Photo: Nattakorn Maneerat / iStock / Getty Images
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Six underserved communities across Los Angeles will get to decide how to use $5.4 million to best serve their communities, city officials announced Friday.
Starting Friday through April 7, community members in six areas will vote on which program proposals the city should fund for their communities. The L.A. Reforms for Equity and Public Acknowledgement of Institutional Racism, or L.A. REPAIR, is the city's first participatory budget pilot program with the aim of distributing roughly $8.5 million to nine neighborhoods, designated as REPAIR Zones.
According to the LA Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department, participatory budgeting is a democratic process in which community members choose how to spend part of a public budget. It is designed to empower underserved and historically marginalized communities in city funding decisions.
"The L.A. REPAIR process is driven by community members, and having real power over real money, and a choice in the services and programs available has not been accessible for so many people," Alison Simard, spokesperson for the department, said in a statement.
She added, "Having the ability to uplift programs proposed by local organizations working for a better Los Angeles deepens the values of democracy, expands transparency, emphasizes public ownership of governmental resources and builds stronger communities."
Proposals were submitted by local nonprofit organizations in response to more than 1,000 ideas generated within the community last fall. LA Civil Rights is hosting a "Proposer Fair" in each REPAIR Zone to encourage voters to learn about the proposals before making selections on the ballot.
A voter guide and information about where to vote is available at repair.lacity.gov. Voting can be done online or at other in-person events sponsored by the city.
"Elected officials have shown amazing support for L.A. REPAIR through this iteration, including joining us at launch events last year, and supporting our proposer fairs this month," Simard said.
According to Simard, the department and REPAIR team hopes to produce as many programs and author policies geared toward equity, empowerment and upward mobility, especially for "REPAIR Zone community members that face disparities, such as COVID-19 impact, face overcrowded housing, and legacies of historic redlining."
The department will host its Proposer Fairs at the following:
-- Westlake REPAIR Zone on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., located at the CCNP Community Room, 501 S. Bixel St.;
-- Harbor Gateway/Wilmington/Harbor City REPAIR Zone on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Wilmington Recreation Center, 325 N. Neptune Ave.;
-- South Los Angeles REPAIR Zone on Tuesday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Jackie Tatum/Harvard Recreation Center,1535 W. 62nd St.;
-- Skid Row REPAIR Zone on Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the UCEPP Community Room & Gladys Park, 804 E. Sixth St.;
-- Arleta-Pacoima REPAIR Zone next Friday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Pacoima City Hall, 13520 Van Nuys Blvd.; and
-- West Adams/Baldwin Village/Leimert Park REPAIR Zone on March 23, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Fire Station 54 (during the Crenshaw Farmers Market), 5730 Crenshaw Blvd.
Last year, the City Council approved $3 million of the $8.5 million for projects in the Boyle Heights, Mission Hills/Panorama City/North Hills, and Southeast LA REPAIR Zones.
The department is currently in the contracting process with five organizations: Proyecto Pastoral and East LA Community Corporation (for rental assistance services in Boyle Heights); Cottonwood Urban Farm (for a new community garden in Mission Hills/Panorama City/North Hills); Watts Empowerment Center/Red Eye, and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (for afterschool programming and a mobile health clinic, respectively).