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Downtown Women’s Center: A FeasibilityStudy

Prepared for: Molly Moen & Margaux Helvey, Downtown Women’s Center Prepared by: Spencer Holtzman, Brillante Wang, Jimena Chavarria, Sarah HaugenSponsor: Los Angeles Community Impact, USC Marshall School of BusinessDate: Friday, November 11, 2011



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Table of Contents

Executive Summary ........................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.3

Comparable Market Space ...........................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.4 Los Angeles Public Library .......................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.4 Mercado La Paloma ...................................................................................................................................... ......... 5 Evenues.com ................................................................................................................................ ............................ 6

Room Analysis ........................................................................................................................................ 8

The Market ............................................................................................................................................ 10 Filmmakers ................................................................................................................................ ........................... 10 Community & Corporate Partners ................................................................................................................ 12

Cooking & Art Classes........................................................................................................................................ 12 Logistics ...........................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.13 Staffing ............................................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.13 Hiring Full-Time Employee ...................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.13 Employ Women of DWC as Servers and Staff ..................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.14 Use Volunteers as Support Staff .................................................................................................................... 14 Training & Paying Overtime to a Full-Time Employee ......................................................................... 14 Hire an Intern ............................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.15 Security .................................................................................................................................................................. 15

Parking……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………..16

Catering ......................................................................................................................................... ......................... 16

Appendix A: Survey............................................................................................................................. 19

Appendix B:Cooking Classes .....................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.24

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Executive Summary

After a semester of analysis and research, we provide Downtown Women’s Center with thefollowing recommendations;

1. DWC should begin offering room rental service to both community & corporatepartners and the greater Los Angeles community

2. Downtown Women’s Center should also market its facilities to filmmakers, cookingclasses and art classes throughout Los Angeles

3. In the short term, Downtown Women’s Center should develop a staffing planinvolving volunteers and a public relations intern

4. In the long run, in addition to the short term staffing plan, Downtown Women’sCenter should look to empower the women they serve by training them to functionas support staff, extend the role of existing staff members and look to hire anadditional full time staff member, depending on the overall demand for DWC’s roomrental service

Since moving into a substantially larger facility in December 2010, Downtown Women’sCenter has realized that a number of rooms are being heavily underutilized. As a result,Downtown Women’s Center saw an opportunity to offer a formal room rental service toexisting partners and the greater Los Angeles community in order to generate alternativerevenue streams to continue to grow their operations and the scale of services provided tohomeless and low-income women throughout Los Angeles. Our role was to determine thefeasibility of offering this service.

We believe that this is feasible.it is feasible for DWC to launch a room rental service. SinceDowntown Women’s Center already has the space, there is a relatively small opportunity

cost to offer these rooms for rental. Since the majority of costs associated with planningand facilitating events will be variable, we believe that it will be profitable for DWC to offera room rental service. However,While there are smaller rooms that may not be desirablefor DWC to rent out after hours, but the rental fee paid for most of the rooms will morethan cover any costs, namely staffing, associated with facilitating an event.

Included in the this documentThis document includes is an analysis number of comparablerental spaces throughout Los Angeles, our analysis of the desirability and profitability of the rooms that DWC has to offer, market segmentation including existing partners andother groups that DWC can market to and a number of details and suggestionsrecommendations regarding logistics.

We hope that our deliverable will provide Downtown Women’s Center with the necessary

knowledge to launch its room rental service. In doing so, we hope that Downtown Women’sCenter can generate additional revenue that will ultimately have a meaningful impact onthe lives of many women from the downtown Los Angeles Community. Comment [DTD1]: Really Good exec

Summary

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Comparable LocationsIn order to set prices and analyze the potential success of opening up the rooms at DWC forrental, we researched rental spaces as a means of comparison. Below are brief descriptionsof the sites that we have found to be comparable to DWC. We created an Excel graph moreto organiz the main characteristics from each location to better compare and contrast therental spaces available in the LA area.

Los Angeles Public Library The LA Public Library, located in downtown LA and approximately a 5-minute drive fromDWC, has rooms for rent and offers the area up for filming and other productions. Their

rooms are based on a minimum 4-hour use period, extra hours are negotiated with theclient. The library has a basic rental fee that can be waived for several reasons includingbut not limited to: holding an event free of charge that is educational, having aneighborhood council, a City of Los Angeles department or commission, county, state,federal, municipal organization or elected official hold it, holding an event activelysponsored or co-sponsored by the library or some other LAPL support group…There is alsoa reservation fee that can be fully refunded so long as the cancellation takes place with 30days’ notice. Additionally, when it comes to reservation the library, its major donors andsupport groups and neighborhood councils have priority. Much like what DWC does withits community partners, the LA Public Library works in close conjunction with the donorsand provides them with special offers for the use of their facilities. Finally, depending onthe scope of the event the Library may ask for a refundable damage deposit in addition tothe proof of insurance necessary to rent out a room.

The Library offers personnel available at an extra hourly fee at the discretion of the client.The staff includes: an event attendant services ($35/hour), security personnel ($54/hour),librarian ($50/hour), special events coordinator ($65/hour), audio visual technicalservices ($65/hour), custodial services ($35/hour) and a building engineer ($65/hour).Catering is not included in the services offered; however for a large enough event, anoutside caterer can be brought in. After some research, we found that the Library’s spacesthat are most similar to those offered by DWC include:

A) Mark Taper Auditorium LobbyB) Meeting Room AC) Board RoomD) Children’s Courtyard

E) Atrium Landings

Further information about these rooms can be found on the Excel graph in the appendix.


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Our findings from the LAPL revealed the structure of a much more rigid organization,however the results were just as valuable to draw a comparison with DWC. Although theirrooms are more expensive than those offered by DWC, it is important to note that theyoffer discounts to trustees and special donors or organizations that work alongside them.In this sense, we feel it is important for DWC to take on a similar initiative, offering andgiving priority to community partners and important donors. Another important element to take away from this comparable is their personnel system. They offer no catering andevery additional staff member must be paid for by the client. DWC has their complimentarysecurity and event planner and will potentially offer catering, thus obtaining an advantageover the services that the LA Public Library offers.

