LIVEHow To New LA
LAist is uniquely positioned to help our community navigate the new normal. You will never hit a paywall on our site and we’re known for fact-checked, calm reporting that’s delivered in conversational language everyone can understand. As a national leader in engaged journalism, we’re also known for responding to direct questions from readers. We will take those traditions and the trust we’ve already built to transform our “How To LA” guide into a “How To New LA” guide, serving a critical need as our city recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
County of Los Angeles
In what stage of innovation is this project?
Expand existing program
What is the need you’re responding to?
LAist launched “How To LA” last year as a handbook for day-to-day living in LA with an ongoing series of practical guides for understanding our complicated city. LA is a dizzying place to wrap your head around whether you're a lifelong Angeleno, a wide-eyed transplant, or somewhere in between. With 88 cities, it has one of the world’s most diverse populations. It's an incubator for the industrious and a cautionary tale for society's most difficult problems.
COVID-19 will no doubt change the way we connect and understand LA, and we will need each other more than ever before. With “How To New LA,” we can help one another navigate the new normal with no-panic guides to the supply chain, social distancing, medical stock, and more.
LAist is here for you during this strange, challenging time with up-to-the-minute information from health and city officials. Our goal is to make sure you’re better equipped for the crisis at hand and what’s to come. We want to become your encyclopedia of LA.
Why is this project important to the work of your organization?
LAist is a trusted source of news and information with a public service journalism mission. We seek to speak with authority, to be human, and to explain LA. We collaborate with our award-winning engagement team to answer your questions and to give you the answers you need to know. This type of trusted service fact-based journalism, delivered with confidence and composure, will continue to be your go-to place to help you understand and get through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Approximately how many people will be impacted by this proposal?
Direct Impact: 500,000
Indirect Impact: 10,000,000
Please describe the broader impact of your proposal.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw exponential growth in the number of readers seeking out LAist for information that’s specific to where we live -- more than 5 million unique readers in March 2020 alone. We witnessed a new appetite for the type of information we are providing, with some questions coming from as far away as India and the UK. Los Angeles County has roughly 10 million people, and we could ultimately reach a majority of them as our guide grows and word of mouth spreads. Currently, our COVID-19 Facebook group has 2,000 members after only two weeks, reflecting people’s desire to seek out community at this time.
Please explain how you will define and measure success for your project.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic reached LA, we have helped to answer over 150 questions per day, and we imagine that this influx of questions will continue in the year ahead. We will track analytics and metrics like digital engaged minutes and unique visitors, as well as the number of questions asked and answered via our community engagement team and social media channels. We have created a public Facebook page, “A No-Panic Support Group For Living Through Coronavirus in LA,” where we will use not only to source and answer questions but also to help connect Angelenos during this devastating time.
Which of the LIVE metrics will your submission impact?
Healthcare access
Resilient communities
Are there any other LA2050 goal categories that your proposal will impact?
LA is the healthiest place to CONNECT
Which of LA2050’s resources will be of the most value to you?
Access to the LA2050 community
Host public events or gatherings
Communications support