Nonprofit

Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE) & US Green Building Council Los Angeles Chapter (USGBC-LA)

SCOPE builds community power in South LA to ensure equitable investment in disadvantaged communities. USGBC-LA promotes sustainability and resilience in LA’s built environment by delivering education, resources and recognition.

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2 Submitted Ideas

  • LIVE ·2015 Grants Challenge

    Communities Building Resilience: South LA

    Low-income communities are most vulnerable to the threats of disaster. SCOPE has partnered with USGBC-LA and USGBC National on a long-term vision to promote resilience in South Los Angeles. The USGBC-LA is developing a Building Resilience Certification System to incentivize solutions for buildings and communities. Our project will create both a real world example of community resilience building, as well as tools to replicate the process in other communities.

  • 2013 Grants Challenge

    Turn Up the Turn Out: Engaging LA’s Voters through Advanced Technology in LowIncome Neighborhoods

    In LA City’s March 5th local primary election, only 16% of registered voters cast a ballot, with especially poor turnout in low-income neighborhoods throughout the City. California Calls proposes to reclaim democracy in the City of Angels by significantly increasing voter outreach, education and engagement in Los Angeles. We will increase the connectedness of LA’s voters by experimenting with both proven and new methods of voter engagement. Building upon a one-to-one voter contact model developed over four years by California Calls, we will engage an estimated 120,000 voters in Los Angeles during 2013. We expect that by the June 2014 primary election in Los Angeles, the voters we have contacted will demonstrate a 5% to 8% increase in their voting rates as compared to the average voter. Our program will target South and East Los Angeles, focusing on new, unlikely and occasional voters. This is a wholly different strategy than most political campaigns which focus on “always” voters who are older, more upper income and less racially diverse than Los Angeles. Our goal is to make the Los Angeles electorate reflect the diversity of LA’s residents. In turn, this will lead to local elected officials and public policies that better serve the interests of the vast majority of the City’s diverse population. Our proven approach will be supplemented with new technologies to help boost volunteer efficiency and overall voter engagement through three key strategies: 1. SMART PHONES SPEED UP DOOR-TO-DOOR VOTER CONTACT California Calls will provide training, technology support and database management to four community-based organizations in LA County who will visit voters door-to-door in the early Summer and Fall of 2013. We will equip community volunteers and daily team members with 100 “smart phones” to greatly increase their efficiency and allow them to contact more voters. They will: •find voters’ addresses quickly by using the phone’s GIS mapping function •input new information about the voter (e.g., phone, email, key interests) into the database, eliminating the need for document scanning •go “green” by eliminating paper documents •provide team captains with a real-time system to monitor and assist field canvassers California Calls plans to contact a total of 24,000 voters at their front door during the two cycles. The Smart Phones will increase contacts by roughly 10%, expanding our total outreach to 26,400 voters. We will collect phone numbers, emails and other voter data on all 26,400 voters for ongoing use in voter civic engagement through programs described below. 2. TELEPHONE TOWN HALLS CONNECT LOW-PROPENSITY VOTERS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT Based on successful experience by U.S. Congresswoman Karen Bass who regularly communicates with her constituents in Los Angeles, we propose a series of five “Telephone Town Halls” with LA voters to introduce them to the new Mayor and new City Council members who will take office on July 1, 2013. Using web-based technology, roughly 20,000 voters are dialed in the early evening and invited to listen to a short update from the Mayor or Council representative. Typically about 10% (2,000) choose to listen. After a short presentation, voters are invited to ask questions and discuss. The Telephone Town Hall can offer live translation into Spanish and other languages. We propose to conduct five Telephone Town Halls during 2013 with voters in South and East Los Angeles, reaching about 10,000 voters. We will hold one Citywide Tele-Town Hall with the new Mayor and four Tele-Town Halls with Council representatives from districts where our four community organizations are located. This new technology provides a unique and meaningful opportunity for voters to connect to their elected representatives, and provides California Calls and its member groups an opportunity to identify and involve voters who express interest in civic affairs for future follow-up. 3. VOTER OUTREACH PHONEBANK USING DIALER TECHNOLOGY California Calls will add one Voter Outreach Phone bank to its 2013 program to contact an additional 23,000 LA voters. We use a sophisticated, large-scale predictive dialing system which eliminates answering machines and “not homes”, and puts phoners directly into conversation with “live” voters. The four LA-based groups who contact voters will survey them on current policy issues and invite them to the Telephone-Town Halls and other community meetings. Interested voters will also become part of California Calls’ database file for use in mobilizing voter turnout for the June 2014 gubernatorial primary election. By integrating these three advanced technologies with the “human touch” that is offered by our community volunteers and team members, we will expand our LA voter outreach by more than 35,000 contacts, for a total civic engagement program of nearly 120,000 voters.