Mercado La PalomaAnother site of comparable rental value is Mercardo

La Paloma; a site that was developed by EsperanzaCommunity Housing Corporation in the aims of providing a forum of cultural and social exchange forthe community of South Central Los Angeles. Thistwo-story warehouse was refurbished, and todayhas retail, restaurants, a room for rent on the bottomfloor and an outside area that can be used as aparking lot or rented out for a large-scale event. Thesecond floor is devoted to several non-profit organization offices and is often used to displaywork of various community members likephotographs or paintings. Because the location of this market is not in one of the most affluent or

convenient parts of the city but is still close enoughfor Los Angeles clients to seek its rental spaces, wefind that it is comparable to DWC.









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The room on the bottom floor has carrying capacity of 71 people and is often used forworkshops and different classes held at the Market. Property manager Beth Weinstein toldus that availability varies greatly, but generally it is in use several times per week. Thisroom comes equipped with 10 tables and 70 chairs; a picture of the room is shown below.There is security on the premises at all times and catering is not offered by the center,however the restaurants on-site offer both catering and staffing if so desired by the client.Parking is free on weekends and after 3:00 pm on weekdays. Otherwise, it is $1.10 per hourup to a $7.70 maximum fee.

If the client were interested in renting theoutside space, parking would be displaced tothe DMV or to the streets. This outside area isequipped with tents and security, however it is only available during weekend because it require the Market to clear out the parkinglot. Additionally, both for the downstairsroom and the outside space, Mercado LaPaloma provides a 30-minute set-up and 30-minute clean up before and after the event.

For Mercado La Paloma we found that theyemployed a catering option that we hope DWC considers providing at some point. Both arenon-profit organizations, and as such both strive to help the people that they work with. In

the case of the Mercado, they offer catering from their tenants to from bring business to thesmall shop owners downstairs, employing not only their cooking staff for the meals, but also for the serving of it. We also noted that they prioritize the operational hours of theMercado over the events taking place; the outside space, for example, is only available onweekends because otherwise they would negatively affect the businesses inside by failingto provide parking for the incoming customers. It is important to note, however, that theydo offer parking for the guests on-site.

Evenues.comThe website Evenues.com also provides a list of comparable room rentals ranging fromconference rooms to terraces and community rooms. Below is a list of comparable sites;their price, room size/capacity, staffing/catering options, parking, address and reservationpolicy. It would be advisable for DWC to include its rental spaces in websites such as these

so that in the future there is greater awareness of the spaces available. From this site wefound that conference rooms rent out at an average of $41.25 an hour while larger event rooms have a larger range, rendering an average too much of a generalization. Price rangesdue to location and size. From this site we also found that all parking is offered free of







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charge, most lack a catering option and they have the possibility to rent out the space for

the entirety of the day. For more information, refer to the Excel table in theappendix.Comparable Rental Space

In order to set prices and analyze the potential success of opening up the rooms at DWC forrental, it is important to research similar rental spaces as a means of comparison. Beloware brief descriptions of the sites that we have found to be comparable to DWC, and furtherdown is an Excel graph more concretely drawing the main characteristics from eachlocation to better compare and contrast the rental spaces available in the LA area.

Los Angeles Public Library

The LA Public Library, located in downtown LA and at approximately a 5-minute driveaway from DWC, has rooms for rent and offers the area up for filming and other

productions. Their rooms are based on a minimum 4-hour use period, extra hours arenegotiated with the client. The library has a basic rental fee that can be waived for severalreasons including but not limited to: holding an event free of charge that is educational,having a neighborhood council, a City of Los Angeles department or commission, county,state, federal, municipal organization or elected official hold it, holding an event activelysponsored or co-sponsored by the library or some other LAPL support group. There is alsoa reservation fee that can be fully refunded so long as the cancellation takes place with 30days’ notice. Additionally, when it comes to reserving the library, its major donors andsupport groups and neighborhood councils have priority. Much like what DWC does withits community partners, the LA Public Library works in close conjunction with the donorsand provides them with special offers for the use of their facilities. Finally, depending onthe scope of the event, the Library may ask for a refundable damage deposit in addition tothe proof of insurance necessary to rent out a room.

The Library offers personnel available at an extra hourly fee at the discretion of the client.The staff includes: an event attendant services ($35/hour), security personnel ($54/hour),librarian ($50/hour), special events coordinator ($65/hour), audio visual technicalservices ($65/hour), custodial services ($35/hour) and a building engineer ($65/hour).Catering is not included in the services offered; however for a large enough event, anoutside caterer can be brought in. After some research, we found that the Library’s spacesthat are most similar to those offered by DWC include:

A)Mark Taper Auditorium LobbyB)Meeting Room AC)Board RoomD)Children’s Courtyard

E)Atrium Landings

Further information about these rooms can be found on the Excel graph below.

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taken their org into consideration very ca

when crafting your recommendations.


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compare each comparable space’s amenitpricing to that of DWC. You give a good

here of the spaces, but what are kind of th

takeaways from each comp?


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Mercado La Paloma

Another site of comparable rental value is Mercardo La Paloma; a site that was developedby Esperanza Community Housing Corporation in the aims of providing a forum of culturaland social exchange for the community of South Central Los Angeles. This two-storywarehouse was refurbished, and today has retail, restaurants, a room for rent on thebottom floor and an outside area that can be used as a parking lot or rented out for a large-scale event. The second floor is devoted to several non-profit organization offices and isoften used to display work of various community members like photographs or paintings.Because the location of this market is not in one of the most affluent or convenient parts of the city but is still close enough for Los Angeles clients of Los Angeles to seek its rentalspaces, we find that it is comparable to DWC.

