Partners & Sponsors

PARTNERS & SPONSORS

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Many partners have made it possible to localize the SDGs in L.A. Our academic partnerships have been a force multiplier for that progress, and and have provided opportunities to introduce the City’s work to undergraduate and graduate students. These partners and the roles they play to implement the SDGs are outlined below.

SPONSORS
Conrad N Hilton Foundation The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation approached the City of Los Angeles and the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles with the idea to pilot implementation of the SDGs in Los Angeles. The Hilton Foundation catalyzed that effort with a grant to support the work of a dedicated fellow within the Mayor’s Office of International Affairs. The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation works to improve the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people throughout the world, with the ultimate objective of a society that has left no one behind.

PARTNERS
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The Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles (MFLA) serves as the administrative partner on this project, with project management and oversight by MFLA’s Director of Programs, Ilir Lita. MFLA is an independent, non-partisan partner that pairs private and philanthropic support with the City’s priorities to pilot new and innovative approaches to key issues.
The Office of the Mayor of Los Angeles The Office of the Mayor of Los Angeles leads this work through the Mayor’s Office of International Affairs and its Deputy Mayor, former Ambassador Nina Hachigian, and the Hilton Foundation Fellow on the SDGs, Erin Bromaghim. The policies, plans, activities, and initiatives that drive progress on the SDGs are developed and overseen by experts throughout the Mayor’s staff, including teams from Sustainability, Resiliency, Data, Economic Development, Public Safety, City and Neighborhood Services, Innovation, Economic Opportunity, Homelessness, Transportation, and Infrastructure. The City Departments ultimately enact these efforts, and are critical to realizing all SDG targets. Jeanne Holm, Deputy Chief Information Officer and Senior Technology Advisor to the Mayor, has been a guiding force to bring the SDGs to the City and build out the data and reporting structures that will tell us where we are succeeding and where more work is necessary. 
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The Data Science Federation (DSF) is a collaborative effort between the Information Technology Agency, local universities and colleges, City Departments and Elected officials to bring new ideas to City challenges using data science and predictive analytics. DSF was founded by the City of Los Angeles Information Technology Agency (ITA) to better inform social, economic, and policy issues.

ITA partners with 17 (and counting) local universities, City Departments, Elected Officials and other relevant agencies (such as Los Angeles County, Hack for L.A., and local tech businesses) to deliver data science solutions that help improve the delivery or efficiency of City services or information. A full listing on our partner universities is available online.

ACADEMIC COUNCIL
Occidental College Occidental College, through the John Parke Young Initiative on the Global Political Economy, was the first academic partner to join the City’s SDG efforts. Initiated by the John Parke Young Professor, Dr. Sanjeev Khagram, Occidental students formed task forces in the Spring of 2018 to kick off Phase 1, mapping the City’s current activities to the SDGs and creating baseline data for the project. Occidental and the Young Initiative will continue their partnership with the City through a new course to be taught first in the Spring of 2019. Occidental’s Young Initiative promotes economic, social, and financial policies and actions of public and social benefit, and allows students to undertake global research and internships, supporting the study of the global political economy and global affairs practice.

Thunderbird School of Global Management


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Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University has become a key partner for the City with the arrival of its new Dean, Dr. Sanjeev Khagram, in June 2018. Through the summer of 2018, ASU (via its Los Angeles campus) hosted 18 undergraduate and graduate students from four different schools to research and map activity across multiple sectors to the SDGs. Dr. Khagram’s multi-sector expertise shaped the City’s approach to implementation, and his personal involvement connected an additional network of practitioners to this work. He brought several featured speakers to the summer program, including the former International Executive Director of Greenpeace and new Secretary General of Amnesty International, Mr. Kumi Naidoo.

Since its founding, Thunderbird has been at the vanguard of international business and leadership education. Thunderbird is also a part of ASU’s “New American University” model, which defines the institution as “a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes, but rather by whom it includes and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves.”

The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)
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The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) WORLD Policy Analysis Center (WORLD), led by Dr. Jody Heymann, and with support from Nick Perry, Rachel Bleetman, and the Hilton Scholars program, supported five graduate students as part of the Summer 2018 SDG cohort, and continues to work with the Mayor’s Office on SDG-specific issues, including gender equity.

WORLD aims to improve the quantity and quality of globally comparative data on policies affecting human health, development, well-being, and equity. With this data, WORLD informs policy debates, facilitates comparative studies of policy progress, feasibility, and effectiveness, and advances efforts to hold decision-makers accountable. Through partnerships with organizations around the globe, WORLD aims to translate its global policy data into community- and country-level improvements.
USC University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC) Institute on Inequalities in Global Health convened the “Wicked Problems Practicum” in the Fall of 2018 to support the City by considering homelessness through the language of the SDGs and a human rights framework. Led by Dr. Sofia Gruskin, the Institute aims to work with partners to address health-related disparities and inequalities, taking a multidisciplinary approach to advance the evidence base regarding what works, train the next generation of leaders, and inform public policy. Jointly with the Mayor’s Office, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the UN Foundation, USC hosted the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 2018.