More than a dozen community organizations will receive a portion of the city of Los Angeles’ $5.4 million in funding, thanks to a pilot program that gives historically marginalized communities more say in how city funds are spent in their neighborhoods.
The “participatory budgeting” process, introduced as part of the Los Angeles Reforms for Equity and Public Acknowledgement of Institutional Racism program, better known as LA REPAIR, was approved by the City Council and then-Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2021.
The idea was to give residents and other stakeholders in nine LA REPAIR zones – communities negatively impacted by a history of institutional racism – the opportunity to vote on which community programs they wanted the city to fund. The programs that received the most votes in each REPAIR zone were funded.
The City Council awarded about $3.1 million last year to organizations in three REPAIR zones – the Mission Hills-Panorama City-North Hills area in the San Fernando Valley, the Boyle Heights community on the Eastside and Southeast LA
As a follow-up to last year’s measure, the City Council last week approved an additional $5.4 million to be divided among the six REPAIR zones that did not receive funds last year. In total, the city has allocated $8.5 million to local communities through its LA REPAIR program.
“LA REPAIR’s participatory budget is a direct investment in Los Angeles’ most underserved communities, giving them real decision-making power over significant funds,” said Capri Maddox, general manager and executive director of the city’s Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department, in a statement. The department, also known as LA Civil Rights, oversees the LA REPAIR program.
The Arleta-Pacoima area in the San Fernando Valley was among the REPAIR areas that received funding in the second round of grants this year. In this community, El Nido Family Centers and the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles will share $775,000 to support area residents.
El Nido Family Centers, which provides social services for families and youth, plans to expand access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables, yoga, Zumba, gardening and other health and wellness activities at the Pacoima Farmers Market.
“We plan to expand family involvement and activities for children – creating a safe place for families to get out,” says Gloria Villagrana-Cruz, regional director of El Nido Family Centers.
The organization also plans to host a Learn, Play, Grow fair in Arleta with games, impromptu health clinics and other resources for families, as well as launch a yoga series and nature hikes in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Villagrana-Cruz said organizers hope to offer the programs in late 2024 or early 2025, with the goal of supporting over 1,000 families.
In the meantime, the YMCA will host free family camps in Big Bear when children are off school. There are also plans to offer families a free YMCA membership to participate in educational and supportive programs and monthly cultural experiences.
Cultural experiences could include a hike in the Pacific Palisades or a trip to the beach or museum, said Lionnel Zaragoza, senior vice president of branch operations for the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles. Zaragoza said more than 500 families are expected to benefit from the YMCA’s LA REPAIR grant.
“One of the things we really heard was people’s desire to bring families together and get them out into nature,” he said.
Although LA REPAIR is the first time the City of LA has embraced what is known as “participatory budgeting,” the concept is already being used around the world.
According to LA Civil Rights, it is used in over 7,000 cities worldwide. In the US, it has been adopted by local governments in Long Beach, New York City, Chicago, Boston, Seattle and elsewhere.
In the case of LA, the REPAIR zones were identified based on communities that have experienced institutional racism in the past. The communities were defined based on the impacts of redlining, overcrowded housing, lack of internet access at home, high pollution rates, and low access to healthy food.
LA City Councilwoman Heather Hutt, whose 10th District includes Koreatown and parts of South LA, including the Crenshaw District and Leimert Park, said in a statement that thanks to LA REPAIR, the city is “taking tremendous steps toward healing and equality for all.”
“LA REPAIR’s participatory budget will empower communities to drive the success of their own future,” she said. “This budget process is a testament to our commitment to dismantling institutional racism and ensuring those most impacted are the ones driving change.”
During this year’s LA REPAIR funding round, residents of the six REPAIR zones submitted more than 1,000 ideas they wanted the city to fund. Local nonprofits then proposed projects based on the stakeholders’ wishes, and communities voted for the projects they wanted.
Anyone aged 15 or over who lived, worked, attended school, or was a parent or guardian of a student in the zones was allowed to vote, and the ideas with the most votes in each zone were awarded funding.
Proponents praise this approach as a democratic way to allow community members to decide how public money is spent in their area.
“We are grateful to the City Council for approving these participatory budgeting projects next year. This will allow us to support communities that have long struggled with injustice by implementing the services they voted for,” Maddox, the executive director of the Los Angeles Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.
She added that participatory budgeting “helps our underrepresented communities.”
Maddox said several council members are considering making the practice permanent, but budget constraints may require the city to abandon the LA REPAIR pilot program.
“We are actively exploring alternative funding options, including non-general funds and philanthropic support, with the goal of continuing in 2026,” she said.
Here are the other LA REPAIR grant recipients for whom the City Council approved funding last week, in addition to the two in the Arleta-Pacoima zone:
- Harbor Gateway – Wilmington – Harbor City: Boys and Girls Clubs of Los Angeles Harbor and Harbor Community Development Foundation.
- Skid Row: Chrysalis and Downtown Women’s Center.
- South Los Angeles: Girls Club of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Urban League, Social Justice Learning Institute and South Los Angeles Community Foundation.
- West Adams – Baldwin Village – Leimert Park: National Diversity & Inclusion Cannabis Alliance and Teapot Gardens.
- Westlake: Communities In Schools of Los Angeles and New Economics for Women.
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