The room on the bottom floor has carrying capacity of 71 people and is often used forworkshops and different classes held at the Market. Property manager Beth Weinstein toldus that availability varies greatly, but generally it is in use several times per week. Thisroom comes equipped with 10 tables and 70 chairs; a picture of the room is shown below.There is security on the premises at all times and catering is not offered by the center,however the restaurants on-site offer both catering and staffing if so desired by the client.Parking is free on weekends and after 3:00 pm on weekdays. Otherwise, it is $1.10 per hourup to a $7.70 maximum fee.



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If the client were interested in renting the outside space, parking would be displaced to theDMV or to the streets. This outside area is equipped with tents and security, however it isonly available during weekend because it require the Market to clear out the parking lot.Additionally, both for the downstairs roomand the outside space, Mercado La Palomaprovides a 30-minute set-up and 30-minuteclean up before and after the event.

Evenues.com

The website Evenues.com also provides a list of comparable room rentals ranging fromconference rooms to terraces and community rooms. Below is a list of comparable sites;their price, room size/capacity, staffing/catering options, parking, address and reservationpolicy. It would be advisable for DWC to include its rental spaces in websites such as theseso that in the future there is greater awareness of the spaces available. Comment [DTD4]: Maybe appendix

since it kind of screws up the formatting and is really dense. Then provide a summ

key findings of the chart here in the text.


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PriceRoomSize Capacity Catering/Staffing Parking Address

ReservationPolicy

Public Library:

Flat fee for

the first 4hours

No catering but thereis an hourly cost for

particular personnelto be hired

630 W 5th St. Los Angeles, CA 90017

30-daycancellation

noticeprovision

rk Taperditorium Lobby $2,500

Seated: 50peopleStanding:75 people

eting Room A $300 25 people

ard Room $750

ildren's Courtyard $750

rium Landings $2,500

ercado La Paloma

No staffing. Catering

is at client'sdiscretion.

Weekends and after3:00 pm: free.

Validation availableat restaurants

3655 S Grand Ave #

240 Los Angeles,CA 90007-4375

Reservationfee is non-refundablepay for ful

amount beforeevent

t floor room $25 hourly3,000 SqFt 71 people

tside Area/Parking

$450hourly-availableonweekends

20,000 SqFt

1,200people

enues.com

Brea Studio

$200hourly/$1400

daily

2,500 sq

Ft 150 people none offered free parking nearby

528 N LaBreaAvenue, Hollywood,California 90036

7 daycancellation

period

ef’s Kitchen

$35hourly/$275 daily 945 Sq Ft 80 people none offered free parking nearby

1519 Griffith Park Blvd, Los Angeles,California 90026

7 daycancellationperiod

nference Room-ankspaces

$50hourly/$300 daily 250 Sq Ft 12 people none offered on-site free parking

5405 Wilshire Blvd.,Los Angeles,California 90036


ent and Workshopace- Blankspaces

$150hourly/$1000daily 800 Sq Ft 100 people none offered on-site free parking

5405 Wilshire Blvd.,Los Angeles,California 90036


e Meeting Room LA

$45hourly/$450 daily 750 Sq Ft 65 people

In-house and outsidecatering available on-site free parking

2999 OverlandAvenue, #205, LosAngeles, California90064

Minimum 3hour rental. 7day cancellationperiod

wntown LA Studio

$70

hourly/$480 daily

1,200 SqFt 200 people

In-house and outsidecatering available free parking nearby

1835 South Main

Street, Los Angeles,California 90015

50% of deposit returned if cancellation is

made 14 daysprior to event

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Room Analysis

Recommendation: We recommend focusing on renting out the largest, most available

spaces, such as the Day Center and Rooftop Garden, as they would bring in the most

revenue and are profitable to rent out during non-operating hours. The Rooftop

Garden and the commercial kitchen are spaces that have unique qualities that might

make them more attractive. Also, when marketing the rooms, make sure to identify

unique characteristics to allow consumers to differentiate between the rooms.

Downtown Women’s Center has 6 rooms that they are looking to rent. The table below liststhe different rooms and their availability, which is a very important feature in determininghow attractive the room will be for potential clients. Also, please refer to the previous pagefor information on comparable rooms that are referenced below (color-coordinated).

Downtown Women’s Center has 6 rooms that they are looking to rent. The table above liststhe different rooms and their availability, which is a very important feature in determininghow attractive the room will be for potential clients. Also, please refer to the appendix forinformation on comparable rooms that are referenced below (color-coordinated).

The conference room can hold up to 35 people. It is 529 square feet in total and would bean ideal location for meetings, conference calls, presentations and any event not requiring alot of standing and moving around. The room is equipped with a projector and screen. It has a nice, comfortable atmosphere and is updated to reflect needs of people wishing to usethe space for conferences and meetings. This room would likely not need any additional

staff as it would mostly be used for meetings, which are likely to be held during the day.This makes the conference room a very attractive space to rent since it is available 64% of time during the day and would likely not require additional staffing to facilitate the event. Astrong comparable room to the conference room is the Conference Room– Blankspaces in

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Comment [DTD5]: How do these perwork? Is it the period of the time during eperiod that the room is free? Could you n

this in terms of hours rather than percent


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the above table. This space is significantly smaller than DWC’s rental space, so we’d expect

DWC to be able to charge in the range of $75-$100/hour for the conference room.

The Rooftop Garden is the open-air terrace with outdoor seating and views of downtown.This space is attractive, clean and inviting. It can hold up to 125 people and is 2,500 squarefeet. This space would ideally be used for parties or networking events. Seating is limited sothe space would be best for events in which people can stand and walk around. The space isunique because it is outdoors, but it is upstairs, which presents the problem of runningfood between the kitchen and the potential event , but we’d anticipate many of these eventsto be catered. Therefore, it is likely that the garden room will be rented with the rooftopgarden to create more space to hold any catering equipment. Potential customers wouldenjoy its unique atmosphere as something not easily found downtown. This space wouldprobably need servers as staff. For pricing, we were unable to locate a similar rooftop spacein Los Angeles, but the La Brea Studio is a similarly sized space which charges $200 perhour for use. The rooftop garden is more desirable given its unique view of downtown LosAngeles, so we’d expect DWC to charge a high price, in the range of $300-$400 per hour.

