Rescue partnership · Skid Row, Downtown LA

With Underdog Community Project — for the pets of Skid Row.

A peer-nonprofit partnership: Underdog Community Project delivers vet care and vaccines to the pets of LA's unhoused pet parents. We bring the grooming. Together, we take care of real neighbors and their real dogs.

A Skid Row neighbor with her freshly-groomed pit bull mix in a yellow bandana, standing outside the Hollywood Mobile Grooming van during a joint event with Underdog Community Project — A neighbor and her pit bull, freshly groomed, outside our van on Skid Row.

Who Underdog Community Project is

Underdog Community Project (UCP) is a Los Angeles 501(c)(3) whose mission is to "increase access to veterinary care and resources for the beloved pets of unhoused pet parents." They've delivered 3,600+ wellness exams, served 1,800+ pets, and administered 6,500+ vaccines to the animals of LA's unhoused community. They operate primarily in Downtown Los Angeles.

They handle the medicine. We handle the grooming. Together, a Skid Row pet parent can walk their dog up to a curb and — in the space of an afternoon — get everything a pet in Beverly Hills would get at their vet and their groomer, at zero cost.

What a joint event looks like

UCP schedules the event, brings the vet team, brings the vaccines and wellness supplies. We roll in with our mobile grooming vans, our volunteer professional groomers, and our full setup. On event day, side by side on a Skid Row block:

UCP — wellness exams, vaccines, flea/tick treatment, health referrals
Us — full professional grooming: bath, brush, nails, ears, sanitary trim, bandana
Together — a dog comes off the sidewalk matted and scared, and walks back to their person clean, cared-for, and looking loved

Faces from the day

Real neighbors. Real pets. Real dignity. Every one of these dogs came in with someone who loved them.

A Foundation volunteer groomer inside a mobile spa van, smiling next to a freshly-groomed white bichon-type dog wearing a fresh floral bandana — A volunteer groomer with one of the day's dogs — bandana included.

Two Skid Row neighbors posing with their pit bull puppy in a fresh white bandana after a full spa day inside the mobile van — Two neighbors and their puppy, post-groom.

A small chihuahua getting a careful nail trim on a grooming table inside our mobile spa van — Careful nail work — sometimes the smallest dogs need the most patience.

Two tiny chihuahuas standing side by side in the stainless-steel bathtub of the mobile grooming van, freshly cleaned and looking straight at the camera — Two chihuahuas fresh out of the bath — sisters from the same neighbor.

Why this partnership matters

Skid Row is the piece of LA the rest of the city walks past. But the pets who live there are as loved, as important, and as deserving as any pet anywhere. And when two nonprofits — one delivering vet care, one delivering grooming — show up on the same block on the same day, the impact multiplies. UCP couldn't groom on top of everything they do. We couldn't provide vaccines. Together, we can.

That's what a real partnership looks like: two organizations doing what each does best, so the neighbors get the full package.

Fund the next joint event.

$50 funds one full groom at a Skid Row event. $500 sponsors a whole van-day of grooming alongside UCP's vet care. Every dollar tax-deductible.

Donate to sponsor a Skid Row day →

Support Underdog Community Project directly

UCP is a separate 501(c)(3), and every event we do together is possible because of the work they do year-round. If you can, support them directly too:

Visit Underdog Community Project →

Are you a professional groomer who wants to volunteer at the next joint event?

Skid Row event days always need more hands. Email info@hollywoodrescuegrooming.org and we'll add you to the schedule for the next one.

← Back to unhoused community program