Six Los Angeles neighborhoods will receive a total of $5.4 million to fund various community improvement proposals approved by residents, officials announced Tuesday.
The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to provide funding under the Department of Civil Rights, Human Rights, and Equality’s first participatory budgeting pilot program, known as Los Angeles Reforms for Equity and Public Acknowledgement of Institutional Racism, or LA REPAIR. Last year, the city allocated $3.1 million to three additional neighborhoods under the program.
More than 1,000 ideas were submitted by residents of the second group of benefiting neighborhoods – Arleta-Pacoima, Harbor Gateway-Wilmington-Harbor City, Skid Row, South Los Angeles, West Adams-Baldwin Village-Leimert Park and Westlake.
“LA REPAIR’s participatory budget is a direct investment in Los Angeles’ most underserved communities, giving them real decision-making power over significant amounts of money,” said Capri Maddox, general manager of LA Civil Rights, in a statement. “We are grateful to the City Council for supporting this innovative approach to budgeting and promoting direct democracy in our city.”
Participatory budgeting is a process that has been implemented in over 7,000 cities around the world, including New York City and Porto Alegre, Brazil. Participatory budgeting allows community members to decide how much of a public budget can be spent on services or programs.
City officials said LA REPAIR is community-led from start to finish. In each REPAIR zone, advisory committees guide the process, gather ideas and manage the vote, which was open to anyone over 15 who lived, worked, studied or was a parent or guardian of a student in the zone. Winning proposals will be implemented by local, community-based organizations to ensure that allocated funds stay in the REPAIR zones, according to the department.
“I am grateful to Capri Maddox and the Department of Civil Rights, Human Rights and Equity for helping to make this idea of community reinvestment a reality,” said Councilman Bob Blumenfield, chair of the City Council’s Budget, Finance and Innovation Committee, in a statement. “This program helps build an important bridge between government and underserved communities across Los Angeles, and I am excited to see how we can work together to create more positive change.”
Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez, chair of the City Council’s Civil Rights Committee, added, “This landmark program should serve as a model for how we allocate resources for the benefit of our city and end our decades-long neglect of working-class communities of color.”
The following proposals received the most votes and funding:
— Arleta-Pacoima: The El Nido Family Centers offer access to affordable and fresh food, and the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles offers weekend camping trips for families in Big Bear or other monthly nature and culture trips.
— Harbor Gateway-Wilmington-Harbor City: Boys & Girls Club of the Port of Los Angeles, which provides college counseling and other career readiness services to youth, and the Harbor Community Development Foundation, which also provides educational and employment services to at least 70 youth ages 10 to 25;
– Skid Row: Chrysalis, an organization that provides career readiness training and transitional jobs to at least 110 residents, and the Downtown Women’s Center, which provides health services to 2,000 women in need;
– South Los Angeles: Girls Club of Los Angeles, which provides health services and case management for 450 individuals and families; the Los Angeles Urban League, which provides career preparation services for 200 people ages 16 to 35; the Social Justice Learning Institute, which provides support to young people in choosing college and career options; and the South Los Angeles Community Foundation, a work-study program for up to 56 youth;
— West Adams-Baldwin Village-Leimert Park: The National Diversity and Inclusion Cannabis Alliance will provide vocational training in filmmaking to 100 at-risk youth affected by the law, and the Teapot Gardens, a project to create an herb garden and free after-school gardening and art education for residents; and
— Westlake: Communities in Schools of Los Angeles, an organization that provides school programs for 1,400 middle and high school students, and New Economic for Women, a homeless and housing intervention organization for 500 participants in need.