The Garden Room is the indoor room attached to the Rooftop Garden. It can hold 45 peopleand is around 650 square feet. This space would ideally be used for serving meals forcorporate partners during their service days, art classes and training events. It is attachedto the Rooftop Garden, providing the opportunity to combine the spaces for a larger event.Seating is available, which means people could sit and enjoy food in this room and perhapsroam outside to the Rooftop Garden after. This room would maybe need food service staff as well, depending on the nature of the event. The Meeting Room LA is a very similar spaceto the garden room, so we’d expect DWC to be able to charge a similar price of $45/hour.Since this is priced at a lower rate than some of the other rooms, it is likely that it would beunprofitable to rent out the garden room by itself after hours since DWC would need tohave a staff person on-site to facilitate the event. However, if the garden room is rented

with the rooftop garden, this would not pose a problem.

The Day Center is the biggest room at the Downtown Women’s Center. It is 1900 squarefeet and can hold 120 people. This is the large, open area that people see first when theyenter the center. There are many tables, making this space ideal for a large meal, event,class or seminar. It is attached to the kitchen, making it easy to serve food here. Meals aredone being served in the early evening, so clients could only rent out this space in theevenings and nights. This room would probably require security at the door as it is directlyconnected to the parking lot. Also, it would need food servers and perhaps someoneoverseeing the event as it would likely be a large event. Event and Workshop space – Blankspaces charges an hour rate of $150 per hour for a substantially smaller space. We’dexpect DWC to be able to charge in the range of $300-$350 given that it is a substantiallylarger space.

The commercial kitchen would be rented out to people who need to use it for catering orcooking classes. It can hold up to 15 people and is 690 square feet. It is an updated kitchenwith everything cooks would need besides the food. Parties held elsewhere in DWC couldutilize this space to make the food for the event. We discussed women working in catering



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in this kitchen for some events, otherwise the party would need to hire outside caterers

who could use this kitchen. It is a very attractive and useful space for those looking to makefood at DWC for events. The only staff required would be the caterers and perhaps theevent coordinator to oversee all functions. It could only be rented out after operationalhours. We’d expect DWC to charge a rate that is similar to Chef’s Kitchen, another localcommercial kitchen available for rent in Los Angeles. Chef’s Kitchen charges $275 for 4hours of use for cooking classes.

MADE by DWC is the small café attached to the center that serves sandwiches, coffee, etcduring the day. It also includes a gift shop featuring wares made by the women. The spacecan hold up to 50 people and is 952 square feet in size. Since the space is only availableduring the evening and doesn’t have a lot of open space, we don’t see this space asmarketable as the other spaces that DWC has. The space could be utilized to support staff and caterers when larger events are being facilitated in the day center and rooftop garden.

The Market

Recommendation: Market your room rental service to existing community & corporate

partners, as well as filmmakers, cooking classes and art classes

When thinking about different organizations, groups and businesses for DowntownWomen’s Center to target in order to begin generating revenue from offering room rentalservices, we identified the following groups as potentially viable target markets:

1. Filmmakers

2.

Community & Corporate Partners3. Cooking classes

4. Art classes

Additionally, we identified a set of criteria in order to evaluate these different entities:

1. Convenience

2. Consistency of Use

3. Price sensitivity

Each criteria is evaluated on a scale of 1-5 (1 being lowest):

Convenience Consistency of Use

Price Sensitivity

Filmmakers 1 1 1Community & 5 2 1(corporate)

Comment [DTD6]: How’d you get thtargets? Or what do they all have in comm

makes them attractive? I realize you go inmore depth on these later, but quickly tel

these are the ones we’re considering?


Comment [DTD7]: Same story. Howthese criteria?




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Corporate

Partners

3 (community)

Cooking Classes 2 5 3 Art Classes 3 5 4

Filmmakers

Downtown Women’s Center’s vintage facility, located in the heart of downtown LosAngeles, could be a very attractive filming location for filmmakers and thus a very lucrativeopportunity for Downtown Women’s Center. Whether for commercials, television shows,movies or any other form of media, there is constant film activity in Los Angeles, andfilmmakers typically pay a premium to film at a specific site or venue. However, a formalprocess must be understood so that Downtown Women’s Center can market itself as afilming location without hindering the services they provide.

When a filmmaker wants to begin filming, he/she will typically employ a location scout. Alocation scout searches for the ideal location for the film. Typically, for larger projects, thelocation scout will be a professional who is well aware of Los Angeles’ film locations or hasthe resources to find an ideal location, but for smaller projects, a person from the film teamwill often call around or search the internet for places to film. We have provided thefollowing sources so that Downtown Women’s Center can begin marketing itself tofilmmakers:

Craigslist – A convenient and affordable way to advertise DWC as a film location to abroader and more diverse market

Locationtalk.org/forum – An online forum where venues can market themselves andlocation managers can post requests for specific types of facilities

Reellocations.com – An online website commonly used by location managers to find avariety of available film locations. There is an annual membership fee of $99 for propertyowners to post a standard listing, and for an additional $25, your location can be includedin a weekly email sent to location scouts

LocationsLA.com – An online database that allows property users to post their locationsand location scouts find an ideal film location

After an interested location scout becomes aware of Downtown Women’s Center, they willconfer with the rest of the production team, and they will contact DWC once they decide to

use it as a film location. Once the filmmaker and location scout agree on the location, alocation manager manages the locations after agreeing to film at DWC. He or she looks aftergetting the appropriate releases and permits for your locations and makes sure that theproper insurance is in place. Permits are issued by the California Film Commission’s



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subsidiary, FilmLA. It is the responsibility of the location manager to apply for a filming

permit, so this should not be of concern to Downtown Women’s Center.

