After-School Program Access

College Completion

Early Education (ages 0 to 5)

High School Graduation

High-quality K-12 STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) education is essential. Submissions to this issue area can take the form of school-based curriculum support, after-school program activities, extracurricular opportunities, or other initiatives that encourage school-age students to succeed in STEAM.

K-12 STEAM Education

We are looking for submissions that focus on improving the well-being of youth ages 24 and under who have been impacted by the mental and behavioral health system, the child welfare system, the youth justice system, or other similar systems. We are open to all channels of support – academic, professional, social, legal, personal, and beyond.

Support for Foster and Systems-Impacted Youth

LEARN

By the year 2050, the education system in Los Angeles will be well-resourced and culturally-responsive. All children will have access to early education programs and all families will be engaged in their student’s learning. Students will graduate college- and career-ready, equipped to thrive in the workforce of the future. Our higher education facilities will advance research and spur innovation.

Selected by voters, and sponsored by the Snap Foundation!

Los Angeles is home to thriving tech and creative sectors but securing employment in those areas can be more difficult for some groups. We are looking for projects that support access to tech and creative industry employment for groups that are traditionally underrepresented – including women, Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC), and LGBTQ+ Angelenos. This can be accomplished through internships, educational opportunities, training, networking, job placement, and more.

Under this same umbrella, the Snap Foundation is seeking ideas that will specifically develop pathways to employment in the creative economy for underrepresented youth in Los Angeles, ages 6 to 24. The creative economy encompasses architecture, arts and crafts, design, fashion, film, video, photography, music, performing arts, publishing, research and development, game design, advertising, engineering, TV/radio, and other fields that draw on human ingenuity.

Access to Tech and Creative Industry Employment

Arts Exhibitions, Events, and Activations

BIPOC- and Women-Owned Businesses

Addressing income inequality comes in many forms, whether directly offering resources to those who need them or implementing projects, programs, and initiatives that address the root causes in our communities. This might include supporting first-generation college students, providing jobs to individuals who have been incarcerated, or giving direct cash payments to low-income families.

Income Inequality

We are looking for submissions that aim to increase opportunities for people who have been incarcerated, through the provision of economic, social, or emotional assistance. This issue area would include any work related to both supporting people who are currently incarcerated and reducing recidivism and providing resources for those re-entering communities.

Opportunities for People Who Have Been Incarcerated

Support for Entrepreneurs

Access to tech and creative industry employment

Arts exhibitions, events, and activations

Opportunities for the formerly-incarcerated

CREATE

By the year 2050, Los Angeles will be an international leader in innovation across sectors. We will play host to the largest concentration of working artists and high-quality arts establishments. We will be a center for entrepreneurial activity, creating jobs and generating wealth for a flexible, talented, and inclusive workforce. Our business community will reflect the diversity of our region, enhancing our national and international opportunities.

Community safety encompasses any work that protects people from violence in all its forms and makes them feel safer. Submissions can support physical safety, such as policies that protect pedestrians and cyclists, or emotional safety, such as a program that deters bullying. This issue area includes not just the prevention of harassment, discrimination, and violence but also the active promotion of belonging, inclusion, and peace.

Community Safety

Festivals and Community Gatherings

Submissions are also open for the third time to the green space, park access, and trees issue area. We welcome any ideas that increase the availability of, expand equitable access to, or encourage more frequent use of these outdoor areas for all residents of Los Angeles. We also welcome ideas that inspire creative interaction with these spaces.

Green Space, Park Access, and Trees

Prevention of Childhood Trauma

Sports and Outdoor Recreation for All

Walk-able, Bike-able Streets

PLAY

By the year 2050, people from across Los Angeles will live in close proximity to vibrant park space and have easy access to high-quality, sustainable spaces for recreation. We will get active, explore the outdoors, and appreciate our natural environment. All residents will feel a sense of safety and belonging in their communities.

Civic Engagement and Voting

Disability Access

The Los Angeles region should embrace and offer holistic support to immigrants and refugees. We are looking for submissions with ideas for how to best protect the rights of these populations or provide the housing, educational, health, legal, social, personal, and economic resources for them to thrive.

