Throughout the past month, we checked in with our 2025 grantees to learn how their funded programs, projects, and initiatives are progressing – and to better understand the impact they’re making across Los Angeles. Now, we are excited to share these interviews, with stories of growth, challenges, and community transformation. [Find each of their stories here.]

Neococo Collective received funding through the LA2050 Grants Challenge from the Goldhirsh Foundation to support its work building economic resiliency for resettled women through trauma-informed care, language support, financial support, and entrepreneurship pathways. Below is an edited transcript of our conversation with their team.

Interview Participant: Amrita Thadani, Founder

LA2050: How have wraparound services (trauma informed care, language support, and financial support) reinforced your work building economic resiliency for resettled women?

Necoco Collective: Wraparound services have been critical to participant retention and progress. Trauma-informed care, in particular, has helped build trust and ensure that participants feel safe and supported within the program environment. One example was a participant who was seeking extra work and was connected to a sewing teaching opportunity through another arts organization. During her first interview, she experienced a trauma response and was unable to complete the process. With more intentional preparation and support from her caseworker, she was later able to complete the interview successfully and now works with that organization as well. Experiences like this have reinforced how important it is to have caseworkers present as participants navigate new opportunities.

Language support has also played a major role. Through ESL, bilingual instruction, and onboarding materials available in multiple languages, the program is more accessible and responsive to participant needs. Around 80% of our participants have demonstrated increased confidence in communicating not only with staff, but also with caseworkers, which in turn helps us better understand participants’ goals and how they want to move forward. Financial support has also reduced barriers by making participation more predictable and sustainable. As a result, participants are attending more regularly, engaging more deeply, and gaining confidence toward greater financial independence.

LA2050: How are your participants progressing toward launching businesses through the Neococo Empowerment and Funding Programs?

Necoco Collective: Participants are at an exciting stage and making strong progress toward launching their own business pathways. We are hosting a business and financial planning webinar to support participants who have expressed interest in developing their own business ideas, and it is currently working closely with three participants in particular. One participant, a crochet artist, has already enrolled in a business planning program at a community college. We are supporting her as she learns how to price her work in a way that reflects the time and labor involved in creating each product.

We are also helping participants gain real-world selling experience through seasonal markets in the summer and leading up to the holidays. When invited to participate, we sign participants up under its umbrella and show up in person to support them as they engage with customers, respond to questions, and navigate the practical realities of running a small business. That includes learning how to handle unexpected requests, such as custom orders or shipping questions. In addition to the crochet artist, two other women are moving through the funding program to develop their own products. At the same time, we continue to support participants whose next step may be education rather than entrepreneurship, including one participant pursuing medical imaging coursework at community college.

LA2050: What do you hope to achieve in the last six months of the grant, and how can the broader LA2050 community support?

Necoco Collective: We are focused on increasing participant earnings and creating more consistent income opportunities for the artists in its program. We are aiming for about a 30% increase in sales by the end of the year by expanding sales channels across platforms. At the same time, it is working to strengthen its onboarding structure so participants clearly understand program expectations, attendance policies, benefits, and legal and tax considerations from the beginning. This is especially important given challenges such as tax season and the potential loss of government assistance, which can create discouragement if participants are not fully prepared. To support this work, we’ve developed multilingual webinars, continue to offer ongoing guidance, and regularly survey participants to better understand their needs.

We are thinking beyond internal program delivery and toward public education. In a moment shaped by misinformation and uncertainty, it feels especially important to help the public connect with real stories from impacted communities. On May 28, we are hosting an event at Oxy Arts in partnership with a resettlement agency, where participants will share cultural art pieces reflecting their journeys to the United States alongside the products they have developed through the program. In terms of how the broader LA2050 community can help, access to pro bono legal support would be especially valuable, particularly as some participants face urgent immigration-related challenges. Overall, we have seen tremendous progress over the past year and are focused on building on that momentum.

Photo Credit: Neococo Collective