Community Safety in South Los Angeles

Community safety

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

In South Los Angeles there is a well known need for safety in many ways, United We Stand aims to address public safety. Our programming will address the safety concerns posed by alley-ways and streets used as dumping grounds; the dumping of bulky items, garbage and oftentimes hazardous materials create fire hazards, contaminate water supplies, and attract rodents carrying diseases. In addition to these hazards, the alleys and neglected streets are often used for illicit activities that further cause concerns for public safety. In areas with active community beautification there is a decrease in illicit activities and public hazards. The communities with prevalent threats to public safety have decreased use in public spaces like parks/ playgrounds, gardens, and other green spaces. Low use of public spaces in marginalized communities have been linked to physical and mental health problems, poor community relationships, and overall disenfranchisement of the affected community.

The project that the LA 2050 grant will fund is a 3 part initiative that United We Stand will implement within areas of South Los Angeles. Our green alleys initiative is an opportunity to improve local residents’ quality of life by creating an accessible multi-use community green space where residents will be able to safely walk through, play, and have recreational activities. This will be achieved by providing an initial beautification of the alley, clean-up, planting of low-maintenance native plant species, and even re-pavement if necessary. Through the initial beautification local residents will be encouraged to maintain the space once beautified, supplemented by community clean ups hosted by United We Stand and its volunteers as a part of our community beautification initiative. Our 311 campaign will be composed of workshops/ trainings on free city services residents can access to keep their communities clean and maintained as well as hosting community events to further bring resources to the local community members. Our 311 campaign allows for residents to expand their knowledge and capacity to provide sustainable solutions for problems within their communities, ultimately increasing the usage of public spaces in these historically marginalized neighborhoods. High use of public spaces have proven the opposite, an increase in mental and physical health, strengthen community relationships, and a deep investment of community members to further develop their neighborhoods.

The specific areas within Los Angeles County where the programming will be carried out would undergo changes that benefit the communities’ ecological, physical, and mental health. Through the green alleys initiative United We Stand (UWS) will turn alleys into community spaces with ecological value. The overgrown weeds will be substituted for water conserving low-maintenance native plants in narrow raised beds along the sides. The compacted dirt, crumbling concrete, and traditional asphalt will be replaced with porous asphalt allowing fresh rain water deposits rather than flowing into sea drains resulting in nutrient pollution and toxicity in our shores. Our 311 initiative will increase availability of public tools like the “MyLA311” app and “The WORKs” app providing residents with the necessary skills to look after their own communities, ultimately mobilizing our BIPOC communities. UWS will supplement with beautification projects in public spaces implemented by our team of volunteers.

The green alley initiative is new to our organization, United We Stand has advocated for alley re-pavements in the past but this new approach will not only allow for alleys to be used appropriately but expand its use and efficacy. Our organization will be able to measure the impact on locals within the area by providing surveys prior to the project’s initiation as well as post-project surveys allowing for our organization to measure the impact on residents directly affected (living in properties connected to the alley) and indirectly affected (neighboring properties). Our 311 campaign will be able to measure it impact through surveys from residents prior to the introduction of the tools like the “MyLA311” app and the “TheWORKs” app and survey after the introduction and usage of the tools to measure the efficacy of the initiative. Lastly, for our general community beautifications we will collect survey pre and post beautification from residents in identified target areas.