Impact Acceleration Profile: Justin Szlasa
FCI's Future Communities Leadership Network operates through three key channels: conferences that bring stakeholders together, intimate gatherings that deepen collaboration, and an impact accelerator that nurtures value-aligned ideas. The impact accelerator is where innovation takes shape, where bold solutions are identified and built into programs that strengthen, streamline, and expand support for communities in need.
FCI's impact acceleration strategy is fundamentally about investing in leaders with compelling ideas: leaders who can see problems clearly and envision systems-level solutions. When FCI met Justin Szlasa, we recognized his idea as exactly that: a lean approach to a big problem with outsized impact potential, tackled in a new and collaborative way. We invited Justin to join us as part of our impact accelerator.
Through FCI's incubation, LAURA came to life, giving Justin the support to move faster, reach further, and think bigger about systems change than would have been possible otherwise.
Here is Justin's story.
Homelessness services workers across Los Angeles County face staggering burnout rates, limited career development, and insufficient support. Without investing in this workforce, the region's efforts to end homelessness remain constrained by capacity limitations and turnover.
Justin Szlasa recognized that solving this requires more than resources and policy. It demands a skilled, supported, and sustainable workforce. Rather than treating training as a one-time requirement, he built a comprehensive ecosystem with three interconnected pieces: hands-on training, career pathway development, and sector-wide infrastructure for workforce retention and growth.
In 2024, Justin founded the Los Angeles Unhoused Response Academy (LAURA) to operationalize this vision. The model works on three levels: the LAURA Fellows Program offers intensive, trauma-informed training delivered in Skid Row; a regional job board connects qualified talent with opportunities across the county; and comprehensive skills frameworks and leadership curricula support long-term career advancement and burnout prevention.
The first year demonstrates real progress: two cohorts have completed the Fellowship program, the job board is live and operational, and the career development infrastructure is ready to scale.
At FCI, we understand that investing in visionary leaders with the capacity to blend the best of what diverse sectors have to offer is key to accelerating systems-level change. By supporting novel ideas, we're helping demonstrate what's possible when you back the right leaders at the right moment.