Accessing Health: Art, Culture and Belonging

Health Care Access

South LA

Expand existing project, program, or initiative

Florence Graham, South LA - with the largest population of system-involved youth in the County - is a place where families are highly impacted by immigration and justice systems. Fremont area youth and their families have been challenged to meet basic needs. South LA has long been a food desert, which lacks fresh foods, and residents who rely on fast food for sustenance experience 7 times the risk of having a stroke before age 45, and 4 times the risk of kidney failure compared to the general population. However, there is a beautiful wellness complex providing healing services to students and neighbors at UMMA Community Clinic and gardens run by LA Neighborhood Land Trust. Since 2017, we've engaged youth to take ownership of the space. Wellbeing in Florence Graham means local artists and culture-bearers, youth and residents co-creating a place of community belonging and wellness, sharing health resources, and increasing youth pathways to creative learning, leadership and employment.

LA Commons transforms Fremont Wellness Center and Community Garden into a Healthy Culture Hub, allowing the community to take charge of their well-being based on the belonging that comes from access to cultural resources that foster collective engagement, wholeness, and empowerment for all. We recently concluded the pilot year of this program; following a local cultural asset mapping process and recommendations from community advisors, LA Commons offers free workshops at venues including the UMMA Dental Clinic, Fremont Community Garden, and food distribution sites. We collaborate with local arts and culture bearers, including Contra-Tiempo Activist Dance Theater, Tree Yoga Cooperative, and chefs to offer workshops to pair with the distribution of needed material resources and health services. The program culminates in a Wellness Festival produced with deep involvement of community members to ensure the outcomes reflect local needs and aspirations which impact the local social and physical environments where they live, learn, work, and play. They drive all aspects of the project from identifying the artists, sites, and cultural practices that define the neighborhood to planning for artist residencies, resulting in exceptionally relevant programming, and a heightened sense of community agency and belonging. This process recognizes the significance of their voice in increasing access to effective health services and other programming that aligns directly with their culture[s].

In a talk recently, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, head of LA County Dept. of Public Health spoke on what was necessary to advance public health in communities with poor outcomes, particularly after COVID: the community has to lead the process as they know what they need - with adequate resources dedicated to supporting their leadership, they can achieve wellness in their neighborhoods. The successes and learnings from the effective health services integration at Fremont High School will undoubtedly inform our approaches to similar programming in our legacy neighborhoods: Watts/Willowbrook, Leimert Park, Macarthur Park, and Exposition Park. The successful Healthy Culture Hub model will provide a basis for communities throughout Los Angeles to achieve the belonging that enables them to feel safe and connected and in charge of their own well-being.

Following a comprehensive local cultural asset mapping process, LA Commons offered 40 workshops for Florence Graham residents to leverage arts & cultural services as complements to wellness activities & an all-day Wellness Festival drawing over 700 participants. The project team especially focused on youth development, & is currently undergoing a robust evaluation process with the LA County Department of Arts & Culture & USC Price School of Public Policy to assess & measure the impacts of the Healthy Culture Hub at large, which tailored data collection to all involved: youth, resident advisors, school administration & staff, & partner organizations. Although we are still in the process of data analysis, our project team is confident that we're able to increase the sense of belonging among community members & advance key policy objectives to improve outcomes related to social determinants of health, based on both anecdotal evidence & the breadth of community involvement in this project.

Community Coalition is organizing the project with us. Fremont High School, UMMA Clinic, and LA Neighborhood Land Trust host the sites for the Fremont Healthy Culture Hub, do outreach to the community, and collaborate together to inform programming. Trust for Children's Health supports UMMA Clinic youth educators in serving their community. The Los Angele County Department of Arts and Culture and USC Price School of Public Policy will evaluate and measure the impacts of the Healthy Culture Hub. The resident advisors are a group of community members who plan what activities they want to bring to their community.