The Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD) is a Los Angeles–based performance group closely tied to the city's Skid Row neighborhood.
[1] Performance artist John Malpede moved to Los Angeles from New York in 1984 to start work as an outreach paralegal at the Inner City Law Center (ICLC).
He began leading theater workshops for the neighborhood's homeless population out of the ICLC's offices on Skid Row, gathering a group of performers and artists who now create their art as the Los Angeles Poverty Department (the acronym, LAPD, is a deliberate appropriation of that of the Los Angeles Police Department).
[5] In addition to ongoing workshops and the creation of new work, the LAPD's activities include touring of their repertory and commissions.
Their community partnerships include SRO Housing, the L.A. Community Action Network, The Downtown Women's Action Coalition, St. Vincent DePaul Center, The Salvation Army's Women's and Men's drug recovery programs, and the Inner City Law Center.