The Pico Union Project, a nonprofit rooted in Jewish values that works with unhoused residents, immigrant families and other neighbors in the community, is getting new leadership after its founders announced Tuesday they will step down from their roles at the nonprofit.
Co-founders Craig and Louise Taubman said they will step away from the daily operations of the organization they started in 2013.
“I am doing it now because I can,” Craig Taubman said about stepping down. “It’s a good time. It’s a good time for the organization, it’s a good time for me.”
Taubman said his decision to step aside follows years of reflecting on how the organization has grown.
“I’ve learned that Michelle Obama was right. It really does take a village,” he said. “The more that I stepped back, the more powerful the organization was. The more I let others lead, the stronger it got.”
Although he will step away from daily leadership, Taubman said he plans to remain involved with the organization, particularly through its art programming.
“I’m a musician,” he said. “I hope to be making more music and have more influence in programming at the Pico Union Project artistically.”
The nonprofit’s programming includes wellness initiatives, food distribution, arts and education programs and cultural events. One of its most visible programs is their weekly Vida Sana farmers market, where families can receive fresh produce, packaged food and prepared meals for free.
The event also offers health services such as vaccinations, vision care and mental health support.
Serena Oberstein, former board member with the nonprofit, will serve as interim executive director while the organization moves through the transition. She also co-founded 10th Street Strategies, a consulting firm that works with advocacy groups.
Oberstein said her decision to take on the interim leadership role reflects both her professional background and her connection to the organization’s mission.
“I’m a lifelong Angeleno, and my parents are public school teachers,” she said. “From a really young age, I understood the privilege of having access to an education and also the importance of creating space to amplify other people’s voices.”
She added that much of her career has focused on poverty and civil rights issues.
“I’ve spent my career working in poverty alleviation and civil rights and civil liberties, all rooted in my Jewish values,” she said.
The nonprofit is based in a building built in 1909 and is the oldest synagogue-era structure in Los Angeles, according to the organization. The site once housed a Jewish synagogue, and the organization says its work continues to be shaped by Jewish teachings, like welcoming strangers and caring for neighbors.
Beyond food distribution, the organization hosts year-round classes in music, art, entrepreneurship and parenting, and runs outreach efforts for unhoused residents in the surrounding area.
Over the years, the Pico Union Project has built relationships with residents through its programs, Taubman said, and he pointed to several people who first came to the organization for help and later became part of the community.
One example, he said, was a man who had been living on the streets nearby while struggling with addiction. After stabilizing his life with help from a local pastor, Taubman said the man later worked with the organization for about two years, helping clean neighborhood streets and helping with outreach.
Another example is a man who first came to the Pico Union Project during a heat wave when the nonprofit opened a cooling center for residents. Taubman said he started volunteering and getting unhoused people to attend the organization’s Vida Sana event.
Taubman said those kinds of relationships are part of the essence of the organization’s work.
“You cannot solve the unhoused problem without being in relationship with the unhoused community,” he said.
Based in a neighborhood with a large immigrant population, the Pico Union Project has also tried to create a space where residents feel safe accessing services during periods of heightened ICE activity.
Oberstein recalled a recent incident during the nonprofit’s weekly food distribution event when staff feared immigration agents might be nearby.
On March 5, as hundreds lined up for the Vida Sana event, a black SUV with government-style plates briefly stopped near the entrance, prompting staff to bring people inside out of caution, Oberstein said. Officers in tactical gear later arrived but said they were with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department gang unit, not immigration agents.
Yet Pico Union Project staff kept the roughly 250 to 300 people waiting for food inside, an incident Oberstein said reflects the anxiety many immigrant families are experiencing.
The nonprofit has also hosted events with the goal of strengthening ties between Jewish and Muslim communities. Recently it hosted an iftar gathering organized by NewGround, a group focused on Jewish-Muslim dialogue.
“When the world feels so divisive, our inclination is to turn inward,” Oberstein said. “Pico Union is this place where we’re reaching outward and we’re building community and we’re holding each other up.”
Looking ahead,Taubman said the nonprofit’s success will depend on continuing to build and maintain relationships in the community.
“Like a tree, relationships need to be nurtured over time,” he said. “If Serena nurtures the old ones, adds the new ones, and weeds out the relationships that are not working, then the garden will keep growing.”