Immigrant and Refugee Support

LGBTQ+ Equity

Applications to the public transit issue area can address expanding access to, increasing the effectiveness of, or improving the quality of public transit options around Los Angeles. It encompasses ideas for enhancing multimodal access to public transit hubs through walking, biking, scooting, and more for all people, including those with disabilities. This is the third year that this issue area is in the top 10; however, in the previous two cycles, it was the issue area with the fewest applications.

Public Transit

For the first time, the social support networks issue area was voted as one of the top 10. Loneliness is on the rise across the United States and has even been described as an epidemic. We are looking for ideas to decrease isolation, promote interdependence, and encourage communal care. Think intergenerational relationships, mutual aid hubs, neighbors coming together, or supporting individuals reentering after incarceration.

Social Support Networks

Volunteerism

CONNECT

By the year 2050, Los Angeles will be the most civically engaged region in the United States, with abundant platforms for residents to voice their opinions and influence elected officials and other decision-makers. Our region’s voting rates and volunteerism will lead the nation. An expanded, accessible transportation network will facilitate the easy flow of people and ideas.

It is likely no surprise that affordable housing and homelessness received more votes than any other issue area – now for the third year in the row. These submissions might focus on improving the quantity and quality of affordable housing, assisting vulnerable tenants, or providing support to unhoused individuals.

Affordable Housing and Homelessness

Climate and Environment

Disaster Preparedness

Food insecurity

Access to healthy food

Food Access

Access to comprehensive, high-quality health care is essential for individual thriving and overall community well-being. We are looking for submissions that connect Angelenos to mental and physical health services, especially those from uninsured and underinsured populations.

Health Care Access

Older Adult Well-Being

LIVE

By the year 2050, Los Angeles will have the nation’s lowest poverty rate and income inequality. All families will have access to fresh and healthy food, high-quality health care, and safe housing, no matter where they live or how much money they make. Our communities will enjoy the benefits of a sustainable environment, from clear skies to clean water.

We're looking for data that measures the employment rate of formerly incarcerated individuals in Los Angeles County.

Economic opportunities for those who have been incarcerated

Percentage of residents volunteering at least once annually.

In 2018, 24.1 percent of LA-area residents (LA, Long Beach, Santa Ana) volunteered at least once annually. The Los Angeles region is now ranked 46th for its volunteer rate out of 50 major metropolitan areas in the nation.



Source: Corporation for National Community Service

Percentage of LA Country residents spending less than 30 percent of their income on housing.

In 2020, 43 percent of Los Angeles County residents spent less than 30 percent of their income on housing.

Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, Selected Housing Characteristics 

Housing affordability

Percentage of residents living within a 10 minute walk of a park.

In 2023, 64 percent of LA City residents lived within a 10-minute walk of a park.

Source: The Trust for Public Land ParkScore Index

Access to open space and park facilities

Percentage of commuters in LA County taking public transit.

In 2020, the share of commuters countywide who took public transit was about 5.4 percent. This percentage has been decreasing steadily since 2011, when 7.3 percent of commuters took public transit.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey: Commuting Characteristics by Sex

Public transit ridership

Percentage of households countywide below the poverty level.

In 2017, 23 percent of households in Los Angeles County were living in poverty according to the California Poverty Measure, an adjusted measure which takes into account cost of living and resources from social safety net programs.



Source: Public Policy Institute of California

Poverty rate

We're looking for data that measures our region's openness to immigrants and refugees.

Immigrant integration

Percentage of LA County land covered by trees.

In 2016, 18 percent of LA County's land was covered by trees.



Tree canopy cover

Percentage of national venture capital funding captured by LA.

In 2019, the Los Angeles metro region attracted 9.23 percent of the total share of venture capital dollars in the U.S.



Source: National Venture Capital Association

Venture capital investment

Property crime per 1,000 residents.

