“Environmental Justice is the movement to ensure that no community suffers disproportionate environmental burdens or goes without fair environmental benefits.” Van Jones

When one person is able to drink clean water or breathe fresh non-toxic air and another can't, that is a lack of Justice. In Ramona Gardens, a housing development located in Boyle Heights, this lack of justice is the reality. The Ramona Gardens community lives in the midst of pollution coming from the 15-lane interstate highways adjacent to the community. These freeways are known to everyone in LA. If you are from LA you have most likely driven on one of these major freeways adding to the 218,000 cars on the I-5 and 234,000 that pass on I-10 on a daily basis. For this reason Ramona Gardens is amongst the top 1 percent most populated communities in California with air quality being unhealthy more than 40 percent of the year. However, with the motivation and empowerment of the Ramona Gardens community, we have created the Natural Park Air Pollution Solution Project to change that reality. It is a community and youth-lead project which will create an anti-pollution green buffer that will protect the 2,000+ low-income public housing residents from the transit-related air pollution. Today we are in our second phase of the project. We have completed our planning concept design, schematic design, air pollution reduction measure report, and our design development. Our youth leaders and staff continue to work tirelessly by hosting community clean up events, gardening activities, and also teaching about environmental racism, redlining, and organizing 101.

OUR WORK / WINS

From the time that we received the LA2050 grant, we have been able to make a continuous impact in the life of community members and in the lives of our amazing youth leaders. In 2022 and 2023, we held a multitude of Leadership and Environmental Justice workshops. 46 youth participated in 21 Youth Council Meetings every week with a total of 42 hours expanding their knowledge on topics such as mindfulness, political power, Indigenous Land 101, Artivism, and The Natural Park Air Pollution Solution Campaign. The youth who participated in these trainings have been able to use the skills they are learning to empower themselves and other youth through exciting community events. We have collaborated with the Los Angeles Rams football team to host a community event where we reached 300+ community members. Bringing to them amazing sports equipment to promote health and the chance to learn about the Natural Park Project, to have them give their own input on the plans for the campaign.

“It was also cool to see that a lot of my neighbors had the same vision and are excited for our ideas to come to life. This is the first time I feel included because of their constant engagement with the community” - Amairani Pineda, Resident of Ramona Gardens

*

“We can't save the planet without uplifting the voices of its people, especially those most often unheard.” — Leah Thomas

Making change is not always easy but making sure that our voices are heard is something that not only values the people of today but also the voices of our ancestors. In order to value, uplift, and highlight the voices of the community, we have pushed to create the spaces for community and youth to voice their opinions, concerns, and importance of our Natural Park Project. On December 3rd we held a storm water park tour with stakeholders from the Storm Water Project and Aqua Justice LA. Youth Council members went to South Santa Monica Bay to learn who to contact to get support with funding and permits. We have also had the opportunity to connect to stakeholders of the LA Water Council through a field trip to Magic Johnson Park where we also had the opportunity to learn about the watershed. Last but not least, we have begun forming an Environmental Justice Coalition with local community groups and organizations around Ramona Gardens to support our Natural Park Campaign efforts.

CHALLENGES

In these months of campaign work our staff have worked diligently to ensure that we create all of these spaces for the youth and communities work to be highlighted. However, through these months there have been some challenges that we have had to overcome in order to continue our work. One of those challenges has been the transitions within our organization. We have had multiple transitions including the transition of our founder Lou Calanche. Additionally, we have been focusing on onboarding our new Environmental Justice Campaign lead and other new staff. We have been able to be resilient within these changes. We are excited to continue our work with our new staff and see the new ideas, creativity, and change they bring to our space and efforts.

“The importance of advocating for the natural park is due to the fact that if we don't do it, who will.“ -Janelle, Youth

WHAT’S NEXT

It is important for us to continue to advocate for this project because this vision will make needed and positive change in the lives of not just the Ramona Gardens community but LA County as a whole. As well as become a model for other housing developments dealing with the after effects of Pollution. Our new efforts in the coming months will be centered around continuing our monthly curriculum outline through weekly meetings/trainings to build youth’s leadership capacity. We hope to expand youths' potential in advocacy through various mediums that resonate with them; artivism, social media, and journalism to help advocate for the Natural Park. Our work will not be limited to just the youth in the space, we will also be building a space for Communidad Unidad meetings during the summer to hear the voices of adult leaders. We hope to see the Natural Park Project continue to prosper to make this hope a reality.

We will also be hosting a town hall to engage stakeholders and funders to advocate and provide updates of the Natural Park. In this space, youth will share their service learning project which allows them to practice advocacy in a way that resonates with them. Culminating in the push to get permits needed to become CEQA compliant

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” - Harriet Tubman

In order to make a dream a reality we know that it takes hard work, dedication, and the act of holding ourselves accountable to that change. Legacy LA measures impact in the community and individual level. To guarantee that we are making the change we wish to see in our communities, we will develop surveys to track youths' progress, comfortability, confidence, and knowledge in leading workshops, actions, and projects. As well as hosting focus groups to measure what students have been able to retain and skills and areas we as staff can grow upon. Change is not created overnight but with the hard work that our community, youth and staff do everyday we will make the change that we wish to see. We like to dream big, soon we'll have a wonderful Natural Park in Ramona Gardens for community by community!

Youth council showed me to advocate for my community because the park has a very big importance for us and our health. Living in the projects personally, it can affect you.” -Josue, Youth Resident of Ramona Gardens