In the News
Reporting and conversations about the homes, the people, and the work of Los Angeles Room & Board.
Browse the archive
ELLE DECOR August 6, 2024
Inside our
Boyle Heights home.
Camille Okhio joins Sam Prater and designer Ryan White for a look inside the home, from Sergio Robleto’s painted courtyard to the rooms where students study, make music, and share a meal.
Read the ELLE DECOR featureThe press archive
2026
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Rafael Fontoura for CA Post
Court to College and oversight of youth placements
Benjamin Brown examines California’s less restrictive placements and includes Sam Prater’s response about the program in Westwood.
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Dusan Vuksanovic
Inside the Meaningful Spaces of Ryan White
White explains how he chose lighting and furnishings for Westwood and what he wanted young people to feel when they walked in.
2025
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F Armstrong Photography / Shutterstock
7 Billionaires Funding Efforts to Address the Homelessness Crisis
Martha Ramirez includes LARNB among the organizations supported by Ballmer Group in a survey of housing philanthropy.
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Jesus Sanchez / The Eastsider
Echo Park hospital cottages to provide housing and services for young people
A neighborhood report on plans for youth housing at the cottages on the Gateways Hospital campus.
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Courtesy of LARNB
Historic LA hostel gets modern makeover, provides housing to homeless college students
A look at the history of the Boyle Heights building and the spaces young people now share there.
2024
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HOMELAND
Home Makes Us Whole
Sam joins the opening episode to consider why having a home matters in the first place.
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Via Intuit
Potential has somewhere to live
Sam traces the name of the Boyle Heights home to his godparents’ ministry in Detroit.
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Dusan Vuksanovic / ELLE DECOR
Is This L.A. Building a New Prototype for Transitional Housing?
Camille Okhio visits Boyle Heights with designer Ryan White and LARNB founder Sam Prater.
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ABCNews.com
Los Angeles shelter helping homeless college students finish school, find acceptance
Residents and Sam talk about queer belonging, family, and the experience of coming home in Boyle Heights.
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FOX 11 Los Angeles
Los Angeles Room & Board
Sam discusses housing insecurity among community college students in Los Angeles.
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Forrest Cornwell
How Hollywood Is Helping Homeless College Students in L.A. Get Housing and Finish School
Hadley Meares reports on the relationship between LARNB and musicians including Stevie Mackey.
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Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative
‘No place like this.’ L.A. home helps young adults live beyond survival mode
Betty Márquez Rosales spends time with Boyle Heights residents and visits the kitchen, where everyone can build their own lunch bowl.
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PBS KVIE · Inside California Education
From Homeless to Housed in Los Angeles
Students show what a place to live means for their daily routines and their education in Boyle Heights.
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Via Westridge School
Sam Prater discusses teen homelessness at a Student Voices assembly
Students hear how Sam’s own education and his years in campus housing led him to start LARNB.
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ABC7 Los Angeles · Localish
Homelessness among college students is rising. LA Room & Board is tackling the issue head on.
Jose Mayorquin visits the Eastside to see how housing and meals fit into students’ college plans.
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The Jennifer Hudson Show
Nonprofit Founder Gives a Home and Hope to Unhoused College Students
Sam tells Jennifer how his own return to school and his work in residence life shaped LARNB.
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USC Gould School of Law (source; photographer unlisted)
The Real Deal
Attorney Andrés Cantero Jr. describes the leases and property acquisitions behind LARNB’s first homes.
2023
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Courtesy of the Ebell of Los Angeles
Ebell hosts ‘Stories from the Frontline’
A preview of Sam’s conversation with author David Ambroz, moderated by Shanola Hampton, about students and young people leaving foster care.
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Los Angeles County Newsroom
House of Refuge for Struggling Youth
A resident’s account of finding a place to live and study in Boyle Heights.
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Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times
A housing effort to keep a new generation of L.A. youth out of homelessness
Charlotte Kramon follows a Boyle Heights resident with ambitions to study film.
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Los Angeles County Newsroom
A new address for student success in Boyle Heights
The county reports from the opening of its Homekey partnership with LARNB.
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Courtesy of Ramon Prater
A Boyle Heights opening eases student housing woes
Student journalists cover the opening weekend and what the new residence offers students.
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Courtesy of LARNB
Ryan White’s design for L.A. Room & Board
AD PRO’s design dispatch looks at White’s work on the Boyle Heights home and the historic building behind it.
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Rendering via LARNB
A new repurposing for a historic Boyle Heights building
Alex Medina traces the building’s earlier lives and speaks with Ramona Prater ahead of its reopening.
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Courtesy of IXLA
CSUN Students Partner with Alum to Help Unhoused Community College Students
IntersectLA student designers describe working on LARNB’s website and video tours.
2022
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Shutterstock / Urban Institute
Next-Generation Innovations in Housing Affordability
Sam joins housing practitioners and researchers for a public conversation about expanding access to homes.
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Milwaukee Bucks / NBA
Jrue and Lauren Holiday announce their Social Impact Fund grantees
LARNB appears among the Los Angeles recipients in the fund’s third round of grants.
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Courtesy Los Angeles City College
More Than 100 Unhoused LA Community College Students Will Receive Housing For One Year
LAist names LARNB among the organizations working with the community college district on a housing pilot.
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Al Seib / Los Angeles Times
100 homeless L.A. community college students to get shelter, food and Wi-Fi
A report on the district’s housing pilot and the services available to participating students.
2021
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Courtesy of Sam Prater
Fighting student hunger and homelessness with Sam Prater
Sam talks with his alma mater about opening Westwood and the support it takes for students to finish college.
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Ryan Pfluger / Oprah Daily
This L.A. Sorority House Is Now a Refuge for Homeless College Students
Students tell the story of the first school year they spent living together in Westwood.
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Courtesy of the L.A. Rams
Kenny Young Teaches Youth How to Tackle Finances
The Rams linebacker brings a twelve-week course on personal finances to young people in Westwood.
2020
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Luis Chavez / The Argonaut
A Foundation for Dreaming
Caden Sullivan reports on how students from several Los Angeles colleges found a home and a community in Westwood.
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eRezLife
Taking Care to the Next Level
Sam and Cate Morrison discuss what campus housing staff can do when a student is struggling to stay enrolled.
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CBS Los Angeles
A Westwood sorority house becomes a home for college students
Students and staff prepare to move into Westwood, with tutoring, meals, and a room of their own.
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ABC7 Los Angeles
LA organization to provide free housing, meals to 53 homeless college students
Anabel Muñoz returns to Westwood as LARNB prepares to welcome its first residents.
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@laroomandboard via Canyon News
A place in Westwood for college students facing homelessness
The paper covers the opening of applications for housing and meals in Westwood.
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eRezLife
Los Angeles Room and Board
The residence life organization introduces its partnership with LARNB as campuses respond to the pandemic.
2019
ABC7 Los Angeles
From the archives
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Central Michigan University
Helping vulnerable Los Angeles-area college students succeed
Sam’s alma mater traces a line from his time as a resident assistant to the founding of LARNB.
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Central Michigan University
CMU alumnus interviewed on The Jennifer Hudson Show
After Sam’s appearance on the show, CMU looks back at his student leadership and residence life work on campus.