A La Defensa
A La Defensa is dedicated to shifting LA County’s reliance on criminalization and incarceration toward systems of care that center human dignity through policies that challenge pretrial detention, advocating for local and state budgets that reflect our values, and challenging judicial power by building public resources and collective power.
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3 Submitted Ideas
CREATE ·2025 Grants ChallengeLA County Participatory Budgeting Initiative
Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a democratic and community-driven approach that empowers residents to determine how public funds are spent to address local needs. The LA County Participatory Budgeting Initiative, powered by the Reimagine LA Coalition (RELA), aims to increase civic engagement and advocacy in support of implementing PB through public education, advocacy training, community organizing, and narrative shift work.
LIVE ·2025 Grants ChallengeRapid Response Housing Stability Fund & Training Fellowship
Establish a fund to provide one-time cash stipends to individuals at risk of homelessness, while integrating them into a training program focused on policy implementation and community organizing.
CONNECT ·2025 Grants ChallengeImmigration Court Community Oversight Project (ICCOP)
Immigration Court Community Oversight Project (ICCOP) is the umbrella initiative of La Defensa’s Rate My Judge (RMJ) and Court Watch LA (CWLA) immigration programs. Thesecommunity-driven power-building models equip individuals impacted by the criminal and immigrant legal systems to document and expose harmful judicial decision-making and conduct. We train and mobilize community members, legal advocates, and law students to observe judicial conduct in criminal and immigration courts, creating accountability in an otherwise opaque system.