Housing

The report for Year 2 of the Los Angeles Urban League's Neighborhoods@Work initative is now available. From Chief Neighborhood Officer Pamela Bakewell:

The Neighborhoods@Work Report for Year Two includes an overview of our work from July 2008 through June 2009. We are proud to report our key accomplishments and key learnings to date, which demonstrate how we are “moving the needle”—the theme of this report. In Year One, we concentrated our efforts on infrastructure development; in Year Two, we implemented integrated activities and programs to achieve measurable impact in each of the five disciplines—Education, Employment, Health, Housing and Safety. In Year Two, we also moved further into the evaluation process of our model. We engaged experts who helped design intricate logic models for each discipline. We are excited to share a key learning of our work which indicated the need to develop a strategic approach to outreach. This resulted in the decision to add a sixth discipline in Year Three—Community Engagement and Outreach.

Two years ago, civic leaders in south Los Angeles started an integrated social service program for improving literacy and job-career readiness in an impoverished neighborhood of about 10,000 people.

Today, program sponsors are looking to close a key gap in coverage – a lack of broadband and internet access that not only inhibits adults getting and retaining good jobs but also presents big educational challenges to the area’s youth.

“There’s a technology access gap that continues to persist today in urban communities across America,” said Blair Taylor, president of the L.A. Urban League, which launched the Neighborhoods@Work program in 2006. “We are convinced that a large part of the income disparity and educational issues can be bridged, if we are able to get timely information to people in low-income communities,” he said.

The report for Year 1 of the Los Angeles Urban League's Neighborhoods@Work initative is now available. From Chief Neighborhood Officer Pamela Bakewell:

As Chief Neighborhood Officer, I am excited to be part of an innovative and creative initiative that allows me to serve this community in groundbreaking new ways. The authority and success of this initiative lies with the residents of the targeted 70- blocks of the Park Mesa Heights community. The mission of Neighborhoods@Work is to provide access and opportunity in the five disciplines, creating pathways of maximum potential to each man, woman and child who lives in this community.

Blair H. Taylor, President & CEO of the Los Angeles Urban League, testified at September 9, 2008 hearing held by the National Commission on Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. Mr. Taylor’s testimony was as follows:

Good morning. Thank you to the Commission for allowing this important testimony to occur.

Many of the panelists have described elements of the housing crisis in vivid detail. The hope is to use this brief time with you to specifically focus on the impact of this crisis on urban communities, and also to pose possible solutions.

We will use a sample neighborhood in South Los Angeles as a proxy for inner city LA. The neighborhood I will be referencing, known as Park Mesa Heights in South Los Angeles is located in the 90043 zip code. Up front note that it is not the most blighted urban community in this city, but then again, it is clearly very far from the top. It faces a major crisis in homeownership, but also major issues in health care access, education/school performance, and violent crime. I want us to focus on this neighborhood because in many ways it both exemplifies the problems we face and also offers a roadmap for solutions.

These analytical briefs are part of a series on the status of Park Mesa Heights, a neighborhood located in South Los Angeles, a 70 square block area anchored by Crenshaw Senior High School. The Los Angeles Urban League (LAUL) has established a 5-year strategic plan to improve the quality of life in this area through advocacy, leadership and neighborhood change. UCLA Department of Urban Planning, with support from UCLA’s Center for Community Partnerships, provided technical support for this effort by assembling, analyzing and publishing information related to the state of housing, employment, education and public safety in the immediate neighborhood and surrounding areas. By using the most current and geographic detailed available data, UCLA assembled information that can help inform the 5-year plan by providing insights into the magnitude and nature of the challenges and issues facing Park Mesa Heights stakeholders.