Sherri Franklin

Currently, Sherri is serving as the: 

• Development advisor for The Letty, a 40-unit new construction affordable and workforce housing development planned for 4920 S. Pico Boulevard at Highland Avenue by Dr. Aman Abey; the

• Community development advisor to Pantheon Development for the planned 5.5 acres Stocker Street Creative sound and production studios being developed in South LA by impact investor 4S Bay Partners, LLC; the

• Development consultant on a third project for Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles’ East Los Angeles new construction office building; the 

• Owner’s representative and project manager for the complete restoration and renovation of the Blind Children’s Center’s Head Start preschool facility originally designed by Paul R. Williams; and as the

• Organizational development consultant for the growth and facility expansion of Harbor Community Health Centers in San Pedro.  

Additionally, Sherri is driving the development of her legacy project, The Shedrick, an 80-unit mixed-income mixed-use creative arts center being developed on Crenshaw Boulevard at 49th in partnership with CRCD Partners. 

Previously, UDC advised Legal Aid on fund development, New Markets Tax Credit capital acquisition and project management for their 50,000 sf Westlake area headquarters in Los Angeles and for their completed South Los Angeles Post WWII adaptive reuse office building.  

Under Sherri’s leadership, UDC procured state grants for the Inner-City Arts campus on Skid Row completed in 2008 and, for over 20 years, served as the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor consultant overseeing the grant development and construction of six of their capital projects. 

UDC procured several grants for historic preservation projects such as a grant from the Getty Foundation for the renovation assessment of Second Baptist Church in South Los Angeles, a California Cultural Historic Endowment (CCHE) grant from the State of California for the renovation of the Vision Theatre in Leimert Park Village and a US Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant for infrastructure improvements needed to support the companion AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles’ blue economy incubator project being development inside over 100 year old berths. 

As a noted Business Improvement District Consultant working to preserve the historic, cultural and economic legacy of African American communities, UDC was contracted by the Los Angeles City Clerks Department to form both the Central Avenue Historic BID and the Greater Leimert Park Village Crenshaw Corridor BID.  

In Sherri’s former work in the 1990’s, she served as the Western US housing & economic development consultant at the Center For Community Change, managed the formation of Concerned Citizens of South-Central Los Angeles’ affordable housing and economic development efforts and led them in the acquisition, financing and development of a 40-unit Low Income Housing Tax Credit development which was the first family housing LIHTC development to be built in South Los Angeles and the first to be built in Southeast LA in 40-years once completed in 1992.  

Sherri structured Concerned Citizens to go on to complete three additional LIHTC family housing developments and the creation of their acquisition and development plan for the Juanita Tate Marketplace developed on Slauson and Central Avenues in Southeast Los Angeles. 

Sherri is a 22-year member of the Pacific Coast Regional SBDC loan committee which approves California funded loan guarantees and a founding board member of Leimert Park Village, Inc. 

Sherri was initially appointed to the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce board in January 2019 where she now serves on its executive committee and as co-chair of its Government Affairs Committee (GAC). 

She is a member of the African American Historic Places, LA Committee organized by the Los Angeles Planning Department Historic Resources and The Getty.  Sherri is also serving as a lifetime Senior Fellow at the USC Marshall School of Business Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab. 

In 1992, Mayor Tom Bradley tapped Sherri for the Board of Zoning Appeals where she served as vice chair. In 1993, she was appointed by Mayor Richard Riordan to the Los Angeles Dept. of Transportation Commission where she served as President and, thereafter, to the Los Angeles Housing Department Rent Stabilization Commission Board in 1995. 

Sherri honed her skills in commercial real estate and finance working for Karsten Realty Advisors packaging acquisition opportunities being positioned for Japanese trust and US pension funds in the late 80s. 

Sherri received a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles and has been a California real estate licensee since 1989 and a broker since 1997.