Since it is important that Downtown Women’s Center’s normal day-to-day operations arenot impeded, it is unlikely that major projects that span multiple days (or weeks) could befilmed there. A large film team with bulky equipment would likely interfere with DWC’soperations, so projects would likely have to be filmed at night or over the weekend whenrooms generally have lower occupancy rates. With that in mind, it is more feasible forcommercials, short films, photography sessions and other smaller scale production projectsto be filmed at Downtown Women’s Center.

As for pricing for filmmakers, it is difficult to estimate how much a filmmaker is willing tospend. It varies significantly based upon the scale of the project and the amount of timethey need to use the facility. Also, it will be dependent on whether or not the filmmaker isjust filming the outside of the building or if he/she needs to film in a number of different rooms. With that said, we did find a space that would be comparable to the day center.Monk Space LA is a space in downtown LA that is used solely to rent out to filmmakers. It isan empty 1,000 square foot warehouse space with an adjoining 532 square foot studio.Monk Space LA charges $395 per day for filming projects with a crew of less than 20people. Additionally, Monk Space LA charges $50 per hour for photographers with a crewof less than 10 people. DWC’s day center is ~25% larger than Monk Space LA, so we’dexpect DWC to charge this amount, at a minimum, for smaller scale projects. If thefilmmakers were to also want to use the rooftop garden, outside of the building or anyother part of DWC’s building, the project would likely be highly profitable for DWC.

Community & Corporate Partners

DWC currently has an extensive list of existing community and corporate partners. This is a

great network to tap into in order to both begin renting out the rooms and start spreadingthe word about the room rental service. Community partners would be interested in usingDWC’s space because many are located in close proximity to DWC. Also, DWC i s willing tooffer a discounted price since the organizations have similar goals and objectives, whichwould incentivize the community partners to hold events at DWC’s facilities since they’rereceiving a discounted price and also helping its community partner, DWC. Additionally,corporate partners often hold their community service days at DWC and request to rent aroom so they have a place to rest and eat during their downtime. In the past 11 months,community and corporate partners have requested to use DWC’s facilities close to a dozentimes, and by advertising a more formal room rental service to existing community andcorporate partners, this number would increase substantially.

Cooking & Art Classes

Once DWC begins offering a more formal room rental service, we believe that it is essentialto find clients that use the facilities consistently. Filmmakers may prove to be lucrativeclients and community & corporate partners are easy to market to since they already have

Comment [DTD8]: What defines som

“community or corporate partner”?


Comment [DTD9]: I’d like to see youcompare and contrast these potential targ

DWC can make a decision where to focu

efforts. Also, you should make your ownrecommendation on which target group i

explain why you picked them.




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an existing relationship with DWC, but both groups will not be using DWC’s facilities on a

consistent basis. By bringing in a client that will use the room at a designated time every 1-2 weeks, DWC will know exactly when they are coming in ahead of time, so there will be nointerference with its operations and there will also be a guarantee of incoming revenue.We have identified cooking & art classes as two groups that DWC can market its facilitiesto. Cooking classes will only need to use DWC’s commercial kitchen, while art classes couldbe held in the garden room, outdoor garden or day center.

For-rent commercial kitchens are not commonly found in downtown Los Angeles, sorenting the kitchen out for cooking classes could create a steady flow of income for DWC.Another local commercial kitchen, Chef’s Kitchen, charges $275 for 4 hours of kitchen timefor cooking classes. DWC can expect to charge a similar rate given the limited number of available commercial kitchens. Additionally, DWC could rent its room to art classes that need a space to facilitate their sessions. DWC has a number of spaces that could be used forthese classes which provides some flexibility given the size of the class. We have provided alist of art classes and cooking classes in the appendix, so please refer to that list for a target audience.

Logistics

Staffing

Recommendation: In the short run, hire an internship and leverage existing volunteers

to help plan and facilitate events. In the long run, if the scale of DWC’s room rental

service grows substantially, utilize additional staffing options

Staffing is one of the most important areas to address when determining whether or not it

is feasible for Downtown Women’s Center to offer room rental services since it will be thesingle most expensive cost associated with facilitating events. In order to determine a cost effective staffing plan, we identified the following as potential staffing options:

Training and Paying Overtime to a Current Employee

Since hiring a full-time staff member would be too costly and unwarranted because of low-demand, we believe a viable short term solution would be to use a current staff-member tofill the event manager position. This employee would be compensated in hourly over-timewages. This is obviously not a sustainable solution, especially if this business expands andmuch more time and effort is required to coordinate and manage the events.

The employee that we suggest you choose for this position is the current Event

Coordinator. We understand that she is already well-versed in the tasks that the event manager needs to satisfy (which can be found in the section above), and so naturally is anideal candidate. She would be filling this role for the first year, or until demand/revenueincreases enough to hire a full-time staff member.

Comment [DTD10]: Why these classspecifically? What differentiates them fro

classes?




17

However, we recognize that this is a very large role to be placed on top of the duties of acurrent staff member, so he/she would need additional support in order to maintainhis/her current role and take on additional responsibilities regarding room rentals. Inresponse to this issue, an intern should be hired to provide additional support.

Hiring Full-Time Staff Employee

We considered having DWC hire a full-time employee, which we will arbitrarily call event manager, whose job would include the following tasks:

•Monitor event activities to ensure compliance with applicable regulations and laws,satisfaction of participants, and resolution of any problems that arise.•Inspect event facilities to ensure that they conform to customer requirements.•Coordinate services for events, such as accommodation and transportation for

participants, facilities, catering, signage, displays, special needs requirements, printing andevent security.•Consult with customers to determine objectives and requirements for events such asmeetings, conferences, and conventions.•Meet with sponsors and organizing committees to plan scope and format of events, toestablish and monitor budgets, or to review administrative procedures and event progress.•Review event bills for accuracy, and approve payment. •Evaluate and select providers of services according to customer requirements. •Arrange the availability of audio-visual equipment, transportation, displays, and otherevent needs.•Plan and develop programs, agendas, budgets, and services according to customerrequirements.

