Hollywood power players are paying attention to the nonprofit group Los Angeles Room & Board, which works to provide housing, meals and support to homeless students in Los Angeles.
“Room and board in Los Angeles is the model by which we should help each other”, singer and The voice vocal coach Stevie Mackey says The Hollywood Reportr. “They offer much more than a house. They offer a life with real and quality experiences.
Other supporters of the organization include writer-producer John Wells (EAST, Shameless, Housemaid) and his wife, Marilyn; actress Shanola Hampton; NBA star Jrue Holiday and his wife, two-time Olympic gold medalist Lauren Holiday; Bradley Whitford; Euphoria Algee Smith; and singer-songwriter Eric Bellinger. In February, founder and CEO Sam Prater appeared on The Jennifer Hudson Show to promote the association.
For Prater, nonprofit organization is one of his passions. Born in Detroit, the 12th of 14 children, Prater dropped out of high school before resuming his educational journey at the age of 23 at a local community college. While earning his doctorate in educational leadership and policy at California State University, he worked with the Dean of Students’ Office where he managed the Basic Needs Initiative.
While working there, Prater began observing students who attended events where meals were provided. “I noticed people were waiting in line and when we brought food, they would bring Tupperware and destroy the food,” Prater says.
He also expressed concern about the number of students dropping out of school due to poverty.
“At the end of the semester, they were like, ‘Hey, I’m going to take the semester off.’ [because] Money got a little tight. I’ll go to work and come back,” Prater recalls. “This happened over and over again. People dropped out of school, not because they weren’t intelligent, nor because they couldn’t handle the rigor of academic work – but because they had no shelter or food.
Rendering of the Excelsior house from Los Angeles Room & Board.
Courtesy of Los Angeles Room & Board
This problem is widespread throughout the region. In Los Angeles County, one in ten students at four-year universities is homeless or housing insecure. At community colleges, that figure is as high as one in five.
Room and board in Los Angeles, founded by Prater in 2020, aims to change that: one bed and one home-cooked meal at a time. The first Room & Board house opened in a former sorority across the street from UCLA. In less than two years, the organization has grown from housing and feeding 15 students to having 190 beds available in four houses across Los Angeles, primarily for students attending community colleges.
There are now four Room & Board halfway houses in Los Angeles “We tried to create spaces…
