honorable Judge Neil Bason:

I write this letter in support of Special Needs Network’s efforts to purchase  the FAME Renaissance building at 1968 West Adams Blvd. and its adjacent parking lot. As a community member and business leader, I am distraught by the news of the bankruptcy trustee’s acceptance of  a developer’s offer to purchase the building and parking lot. 

In the early 1990s, federal, state, local and private entities joined forces to ensure that the FAME Renaissance building would fulfill the vision of the late iconic pastor and civic leader Rev. Cecil L. Murray, providing space, technical support and funding to Black and brown small business owners. This innovative incubator—the first black-led initiative of its kind in Los Angeles—became a beacon of light and hope for a community devastated by the civil unrest of 1992. 

In 2023, Special Needs Network made the FAME Renaissance building the hub of its groundbreaking CORE workforce development program after it was awarded $7M from the California Department of Developmental Services to build out a pipeline of professionals to work with individuals with special needs. SNN was at that time, and continues to be, the largest tenant in the building. 

In addition to its CORE program, SNN uses the facility as a training center for hundreds of behavioral technicians and therapists that provide tens of thousands of hours of in-home and center-based therapy to children and teens with autism and behavior health needs. 

More than 300 staff currently utilize the building weekly for training.  

As an African American led nonprofit with over 500 employees, 99 percent who are people of color, and with over 25 community-based programs focused on health, wellness and economic empowerment for disadvantaged minorities and individuals with disabilities, SNN’s use of the building is completely aligned with the vision of Rev. Murray. 

Now, just as SNN has received an additional $11M grant from the state of California to extend its groundbreaking workforce development program and as it is expanding its autism behavioral intervention services across the state, it has learned it may soon be displaced—and a building that has played an extraordinary role in the city’s history of striving for racial justice may see its legacy erased.

It would constitute a major hardship on Special Needs Network and the community If SNN is denied the opportunity to purchase the FAME Renaissance building and adjacent lot, and the developer’s contract with the trustee goes forward. Relocating would disrupt the services to the thousands of families SNN serves. Further, the purchase of the building by the developer will upend the work of many organizations and erase decades of progress.

South Los Angeles has already lost to developers several iconic buildings relied on by nonprofits, including a building previously owned by the Los Angeles Urban League. The FAME Renaissance building should not become another example of gentrification and the displacement of people of color when it could instead continue to safeguard Los Angeles neighborhoods against illness and poverty and further the goals of the visionaries who made its legacy possible. 

Like our community members themselves, FAME Renaissance deserves a bright future where it contributes to the success of Los Angeles and the state of California. 

Thank you.