History of the Los Angeles Urban Project

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LAUP began in 1981 as the Pasadena Youth Program (PYP) under the leadership of African-American InterVarsity staff Paul Gibson. The first summer, Paul had only one student in the program, but by the end of his time as director, 15 students and 5 staff were involved. The students tutored children at a number of church sites and lived together as one community. Paul focused on teaching students humility in cross-cultural settings, respect for indigenous leadership and “ethnic minority” cultures, service and reconciliation. The program focused almost exclusively on the African-American community in NW Pasadena.

IV staffworker Bill Trimble succeeded Paul as director for a few years later. Bill continued Paul’s emphasis and the program remained essentially the same. Bill also emphasized the importance of receiving hospitality from those in the inner city, emphasizing urbanization, and expanding the program’s relational base in NW Pasadena. Bill played the predominant role in putting PYP “on the map”.

In 1987, Brenda Salter began her directorship. She oversaw a major expansion in the program. By the end of her time as director, 25 students were participating each summer and hundreds of children were being tutored. In one sense, PYP had become a mini-school district. She continued the basic themes and the emphasis on African-Americans, but her special focus during teaching and training was on ethnic reconciliation and the importance of building positive community.

In 1990, Bill Holmes and Kevin Blue took over as co-directors of PYP, which they renamed the Pasadena Urban Ministry Program (PUMP). They took the program in a significantly new direction. Much of the teaching each week came from IV staff, in order to ensure cohesion for the students. They also aggressively raised PUMP’s profile in the southern California and western Nevada schools. Students from every major campus within that region have since consistently participated. Bill and Kevin also moved away from an emphasis on children, and opened the door for a number of sites that work with families or adults, thus exposing students to a broader array of urban ministry possibilities.

In 1992, Tom Pratt became program director. He opened the program up to new sites which exposed students to forms of urban ministry which they had not experienced before. Tom centered the program around God’s love for the poor, and for the first time articulated a clear program philosophy. He also chose to place a stronger emphasis on the Latino inner-city. Lastly, Tom brought in the element of ‘celebration’-both of the city and the various cultures found within it. At this point, the project was expanded out into Los Angeles, and the name was changed to LAUP.

Dennis Ortega assisted Tom Pratt during the summers of 1993 and 1994, and then became the Director in 1995. Under Dennis’ guidance, LAUP has become more centralized in Los Angeles than ever before. The exposure to African-American and Latino areas has become more balanced, and Dennis has overseen the creation of two new tutoring sites in the Latino area of NW Pasadena. Dennis has also worked to introduce students to Asian urban poor areas by initiating a tutoring site in Chinatown. The most recent addition to come in 1997 is the introduction of a medical internship site, where students will be exposed to ministry in an inner city hospital.

In 1999, Kevin Blue returned as director with the assistance of Dennis Ortega and Todd Minturn. Through 2002, LAUP had more than 100 interns and new sties throughout Metro LA and Orange County.

In 2002, for the first time, LAUP expanded into Orange County, working in Santa Ana.

LAUP hit its peak of involvement in 2004 with 120 students and inspired the foundation of two new urban projects, the Bay Area Urban Project, and the Fresno Urban Project.

Kevin Blue spent his last summer directing LAUP in 2007, ending over a decade of service and leadership that brought a prophetic witness and call to faith to InterVarsity.  This marked a season of LAUP going through several interim directors in search of its new direction and leadership.

In 2011, after being a campus staff and Area Director with InterVarsity for 16 years, Scott Hall became the new director of LAUP.  Serving in the role for five years, Scott helped re-integrate LAUP into the life of college students in the Greater Los Angeles area.

Now, starting in 2016, Gent Grush is stepping into the role of LAUP director. Gent caught God's heart for the marginalized while participating in LAUP, and kept coming back for more so many times, that God brought him to Los Angeles (from San Diego) and now has him running the program.