However, since this is a new business that is just getting started, it is unlikely that there will

be enough demand to require a full-time staff member, at least in the short term. Afterdoing some research, we identified that the median salary for an event-planner typeposition is “$45,260” which is simply too high for the amount of projected revenue.However, in the long term, once renting out space becomes fairly more consistent, then it would be more appropriate to consider hiring a full-time event planner as a sustainablestaffing solution.

Employ Women of DWC as Staff

In order to relate this business more in line with the mission of DWC, namely the aspect of empowering the women they serve, the women of DWC can be asked to be food servers forthe events. This would allow the women who have little work experience an opportunity to

develop hard and soft skills (customer service skills, multi-tasking, ability to followinstructions, etc) that are necessary to find actual jobs outside of DWC. Being a DWC serverwill allow a woman not only to develop valuable skill sets, but also her confidence anddignity.

Comment [DTD11]: What kind of sa

DWC offer? What’s their budget? Can yo

sort of income projections based on the d

accumulated. Like a basic income statemsome sensitivity tables (If you operate at

capacity you’ll get this much revenue and

much cost, leaving you with income of th

operate at 80% capacity, you’ll get this, e

they’ll know exactly when to hire the full

Might be a lot of work, but could also be

(and I think you have most of the data alr

to go, just a bit of excel work)




18

To assist the women in serving, volunteers can be utilized. Without the women, it might not be in the volunteers’ best interests to devote their efforts to help the space-rental businessthat is not directly related to DWC’s mission. Therefore, by allowing the space-rentalbusiness to be an opportunity to empower the women, volunteers can then be asked tohelp. They would be directly working with the women, most likely by assisting in serving.

However, it might be best to first wait until the business becomes more established beforeasking the women of DWC to take part. DWC could train the women they see as most ableto function as servers and support staff in the meantime.

Use Volunteers as Support Staff

Downtown Women’s Center has an extensive list of nearly 2,000 volunteers. This is an ideal

group to tap into in order to have cost effective staffing at events held at the Center. Werecommend that DWC send out a monthly volunteer availability form so volunteers canrecord their availability and designate when they will be available to provide a support roleat events.

Training and Paying Overtime to a Current Employee

Since hiring a full-time staff member would be too costly and unwarranted because of low-demand, we believe a viable short term solution would be to use a current staff-member tofill the event manager position. This employee would be compensated in hourly over-time

wages. This is obviously not a sustainable solution, especially if this business expands andmuch more time and effort is required to coordinate and manage the events.

The employee that we suggest you choose for this position is the current Event Coordinator. We understand that she is already well-versed in the tasks that the event manager needs to satisfy (which can be found in the section above), and so naturally is anideal candidate. She would be filling this role for the first year, or until demand/revenueincreases enough to hire a full-time staff member.

However, we recognize that this is a very large role to be placed on top of the duties of acurrent staff member, so he/she would need additional support in order to maintainhis/her current role and take on additional responsibilities regarding room rentals.

Hire an Intern to Support the Events Planner

To help facilitate the planning and carrying out of events, Downtown Women’s Centercould hire an Event Planning, Hospitality, or Public Relations intern. The intern would beunpaid, but could receive school credit through his or her university. The intern could

Comment [DTD12]: When are they “

established”? When should they transitiothe women?


Comment [DTD13]: Will volunteers

this stuff? How to pitch it to volunteers?


Comment [DTD14]: Ok so are you

recommending they do this in addition to

other stuff? Or all these all just options?

mutually exclusive?




19

commit in the range of 10-20 hours of time per week, and would report to Samantha

Stanley, the events coordinator. Under Samantha, the intern could support event operations by contacting the parties to confirm details, assist in hiring additional staff,sending out invitations, organizing parking details, arranging catering services and helpingin any other way to ensure that events are run in professionally.

USC would be an ideal place to find an intern because it is the closest university toDowntown Women’s Center, and USC also has a substantial public relations program with anumber of students looking to receive work experience prior to graduation. USCAnnenberg has a career newsletter that is sent out periodically, so DWC could advertise theinternship position there and USC’s career database, ConnectSC.

Employ Women of DWC as Staff

In order to relate this business more in line with the mission of DWC, namely the aspect of empowering the women they serve, the women of DWC can be food servers for the events.This would allow the women who have little work experience an opportunity to develophard and soft skills (customer service skills, multi-tasking, ability to follow instructions,etc) that are necessary to find jobs outside of DWC. Being a DWC server will allow a womannot only to develop valuable skill sets, but also her resume.

To assist the women in serving and for the set-up of events, DWC should utilize its largevolunteer base. Volunteers would have great incentive to help the space-rental businessbecause they would be working directly alongside the women of DWC.

However, in order to prevent any negative occurrences from happening, it is important to give

adequate training to the women and set high expectations before asking them to begin on their

own. The amount of training needed to adequately prepare the women for this job is subject to

the discretion of DWC.

Hiring Full-Time Staff Employee

We considered having DWC hire a full-time employee, which we will arbitrarily call event manager, whose job would include the following tasks:

•Monitor event activities to ensure compliance with applicable regulations and laws,satisfaction of participants, and resolution of any problems that arise.•Inspect event facilities to ensure that they conform to customer requirements. •Coordinate services for events, such as accommodation and transportation forparticipants, facilities, catering, signage, displays, special needs requirements, printing andevent security.

•Consult with customers to determine objectives and requirements for events such asmeetings, conferences, and conventions.•Meet with sponsors and organizing committees to plan scope and format of events, toestablish and monitor budgets, or to review administrative procedures and event progress.

Comment [DTD15]: Good this chart

some of my questions, though it could be

better.




20

Early Stages

Utilize exisiting volunteers and

hire an intern to provide

support to DWC's Event Planner

in order to adequately staff

events.

Once Established

Depending on the scale of roomrental services, DWC should

employ an additional staff

person. DWC can also empower

women from the center by

training them to help at events

and utilizing the existing groupof volunteers and intern.

