COMMUNITY WORK
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
OUR COMMITMENT
ROOTED IN COMMUNITY
URA Entertainment’s community work is not a PR strategy. It is the foundation of everything the organization does. Berenice Molina built URA out of community relationships that predate the organization’s founding — and those relationships are the reason URA can do what traditional casting agencies cannot.
Community outreach at URA means creating real pathways for real people. It means showing up in neighborhoods, schools, and intervention programs. It means investing money, time, and credibility into places the industry rarely visits.
WHAT WE DO
COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
Fundraising & Scholarship Events
URA organizes fundraising events that directly support talent from underrepresented backgrounds in accessing professional acting training. Public press has noted that these efforts have helped send URA-connected talent to acting school — not as a headline, but as a real outcome.
Gang Intervention & Recovery Pathways
Berenice Molina's background in gang intervention is not incidental to URA's work — it is foundational. URA creates intentional pathways for individuals connected to gang intervention and recovery programs, offering a viable alternative path into a professional creative industry.
Youth & School Engagement
URA connects with young people in Los Angeles schools and community programs to introduce them to the reality of a career in film and television — from what the day-to-day looks like to what preparation is required. These conversations plant seeds that grow into opportunities.
Community Visibility Events
URA participates in and organizes community events that raise the visibility of the organization, create new connections, and remind the communities URA serves that this industry is accessible to them when the right doors are opened.
THE STANDARD
COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITY
URA holds itself to a standard of community responsibility that goes beyond what the industry typically demands. Authenticity is not just an aesthetic choice — it is an ethical obligation. These are real communities with real people, and they deserve to be treated accordingly.
- URA does not extract talent from communities without giving back to them.
- Every talent placement creates a real economic and professional opportunity for someone who would not have had it otherwise.
- URA's fundraising directly supports access — not organizational overhead.
- The communities URA works with are treated as partners, not resources.
- Long-term mentoring relationships are maintained after initial placements.
- URA advocates within the industry for practices that make the pipeline more accessible.
STREET-TO-SET
The Model Behind
The Mission
The Street-to-Set name is not marketing language. It is a description of what URA literally does — taking people from street-level community environments and creating the conditions for them to access professional film and television sets. That path requires investment on URA’s part before any production benefits from it.
That investment includes fundraising for training scholarships, time spent mentoring individuals who may never make it to a set, and community trust built over years that cannot be rushed or bought. It is the hardest part of what URA does and also the most important.
When a production hires URA talent, they are accessing the result of that investment. The community work that preceded the casting is what makes the placement credible — and that is not something any traditional agency can replicate.
2017
Community work began in Los Angeles
250+
Talent developed from real communities
Communities served include East L.A., South Central, Pico-Union, Boyle Heights, and surrounding neighborhoods.