Ezrach Brain Trust Association

Ezrach Brain Trust Association is applying for the Elevate Prize to expand our desire to develop responsibly made footwear called RE-ACH Boots that will reduce the carbon footprint and support our initiative to provide professional workforce development throughout the South LA community. In this effort EBTA has partnered with the Art Center College of Design and Social Innovation department, Design matters to develop the RE-ACH Boot.  This will serve as a strategic blueprint to surge economic growth and leverage the resources of community and faith-based organizations. This initiative will provide boots for the “New American Dream”.

It is our goal to utilize the Elevate Prize award to solidify our design and production of the RE-ACH Boots. In addition, EBTA plans to utilize the prize money to support our efforts in designing targeted workforce development programming, creating employment opportunities, and reducing the carbon footprint in Los Angeles County Service Planning Area 6 (SPA 6).

My name is Daniel Ferguson, Leimert Park native and proud to be Co-Founder and CEO of Ezrach Brain Trust Association. I am a workforce development practitioner, minister, father, husband with a personal mission to help others realize their full potential. In 2016, Ezrach was birthed out of a visit to my local barbershop. Saturday morning, I walked into the barbershop with a vision from the previous night and said, “Ezrach”. Shaahid, Co-Founder and Chief Thought Officer replied, “what is Ezrach?”. I replied, “it means, a native born person with indigenous roots to the land” and since then, our vision still remains the same, to change the trajectory of underserved communities one idea at a time. 

Ezrach’s purpose is to convene a group of thought leaders that will plan and create initiatives, as well as maintain a positive trajectory for underrepresented communities. Ezrach is fortunate to have formed an Advisory Board of thought leaders that push our mission forward with a goal to provide Boots for the New American Dream. More Specifically, EBTA has outlined the following goals: 

• Manufacture 100,000 Boots 

• Train and hire 50 of community members 

• Reduce Carbon emissions in Leimert Park by 20%

Ezrach Brain Trust Association is launching an economic and environmental resiliency plan to combat chronic unemployment, eradicate financial illiteracy and mitigate unhealthy city conditions in South Los Angeles. Ezrach’s plan to launch the initiative by leveraging social media and news outlets; create a landing page; and leverage influencers and community partners to build hype around the project and its economic and environmental benefits. 

 Ezrach’s program initiatives are designed to be endorsed by and housed in local churches and organizations that are already successfully serving the Leimert Park community. These alliances provide an organic blueprint and spring-board for addressing challenges like reducing unemployment, increasing financial environmental literacy, while mitigating the impact of long-standing inequities. Ezrach, with the support of our strategic partnerships has both the ability and the infrastructure to innovatively address issues of climate change and poor air quality in marginalized communities. Ezrach has developed and nurtured grassroots relationships as well as strategic access to carry out the purpose of the Elevate Prize, which is to amplify the work of community leaders for social good, drive change together, and awaken the hero in all of us.

Ezrach considers our solution to be innovative and disruptive because at the core of our project design, we are seeking to engage an underrepresented and undeserved community in our process from inception to execution and beyond. We will closely manage our innovative idea to ensure that is a solution that fully embraces the community and encourages their valuable input. Once the RE-ACH boot is prototyped, the boot will undergo initial user evaluation and refinement. When ready to go to market, the boot will be manufactured locally. Ezrach’s year 1 goal is to create over 50 green jobs, bridge the wealth gap, and reduce carbon emissions in Leimert Park by 20% in the first year of the boots release. Our vision for the project is to produce a working prototype of the RE-ACH Boot and engage the community in educational workshops. 

Ezrach’s has already identified strategic partners that include the Los Angeles Department Water & Power, the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator and Destination Crenshaw to support the production and education of the RE-ACH Boot community. Additionally, we are currently working to engage the California Air Resources Board, the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator and Grid110 which exhibit similar values and goals.

Ezrach, through its economic and environmental resilience plan will impact our communities by   Building a Talent Pipeline through professional and workforce development programming (training); create jobs through sourcing natural resources (materials) and manufacturing footwear locally; and reducing the carbon footprint by utilizing promoting carbon reduction education. 

 Ezrach will institute a 4-phase process in order to achieve our planned impact, which will include: 

• Hosting educational webinars to provide circular economy education

• Create job placement opportunities

• Reducing carbon emissions through responsible sourcing 

• Provide pre and post surveys to stakeholders in the community to evaluate our impact and effectiveness of this project

The Ezrach Year 1 key performance indicators for the RE-ACH Boot project include: 

1. Offering Carbon Footprint and Product Development Education

2. 25% increase in carbon emission awareness

3. 25% increase in food waste pollution and composting awareness

4. 25% increase in how to identify responsibly sourced materials and products 

5. Community Engagement: 

6. 250 community members will attend the ABC’s Education Courses

7. 750 households and businesses will adopt sustainability practices i.e. composting, purchasing sustainable products.