LOS ANGELES, CA – Safe Parking LA is delighted to announce the appointment of our co-founder Emily Uyeda Kantrim as its Interim Executive Director.

Emily, a fourth-generation Angeleno, served as the first employee of Safe Parking LA in 2017, where they played a pivotal role in developing program logistics and safe parking initiatives in Los Angeles County.

In 2020, Emily directed the county-wide COVID Response Team, a groundbreaking effort that provided essential support to Los Angeles County’s homeless population during the pandemic. This LA County initiative is considered the largest mobile COVID response in the United States, spreading across 4,800 square miles and providing 1.3M in-field tests and 44,397 vaccinations.

We believe this breadth of experience represents the skills, talent, and sensitivity needed to see our organization through this leadership transition. We are confident that when you meet Emily, you will share our optimism and hope for continued impact and greater responsiveness to the current homelessness crisis.

We also want to take a moment to thank the dedicated team of staff, board members, volunteers, and partners who work together day after day to reduce homelessness and ensure that every Angeleno has access to safe and supportive resources. Safe Parking LA looks forward to a future of continued growth and positive impact under Emily’s leadership.

“At the confluence of the eviction tsunami, the multiple industry labor strikes, and the end of student loan forbearance, Safe Parking LA serves as an educator, advocate, and front door for people falling into homelessness for the first time. What we knew about housing insecurity before the pandemic has only been continually borne out in the subsequent data, strengthening our resolve to bring resources and options that shorten someone’s experience in homelessness by ending isolation, attending to the autonomy of our participants, and continuing to build robust temporary support that can identify pathways to stability in housing.”