TRANSFORMATION, Equity, inclusivity: our reality

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Ausar Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) was initially founded in 1988 by then State Senator, Diane E. Watson, as Corridor Economic Development Corporation with a mission of developing and revitalizing affordable housing communities in the California 28th state senatorial district that were displaced by the building of the Century Freeway. The organization was initially funded by $1,500 - raised through a brownie bake sale. Since the original founding in 1988 approximately 1,800 affordable housing units were developed throughout the service area by “Corridor”. What made “Corridor” unique and allowed it to develop so many properties through the years was its strategic partnership with like-minded collaborators.

Whereas 2013 marks the year that “Corridor” is reestablished and reinvigorated as AEDC; we remain committed to the original mission: 

     - To construct and rehabilitate affordable housing units in underserved areas to help 

        promote community stability and a sense of pride; 

     -To increase the delivery of free social/community services and programs for youth, 

       families and senior residents.   

Today, our original purpose and mission has expanded to serve a larger vision and one that is more in alignment with the current times – the challenges and opportunities. We are now able to introduce new modalities of service and programs that result from years of investigation and education. We can now say more assuredly that we are in a position to “revitalize the physical and socioeconomic conditions of underserved communities” in a manner that is more effective and holistic. Our geographic area of focus has also expanded. While originally our focus area was limited to the 28th District, today our footprint is all of urban Los Angeles County with an emphasis on South Central Los Angeles, Greater Watts and other adjacent communities. Moreover, our current mission includes networking and collaborating with other similar organizations throughout the country in order to learn from as well as contribute to organizations and projects nationwide. 

Some of the new practices and modalities that we are pioneering and introducing to our community include Social Three-folding, Cooperative Land Banking, Complimentary Currencies and the practice of The Indaba, which is a forum that is designed to facilitate open and heartfelt dialogue and as well as collaboration between multi-stake holder communities. While these new modalities and practices are geared to the macro level of community development, we continue with our programs that focus at the micro level, or what can be termed the level of human development. These include, but are not limited to tutorial services, parenting classes, financial literacy and job training/placement.