Leadership Studies

The Leadership Initiative
The study and promotion of leadership in Los Angeles is critical. The social diversity, political fragmentation, geographic density and laws passed to encourage civic participation (i.e. neighborhood councils) make Los Angeles an urban city that is constantly evolving and needing to respond to change. Each new or chronic issue, or crisis, stimulates the calls for leaders – individuals and organization with vision, plans for action and the abilities to spur others to join in collective action to achieve positive change. Research and real world experience shows that the “leadership matters” regardless of issue, environment, agenda or desired outcome.

The Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University is one of the few organizations in the Southern California region engaged in a study of leadership and its relationship to urban outcomes in the city of Los Angeles.

At completion, the Center’s signature study, “The Leadership Initiative,” will have established the largest action oriented effort that identifies the top 1000 leaders in Los Angeles and integrates leadership, research, collective action and outcomes across Los Angeles’s infrastructure.

50 Years of Political Diversity in Los Angeles, 1959-2009
This powerpoint presentation was given by Fernando J. Guerra, Ph.D., director of LCSLA and associate professor of political science and chicana/o studies, on February 12, 2009 during LCSLA’s Urban Lecture Series lecture, “Political Diversity in Los Angeles."  Fernando Guerra and panelists, Los Angeles City Councilmember Bernard Parks, State Senator Richard Polanco (ret.), former City Councilmember Michael Woo and Vice-President of Education and former L.A.U.S.D. school board member Mark Slavkin discussed the changing face of Los Angeles politics and results from phase one of LCSLA's study, "50 Years of Political Diversity in Los Angeles, 1959-2009."

“This is the most-detailed study of the ethnic backgrounds of the top 100 elected officials in the county of Los Angeles that has been collected, researched and analyzed,” said Guerra. “It gives an in depth look at the enormous political and cultural change that has occurred in Los Angeles in a relatively short period of time and the events and influences that have contributed to it.”  Phases two and three of the study, which are designed to explain these political and cultural changes, and the differences they have made will be conducted later this year.

Sources for the study and power point presentation include rosters for the California Secretary of State, the Los Angeles City Clerk, the Los Angeles County Clerk, Inglewood City Clerk, Huntingdon Park City Clerk, City of Commerce City Clerk, Pomona City Clerk, Walnut City Clerk, Glendale City Clerk, the Los Angeles Unified School District (L.A.U.S.D.), the Los Angeles Community College District (L.A.C.C.D.), the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Black Elected Officials, and the California State Assembly, State Senate and the United States House of Representatives; the National Asian Pacific American Political Almanac; and 25+ individuals involved in Los Angeles politics, many of whom were elected officials in the top 100 county positions.

The Health Leadership Initiative
The study and promotion of leadership and positive community life outcomes in LA is critical. Each new or chronic need in our communities demands that leaders - individuals and organizations - join together to achieve positive change. Never before has such a strong need existed for us to better understand how healthcare needs in LA, and throughout the United States, will be met. Research and experience show that leadership matters regardless of issue, environment, culture, agenda or desired outcome. While this is true, little existing research integrates the study of leadership and community outcomes within and across sectors in LA.

In order to promote effective leadership development, civic engagement, and advocacy of public policy in LA, LCSLA is creating a new evidence-base of healthcare leadership in LA that includes a profile of leaders, their networks, comparisons of their opinions to LA city residents', and policy and practice recommendations that can help to more effectively address the pressing health, mental health and substance abuse service needs in LA's communities. In addition to a baseline survey, insti-polls (cross-sectional surveys) will be conducted over time to seek leaders' opinions on pressing policy concerns. For example, leaders may be polled on how transportation problems affect access and equity of health, mental health, and substance abuse services for vulnerable populations, or how an environmental hazard in a particular community should be addressed. This study is funded by Kaiser Permanente.

Rebuilding the Dream: A New Housing Agenda for Los Angeles
This major study outlines key opportunities for leadership in addressing southern California’s critical housing shortage. The research has received wide coverage in the local media, is used by numerous governmental officials and civic organizations, and is now being used in five separate courses.

Meeting Regional Infrastructure Needs: The Role of Leadership
There is virtually no systematic research on local leadership in greater Los Angeles. A study by the Center to appear in a forthcoming book on Los Angeles governance describes how, through informal political practices, local leaders can overcome the region’s governmental fragmentation.

New Leadership: L.A.’s Emerging Majority
In collaboration with the United Way of Greater Los Angeles and UCLA, the center asked 100 top Latino leaders to identify the most important challenges facing the area’s emerging majority. Key issues identified in the survey – education, housing, economic development, public safety, and health care – were discussed at a Latino Leaders Summit convened at LMU. The Center is currently working with the United Way on a benchmark analysis of these issues.

The Insitute for Leadership Studies
The goal of the Loyola Marymount University Institute for Leadership Studies is to teach students about leadership, while preparing them for leadership positions. This involves a combination of academic and experiential activities.