The Crenshaw District neighborhood in Los Angeles has long been recognized as the city’s vibrant center of Black culture. Yet it is also emblematic of many Black communities across the country facing threats of displacement in the name of community revitalization. Harnessing and channeling the energy of the creative economy can provide local populations the ability to shape how these forces manifest on the ground. Yet the contributions of its creative ecosystem had never been quantified, which meant the full value of the local creative economy was not clearly understood.

Destination Crenshaw, a South Los Angeles organization dedicated to the revitalization, stabilization, and creation of a job-producing hub for culture and entertainment along the Crenshaw Corridor, engaged CVL Economics to produce a study on the local creative and cultural economy. In addition to developing baseline metrics for the Crenshaw District’s creative sectors, workers, and residents, we conducted economic and fiscal impact assessments to quantify output and value generation, carried out comparative neighborhood analyses, facilitated numerous industry and community focus groups, and provided numerous recommendations for to promote stronger creative economic, workforce, and ecosystem development.