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Sherri Franklin – Principal Partner
Sherri Franklin, a principal partner of Urban Design Center, has 18 years experience spearheading the development of quality economic development, community, recreational, housing and specialty commercial projects financed by city and state bond financing, federal grants, foundations, conventional lenders and private equity investors. As a staunch fiduciary agent, Ms. Franklin's primary life mission is to build the capacity of community leaders and organizations to effectively serve their dynamic communities on a long-term basis. She has the requisite expertise to provide insight, leadership and consulting on effective strategies to help her clients build both their physical and human capital. She possesses tactical knowledge of how each of her clients can utilize the myriad of economic reinvestment incentives and public policy initiatives to revitalize communities and bring their development and program concepts to fruition.
Ms. Franklin specializes in developing grant, subsidized and conventional funding for affordable housing, recreational and community development projects as well as program funding from agencies such as the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Allocation Committee, Federal Home Loan Bank Affordable Housing Program, the State of CA Department of Housing and Urban Development, the State of CA Proposition 40 Urban Parks Act and Murray Hayden programs, the City of Los Angeles Proposition K LA for Kids, the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, the Los Angeles Housing, Cultural Affairs and Community Development Departments and several private foundations and corporations.
Ms. Franklin has enjoyed long-term client relationships with several non-profit organizations including: Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles for the development of affordable housing and homeownership projects, the Center for Community Change for the provision of technical assistance across the United States and the Harbor City Harbor Gateway Boys & Girls Club for the development of their club facility. Urban Design Center’s current clients include: the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor, Variety Boys & Girls Club and Inner-City Arts as the development consultant for their new youth facilities, the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools for the development of their new charter school facilities, Culture & Language Academy for Success charter school for the renovation of its site and Angels Gate Cultural Center as the development consultant for their master planning efforts. Ms. Franklin is leading each of these organizations through the community, plan approval and development process while helping to strategically position each agency as a leader and stakeholder in the communities they serve.
Ms. Franklin has also provided planning and fund development consulting for several government agencies. She was contracted by CRA to facilitate the transformation of the politically charged Model Cities Franklin Square project from rental housing into homeownership opportunities for Watts’ residents as envisioned by former Supervisor Kenneth Hahn. She served as the lead consultant to the Community Development Department (CDD) to write the City's initial Empowerment Zone application after the 1992 Civil Disturbance. Ms. Franklin is currently serving as the resource development consultant for the City of Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency’s (CRA) South Los Angeles grant funded projects. She is a City of Los Angeles Department of Finance Agency approved business improvement district (BID) consultant and a City of Los Angeles Dept. of Recreation & Parks approved grant writer.
As an active community advocate, she has served as one of the youngest Commissioners appointed by a Mayor of the City of Los Angeles. In 1992, she was appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley to serve on the Board of Zoning Appeals. Subsequently, she was appointed by Mayor Richard Riordan to serve as President of the Transportation Commission in 1993 and, thereafter, a board member of the Los Angeles Housing Department's Rent Stabilization Commission in 1995. Ms. Franklin extended her quest to serve in public office in a run for City of Los Angeles Council District 8 in 2003. Ms. Franklin is a member of the Pacific Coast Regional, Small Business Development Corporation loan committee. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in Cultural Anthropology where she studied various cultures and economic structures.
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