•Review event bills for accuracy, and approve payment.

•Evaluate and select providers of services according to customer requirements.•Arrange the availability of audio-visual equipment, transportation, displays, and otherevent needs.•Plan and develop programs, agendas, budgets, and services according to customerrequirements.

However, since this is a new business that is just getting started, it is unlikely that there willbe enough demand to require a full-time staff member, at least in the short term. Afterdoing some research, we identified that the median salary for an event-planner typeposition is “$45,260” which is simply too high for the amount of projected revenue. However, in the long term, once renting out space becomes fairly more consistent, then it would be more appropriate to consider hiring a full-time event planner as a sustainablestaffing solution.

Staffing Plan

Security

Since DWC is located right off of skid row, we want to ensure that any guests renting rooms

at their facility feel completely safe. In order to provide guests with a safe environment forthe events, Downtown Women’s Center should have security at events depending on thetime of day and scope.



21

By using crimemapping.com?, an online database that extracts crime data from local

enforcement agencies, we were able to attain data about crime around DowntownWomen’s Center. When looking at crimes that have occurred in this specific area sinceJanuary 1, we noticed that only 28% of crimes were committed during DWC’s operatinghours. As a result, for smaller events held during DWC’s operating hours, security shouldnot be required. However, for larger events, specifically those held after hours, securityguards should be employed to ensure the safety of attendees. Essentially, security shouldbe hired for any event where guests need to park 1+ block away from DWC. But for smallerevents during the day, such as a group of 15 people meeting at the conference room,security would not be required.

Parking

Downtown Women’s Center’s parking lot has approximately 35 spaces. During the day, anumber of these spaces are occupied by DWC’s staff, but they are not used after hours.Additionally, there is an adjacent parking lot that charges $4 per car with a similar numberof spaces. Outside of these parking lots, there are a number of other parking lots within a 2-3 block radius of DWC. For events with 40 people or less during the day and 70 people orless after hours, parking will not pose a problem. However, for events for 40+ peopleduring the day or 70+ people afterhours, a few guests will need to park at the other parkinglots located within the 2-3 block radius. For events of this size, we recommend that guestspark in the spaces adjacent to DWC and the additional guests park in the other lots 2-3blocks away. The guests parking in the other lots should be escorted by security guards insmall-medium sized groups in order to ensure they are safe. Since we don’t anticipate DWCholding any events over 200-250 people, parking should not be a major issue for DWC.However, for an event of this size, DWC could hire a valet or shuttle service to alleviate anyissues that may arise from limited parking.

Catering

If DWC plans to offer catering for certain events, we would like to propose the employment of physically apt women from the center to work the event as stewardesses, baristas, set upand clean up staff and even possibly chefs if the catering service is developed furtherenough. This would serve 2 purposes: cost-effective employment and empowering womenserved by DWC. Essentially there are three options for catering:

1) The client can choose a catering company to hire, DWC would have no involvement inthe cooking or serving of the food

2) DWC can offer to provide catering from the same food provider they use at their Madeby DWC café

3) The women at DWC in conjunction with volunteers or DWC staff can make use of thecommercial kitchen and provide a catering option of food made by the DWC women.Ideally, women would also engage in the preparations of the facility and in the servingof the food

Comment [DTD16]: The 28% numbereally ease my fears about crime. If you t

crime in DWC’s area is no greater than anelse in LA during daytime, then my fears

eased. But this is like saying that its safe

shark-infested beach during the day beca

28% of shark attacks happen during dayt

beach is still more dangerous than t he lan

its daytime or no, so I’d want to be in oneshark cages 24-7. Hope you get the analo

Also, the biggest issue is not whether its safe, but whether its perceived as safe by

customers. So the security guards may be

safety and more about peace of mind.


Comment [DTD17]: On their own ex

at the additional expense of customers?




22

Option 1 does not require much effort on behalf of DWC since all the catering will bedone out-of-house. Their only responsibility would be providing the catering companyhired a location for them to put the food and get everything ready. Other than that, thisoption would in no way engage the DWC women; as the following two options do.

Analyzing option 2 more in depth we find that DWC will need to ensure that theirprovider can cater to particular events knowing that DWC will make a commission from thesale. Staffing would mainly consist of servers and stewardesses. Ideally, we would proposethat women from DWC take over these positions. There would have to be a figure to direct the catering operations, this could possibly be a volunteer. Delving further into a system toget volunteers to cover several events, we could send out a monthly newsletter via emailwith all the upcoming events for the month, if there are any last minute-events and DWCdecides to take them on, then a notice will be sent asking for volunteers. If none is availablethen a DWC member will have to step in. If, however, events a re planned out within theappropriate time frame, volunteers will be able to sign up for different events throughout the month to “lead”. Volunteers would be given a group of women per event and their jobwould consist of direction and supervision. In this way, there will be a monthly calendar set up assigning a group of women and a leading volunteer to each event. In short, thevolunteer would make sure that catering offered by DWC and served by the women workedjust as well as any other company.

Option 3 would engage a similar volunteer system, however, given that they will be neededwith greater frequency and for greater periods of time, the DWC employees should have astaff member ready to work over-time if no volunteer can be present to supervise thewomen while they cook and serve the food.This form of engagement will employ women of the center not only making them feelvaluable, but also providing a gateway for the re-introduction into the workforce. Clients

would also have the opportunity to meet the women that they seek to help in holding theevent at the center.



23

Financial Analysis

Note: Since we haven’t received the survey results from Molly yet, we decided to not include a financial section since our analysis will be heavily dependent on those results.Once we have that information we will do our financial analysis and include it in the finalversion of the deliverable. Comment [DTD18]: Any sort of con

want to include? Sum up all the recomm

Plus I like to have a little “message from the end to thank them for letting you wor

them, invite them back to LACI, say how

learned/enjoyed etc. Up to you though.




