LAUSD's Adult Education Division and MacArthur Park Developer Sign a Memorandum of Understanding with NSBN

December 21, 2004

LAUSD's Adult Education Division and MacArthur Park Developer Sign a Memorandum of Understanding with NSBN - Agreeing to Collaborative Plan A Joint-Use Education, Retail, and Housing Complex Above Metro Rail Line.

Los Angeles – On December 21, 2004, the Adult & Career Education Division of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) joined with the MacArthur Park Metro LLC in signing a Memorandum of Understanding with New Schools Better Neighborhoods (NSBN). The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Agency and L.A. City Councilman Ed Reyes' office, while not signatories to this MO U , are supportive of the MOU partners' planning efforts.

NSBN, in the MOU, commits to retaining planning and architectural professionals to assist the parties in collaboratively assessing, with community input, the feasibility of integrating early education and an Adult Education and Career component into the planned MacArthur Park housing and retail development project. The proposed joint-use development sits atop of the existing Alvarado-MacArthur Park Metro Rail Station.

MacArthur Park is a high need dense community. Eighty-two percent of the population is Latino with majority households earning less that $25,000 year. Approximately 40% of families in the area have children between the ages of 0-5, 13% above the countywide average. Within the adult population , 68% have less than a 12th grade education level . The ultimate beneficiary of this type of collaboration in planning is the community which will get multiple needs met through the development of one multi-use community oriented facility.