The South LA Grocery Giveaway Program

Housing and Homelessness

South LA

Expand existing project, program, or initiative

SLATE-Z, our area of South LA, has a population of 168,000 residents; 92% are people of color - primarily Latinx (72%); Black/African American (20.4%); immigrant group (41.2%). The unemployment rate is over 12%. 56% live below the federal poverty level (vs. 30% nationally). Nearly half the population older than 25 years (47.2%) has less than a high school education and only 10.6% have bachelor's degrees or higher (versus 30.4% nationally). In 2022, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority estimated the homeless population of LA County to be nearly 70,000 people. This community is on every vulnerability map in LA and has been historically underserved. South LA is a food desert. We have only 91 grocery stores for nearly 500,000 residents. Generations of systemic racism have led to unequal access to healthy food, causing high rates of diseases, poor quality of life, and shorter life spans of up to 12 years.

Since the inception of our program in June 2020, we have distributed 200 free grocery bags each week to the residents of South Central LA. Each grocery bag contains 35lbs of food, or about 30 meals (Feeding America, 1.2lbs constitutes 1 meal). Our research shows that most of our recipient households contain an average of 5 people, indicating that we are providing food for approximately 200 households or 1,000 weekly recipients, primarily located in LA zip codes 90062, 90008, 90043, and 90037. In 2020, we distributed 144,000 lbs of rescued food. In 2021 and 2022, we distributed 364,000 lbs of rescued food each year.

Our program goal would total about 455,000lbs of rescued food distributed by 750 community volunteers, to reach a grand total goal of 1,327,000lbs distributed over the course of the South LA Grocery Giveaway Program by the end of this year, with sustained numbers (8,750lbs per week to 250 households/ 1,250 weekly recipients, by 750 volunteers). We additionally aim to launch a targeted nutrition education pilot program, directed at young South Central LA families with children ages 0-5. As we are powered by a community-centric approach, our programs thrive on civic engagement. We rely on a co-creative model to clarify what our own community needs us to be. We value community discussions to gather information on the holistic civic needs of our neighbors. We engage those we serve through direct engagement panels. We will continue to accomplish this through our partnerships with our Neighborhood and City Council offices, local food banks, as well as corporate and non-profit allies.

Since the inception of our program in June 2020, we have distributed 200 free grocery bags each week to the residents of South Central LA. Each grocery bag contains 35lbs of food, or about 30 meals (Feeding America, 1.2lbs constitutes 1 meal). Our research shows that most of our recipient households contain an average of 5 people, indicating that we are providing food for approximately 200 households or 1,000 weekly recipients. To date, SLAC and over 500 community volunteers have distributed over 7,000lbs of fresh, healthy, perishable food per week for over 150 consecutive weeks, totaling over 1,071,000lbs of free food distributed to our South LA community.