24

Appendix

Survey

Downtown Women’s Center Survey

Downtown Women’s Center is looking to offer room rental services to community and

corporate partners to hold meetings, events, and social gatherings at its site at 442 S. San

Pedro Street in downtown Los Angeles. In order to provide its clients the best servicepossible, DWC needs your feedback. Please fill out the following brief survey so DWC can

design its room rental service to your liking. Thanks!

Background information:

1. What is the name of your organization? ______________________________________

2. Have you worked with Downtown Women’s Center before?

___ YES ___NO

If yes, what isyour affiliationwith them?

Room Rental:

1. If you were to consider renting space at DWC, for which of the following purposes might

you use it?

___ Meetings

___ Corporate Volunteer Events

___ Workshops

___ Networking Events

___ Fundraising Events___ Other Social Gatherings

___ Other: ______________________________



25

2. During what hours would you most likely be renting the rooms? Please check all that

apply.___ 9am-1pm ___ 1pm–5pm ___ 5pm-10pm ___ Other: ______________

Room Summary:

a) Conference Room – Ideal for meetings, presentations, or formal conferences

- 529 square feet - Capacity: 35

b) Garden Room – Ideal for classes, having meals, and training events


c) Day Center – Ideal for large training events, classes, and seminars



26


d) Rooftop Garden – With its beautiful view of downtown Los Angeles, ideal for social

gatherings, parties, and networking events


e) Commercial Kitchen – Ideal for cooking classes


f) Made by DWC – Ideal for social gatherings



27


1. Rank your interest in renting the following rooms (1 being highest, 6 lowest). Also, if

you plan on potentially renting the room, list what you’ll use the room for (meetings,social gatherings, classes, etc.) in the corresponding box.

___ Conference Room------------------------

___ Garden Room----------------------------

___ Day Center-------------------------------

___ Rooftop Garden--------------------------

___ Commercial Kitchen---------------------

___ Made By DWC---------------------------

___ 2 or more combined spaces (ie, Garden Room/Rooftop Garden; Commercial

Kitchen/Day

Center) -------------------------------------

3. How often do you plan on using Downtown Women’s Center’s room rental service?

___0-1 times per year ___2-5 times per year ___6-12 times per year

___12+ times per year



28

4. If DWC has limited parking space available during its operating hours (9am-5pm), how

large of a concern would it be to find non-DWC parking? (Please note: there is meteredstreet parking and $5-$7 lots one to three blocks walking distance from the Center.)

___ Large concern ___ Small concern ___ Not a concern

Pricing:

For each room, please indicate if you think the listed price is too low, too high or fair. If too

low or high, please note a fair price.

a) Conference Room - $75/hour

___ Too Low ___ Too High ___ Fair

If too high or low, list your preferred price:

b) Garden Room - $75/hour

c) ___ Too Low ___ Too High ___ Fair


d) Day Center - $475/hour



e) Rooftop Garden - $500/hour



f) Commercial Kitchen - $125/hour



g) Made By DWC - $250/hour




29


Cooking Classes

Elle A Cooking- 323.863.5532. http://www.elleacooking.com/

EATS- 310.824.3586. http://www.eatzla.com/upcoming_classes.php

Amanda Cushman- 310.980.0139.http://www.amandacooks.com/html/contact.htm

Chef Eric’s Culinary Classroom- (310) 470-2640. www.culinaryclassroom.com

Cashmere Bites- (323) 842-2470. http://www.yelp.com/biz/cashmere-bites-los-angeles-2#query:cooking%20class

Kidding Around the Kitchen- (323) 371-9269. http://www.yelp.com/biz/kidding-around-the-kitchen-los-angeles#query:cooking%20class

Taste of Pace- (213) 537-0056.http://www.yelp.com/biz/taste-of-pace-los-angeles#query:cooking%20class

Sushi Institute of America- (213) 617-8090. http://www.yelp.com/biz/sushi-institute-of-america-los-angeles#query:cooking%20class

Cast Iron Gourmet- (323) 540-4571. http://www.yelp.com/biz/cast-iron-gourmet-los-angeles#query:cooking%20class

Downtown Cooking- (702) 501-8661. downtowncooking.com

Venice Cooking School- (323) 932-1632. www.VeniceCookingSchool.com

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+Headings (Cambria)




http://www.elleacooking.com/


http://www.eatzla.com/upcoming_classes.php



http://www.amandacooks.com/html/contact.htm

http://www.yelp.com/biz_redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.culinaryclassroom.com&src_bizid=AgxH9Lh7O5xdYV_D7GBh4g&cachebuster=1318883481&s=6edec0dd897008fc47041dad1981b0f181b2be39a093a14bd1849cd7e9bec62a



http://www.yelp.com/biz/cashmere-bites-los-angeles-2#query:cooking%20class


http://www.yelp.com/biz/kidding-around-the-kitchen-los-angeles#query:cooking%20class



http://www.yelp.com/biz/taste-of-pace-los-angeles#query:cooking%20class


http://www.yelp.com/biz/sushi-institute-of-america-los-angeles#query:cooking%20class



http://www.yelp.com/biz/cast-iron-gourmet-los-angeles#query:cooking%20class



http://www.yelp.com/biz_redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdowntowncooking.com&src_bizid=6Yj9iqgK_YDRP2UWY-b2lQ&cachebuster=1318884192&s=80a50ec25bef86260b90ac73a7e37eff8b361523972dda79ee5230ca688d1a29



http://www.yelp.com/biz_redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.VeniceCookingSchool.com&src_bizid=wuS5pgkJ7H3rYqwXctT7fg&cachebuster=1318884226&s=f5683201899ebf5bcab86819e258f1d6938b0ce0aee4052b60e0e7b2abf88ae9















http://www.amandacooks.com/html/contact.htm





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The Gourmandise School of Sweets and Savories- (310) 656-8800.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-gourmandise-school-of-sweets-and-savories-santa-monica#query:cooking%20class

Chefs, Inc.- 310.470.2277.http://chefsinc.net/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&layout=item&id=22&Itemid=55









http://chefsinc.net/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&layout=item&id=22&Itemid=55







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