In 2018, Los Angeles residents reported approximately 5.7 violent crimes per 1,000 inhabitants and approximately 23.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents.



Source: California Department of Justice (via LA Almanac)

Crime rates

Number of gun-violence victims per year.

In 2021, there were 1,459 shooting victims in the City of Los Angeles.

Source: Los Angeles Police Department, Crime and Initiatives Report

Gun-violence victims

We're looking for data that measures how accessible our region is to individuals with disabilities, in regard to social inclusion, the built environment, economic opportunity, and more.

Disability access and inclusion

Number of free, public concerts in LA County sponsored by the County Arts Commission.

In 2021, the LA County Arts Commission sponsored 204 free, public concerts.

Source: LA County Open Data Portal

Public arts and cultural events

We're looking for data on the number of arts establishments, installations, and exhibitions open to Los Angeles residents each year.

Arts establishments, installations, and exhibitions

Patents per year

In 2015, Los Angeles County produced 3,625 patents.

Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Patents

Percentage of Angelenos with a commute time over 30 minutes.

In 2020, 51 percent of Angelenos reported having commute times of over 30 minutes, and 15 percent of Angelenos reported having a work commute of 60 minutes or more.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey: Means of Transportation to Work

Travel time to work

Percentage of tech industry employment of overall LA metropolitan area workforce.

In 2018, tech industry employment made up just over 3 percent of the overall workforce in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Source: CBRE

Employment in the tech industries

Days of unhealthy air quality.

In 2016, the Los Angeles metropolitan area experienced 107 unhealthy air quality days.



Air quality

Percentage of high school graduates enrolled in post-secondary institutions.

In the 2016-2017 school year, 62 percent of high school graduates across Los Angeles County enrolled in college.

Source: California Department of Education DataQuest

College matriculation

We're looking for data that measures the percentage of children in the Los Angeles area that participate in afterschool programs.

Enrollment in afterschool programs

Percentage of youth 16-24 in the City of LA disengaged from work and school.

In 2015, 11.7 percent of youth 16-24 in the City of Los Angeles were considered opportunity youth, meaning they were not working or in school.



Source: USC Sol Price Center for Social Innovation

Opportunity youth ("Disengaged youth" 16-24 not working or in school)

Percentage of households fully banked.

In 2021, 79.8 percent of households were classified as "fully banked," meaning that the household had a checking or savings account and did not use alternative financial services outside of the banking system in the past 12 months.

Source: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (via LA Mayor's office)

Access to banks and financial institutions

Percentage of households prepared to handle a large-scale disaster or emergency.

In 2018, 61.6 percent of households in Los Angeles County felt prepared to handle a large-scale disaster or emergency.



Resilient communities

Average use of water, in gallons, per person, per day.

In 2021, Angelenos used an average of 112 gallons of water, per person, per day.

Source: LADWP (via Los Angeles Mayor's Office SDG Portal)

Water-use efficiency

Percentage of LA County adults with access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

In 2018, 76.5 percent of LA County adults reported that they always have access to fresh fruits and vegetables in their neighborhood.

Source: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (via the Los Angeles Mayor's Office SDG Portal)

Percentage of adults reported accessing the internet in a typical week.

In 2018, less than 85 percent of adults in Los Angeles County reported accessing the internet in a typical week.

Source: LA County Health Survey

Internet access

Percentage of residents with easy access to affordable healthcare services.

In 2018, 21.3 percent of adults in Los Angeles County reported that obtaining medical care when needed is somewhat or very difficult, meaning 78.7 percent had access to sufficient care. This is up approximately 10 percent from 2011, when 31.7 percent of adults reported difficulty obtaining care.



Healthcare access

We're looking for data that measures how responsive our local government is to residents' needs or how satisfied residents are with our local government's services, programs, and policies.

Government responsiveness to residents’ needs

AllTransit Performance Score

In 2019, Los Angeles County received an AllTransit (TM) Performance Score of 6.8 out of 10. The score is based on overall connectivity, access to jobs, and frequency of service. Currently, LA County is ranked 24th in the United States.



