Native Power Building in Los Angeles County

Affordable housing and homelessness

County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit) City of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a citywide benefit) LAUSD (select only if you have a district-wide partnership)

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

Native communities in Los Angeles County face severe health disparities and civic underrepresentation rooted in historical legacies of forced relocation, displacement, and colonization. Despite LA County being home to the largest Native population in the US, Native communities remain underrepresented in elected office and experience disproportionate poverty rates, healthcare discrimination, educational erasure, and carceral overrepresentation.
These systemic barriers and inequities are further compounded by ongoing displacement pressures, including the ongoing housing crisis and climate displacement, that sever cultural connections and directly harm Native community health, well-being, and power-building capacity.
California Native Vote Project (CNVP) fills these gaps by increasing Native civic engagement and building community power through strengthening cultural protective factors to improve community health outcomes.

CNVP seeks to sustain and expand our community organizing infrastructure to directly address the intersecting crises facing Native communities in Los Angeles County. Our comprehensive approach tackles civic underrepresentation and health disparities by expanding local organizing capacity and developing Native leadership pathways.
CNVP provides culturally-grounded community support addressing health disparities through timely public health information, mental health resources for trauma management, and comprehensive community education through in-person engagement and online forums with Native health experts. Central to our mission is increasing Native civic engagement by empowering community voices through leadership development programs that create opportunities for hands-on organizing experiences.
CNVP’s power-building strategy includes facilitating a two-year Native Power Building Fellowship designed to cultivate a pipeline of Native leaders, advocating for policy change, enhancing data collection on the status of Native peoples across California, and ensuring greater representation of Native community priorities within coalition spaces.
By strengthening cultural protective factors, including cultural connectedness and community control, CNVP builds sustainable organizing infrastructures that address immediate community needs while creating long-term political power to ensure Native voices shape decisions affecting their lives and health outcomes.

LA County will be transformed into a region where Native communities hold transformative political power. Native leaders will occupy elected offices and decision-making positions, ensuring community voices shape policies. Health disparities will decrease as Native-led advocacy promotes equitable resource distribution. Housing displacement will be addressed through Native-centered policy solutions prioritizing cultural connections and community stability. Educational systems will honor Native histories while supporting Native student success. A robust pipeline of Native leaders will create generational change through our leadership development programs.
As a statewide organization, CNVP is committed to scaling our programs to meet the needs of Native communities across the state, establishing permanent Native political infrastructure that demonstrates that investing in Native power-building creates lasting change.