LOS ANGELES - For the first time in Los Angeles City history, five community improvement proposals have been awarded over $3 million following a community-wide participatory budgeting process and vote. The Los Angeles City Council today officially approved funds to the local nonprofits selected by community members to implement community ideas in three areas known as REPAIR Zones: Boyle Heights, Southeast LA and Mission Hills-Panorama City-North Hills. Six more REPAIR Zones will begin their own participatory budgeting process this August.
L.A. REPAIR, which stands for Los Angeles Reforms for Equity and Public Acknowledgement of Institutional Racism, is an $8.5 million participatory budgeting program covering nine city areas most impacted by a legacy of institutional racism.
“L.A. REPAIR Participatory Budgeting is a direct investment in the people of Los Angeles’ most underserved communities - giving them real power over real money,” said Capri Maddox, General Manager of the Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department (LA Civil Rights), which operates L.A. REPAIR Participatory Budgeting. “We’re thankful to the City Council for supporting this kind of direct democracy, and showcasing a new kind of budgeting for our city.”
The neighborhoods of Arleta-Pacoima, Harbor Gateway-Wilmington-Harbor City, Skid Row, South Los Angeles, West Adams-Baldwin Village-Leimert Park, and Westlake will make up the second cohort, and will begin collecting ideas for a community-wide vote this August. Visit repair.lacity.gov to learn more.
Participatory budgeting is a democratic process in which community members decide how to spend part of a public budget. The entirety of L.A. REPAIR is community-led, from the Advisory Committees running the process in each zone to the idea collection and the vote, in which anyone over 15 years old can help decide how to spend the funds. Winning proposals are implemented by local community-based organizations, ensuring those dollars stay within the community.
With thousands of ballots cast, the following proposals received the most votes and will be implemented:
- Boyle Heights: Proyecto Pastoral and East LA Community Corporation (ELACC) will receive up to $775,000 to provide rental assistance and services for 170 low-income tenants and families to prevent displacement.
- Mission Hills-Panorama City-North Hills: Cottonwood Urban Farm will receive $775,000 to build a new community garden for up to 100 families and expand services and education at their Panorama City location.
- Southeast LA: Watts Empowerment Center/Red Eye will receive approximately $363,000 to expand after-school programming for residents at the Imperial Courts in Watts, and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Sciences will receive approximately $1.1 million to operate a street medicine program to provide primary care, mental health, and case management services for up to 10,000 individuals and families in the Southeast LA Zone.
“We are humbled and ecstatic for the Watts Empowerment Center / Red Eye to be a recipient of L.A. REPAIR's Inaugural Participatory Budget,” said Justin Mayo, Executive Director of the Watts Empowerment Center / Red Eye. “I have never doubted the community, but was blown away by the number of votes that they made possible. To see so many in our local area unite to rally support across all of Watts and Southeast LA is so amazing. Thank you to the City of Los Angeles and LA Civil Rights for listening to the voice of the commUNITY!”
“Charles Drew University is equal parts excited and humbled by the citizens of Southeast LA who voted for the CDU Kedren Mobile Street Medicine Program,” said Alexander Rodgers, M.D. who manages the program and is an assistant professor at CDU. “Our Street Medicine program will provide culturally responsive primary health care services, preventative care, behavioral health, mental health, HIV/STI prevention, and case management services free of charge to all residents in the Southeast L.A. REPAIR Zone, but especially to underserved and under-resourced individuals and families. The University is thrilled to be included in the City’s inaugural cohort of grantees for LA REPAIR.”
“We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to bring much-needed rental assistance to the community of Boyle Heights,” said Ariel Granat, Director of Fund Development & Communications at the East LA Community Corporation (ELACC). “At ELACC, we firmly believe in the power of collaboration and are profoundly thankful for the support and dedication of L.A. REPAIR. Together, we are making a tangible difference in the lives of countless individuals and families, providing them with the crucial support they need to make a resilient community. Para La Vecindad!”
Click here to read the entire approved report.
Following City Council’s approval today, these proposals will be implemented over the next year as the program continues in the next six REPAIR Zones. Click here to learn more about the REPAIR Zones.