Transit-accessible housing and employment

Percentage of LA County residents that feel safe in their neighborhood.

In 2018, 85 percent of LA County residents perceived their neighborhood as safe from crime.

Source: LA County Health Survey

Perceived neighborhood safety

Jobs per 1,000 residents.

In 2019, Los Angeles County had approximately 474 jobs for every 1,000 residents, an increase from 424 jobs per 1,000 residents in 2010.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, OnTheMap

Jobs per capita

We're looking for data that speaks to the frequency and quality of open streets gatherings in our region.

Open streets gatherings

Percentage of adults with mental illness with access to services.

In 2018, 78.9 percent of adults with depression in Los Angeles County were either taking medication or receiving counseling.



Access to mental health services

Percentage of children attending preschool, nursery school, or Head Start for at least ten hours a week.

In 2018, 17.5 percent of children 6 years of age and younger attended preschool, nursery school, or Head Start at least 10 hours per week.



Early education enrollment

Percentage of students completing their program within six years.

In the 2015-2016 school year, across the community college districts, 46 percent of students completed their certificate, degree, or transfer-related program in six years.



Community college completion

Percentage of children in LA County with easy access to a safe park

In 2018, 90.4 percent of children ages 1-17 had easy access to a safe park in their neighborhood.



Easy access to a safe park

Percentage of unemployed LA County residents.

In 2022, 4.9 percent of residents in LA County were unemployed. This number is down significantly from 2020, when 12.8 percent of residents were unemployed.

Source: California Employment Development Department, Local Area Unemployment Statistics 

Unemployment rate

Number of LA County students expelled.

In the 2020-2021 school year, 26 LAUSD students were suspended and 1 student was expelled.* These numbers have decreased significantly since 2012, when students were suspended 18,846 and 152 students were expelled.

*This data was significantly impacted by the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic along with distance learning. 

Source: California Department of Education DataQuest

Suspension and expulsion rates

Number of waterways in the LA region considered impaired.

In its 2014/2016 integrated report, the State Water Resources Control Board listed 208 waterbodies in the Los Angeles region as impaired by pollutants such as bacteria, heavy metals, nutrients, pesticides, and trash.



Source: California State Water Resources Control Board (via Heal the Bay)

Water pollution

Percentage of residents experiencing food insecurity.

In 2018, 26.8 percent of Los Angeles County households with incomes less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level experienced food insecurity.

Source: LA County Health Survey

Percentage of students enrolled in at least one arts class.

In 2019, 41 percent of students in LA County were enrolled in at least one arts course.

Source: createCA Arts Education Data Project

Arts education

We're looking for data that measures LA's cultural and economic influence across California, the US, and the globe.

Global cultural and economic influence (“soft power”)

Percentage of residents voting in neighborhood elections.

In 2019,  22,795 votes were cast for neighborhood councils amounting to just 0.62 percent of residents participating in those elections.

Source: Empower LA

Neighborhood council participation

Percentage of LA County youth participation in sports.

In 2020, 82.7 percent of youth, ages 6 to 17, in Los Angeles County participated in one or more sports.

Youth sports participation

Percentage of single older adults with income below the Elder Index.

In 2015, 56.4 percent of single older adults living alone in Los Angeles City had incomes below the Elder Index, which measures the actual cost of basic necessities for older adults.

Older adult well-being

Percentage of employees employed directly in creative industries.

In 2020, 402,465 people in the Los Angeles region were directly employed in the creative industries (16 percent of the workforce), with 797,075 total jobs (direct, indirect, and induced).

Source: Otis Report on the Creative Economy

Employment in the creative industries

Percentage of eligible voters participating in November general elections.

In 2020, 70.78 percent of eligible LA County voters participated in the November general election.

Source: California Secretary of State, Voter Participation Statistics

Voting rates

Percentage of LA County adults report receiving sufficient social and emotional support.

In 2018, just over 64 percent of LA County adults reported receiving sufficient social and emotional support. This figure has remained consistent over the past decade.

Source: LA County Health Survey