| |
POWER’s victories are indicative of the commitment
of the organization to preserving affordable public
and HUD-subsidized housing and improving the quality
of public education in the low-income areas of West
Los Angeles. Some of POWER’s recent victories
include:
Education
Improving School Food In LAUSD: POWER parent leaders won the passage of the Cafeteria Reform Motion by the LAUSD School Board, which will force school cafeterias to: 1) lower the amounts of sugar, sodium, and trans-fats in food served in all 806 LAUSD schools; 2) strengthen food inspection and handling processes; and 3) create a parent-led Cafeteria Reform Committee that will have oversight of implementation of the motion.
Increasing parent leadership roles in
schools and creating lasting relationships between
parents and teachers: On December 15, 2004,
25 parent leaders and teachers from Braddock and Stoner
Elementary met to discuss ways to increase working
relationships between parents and teachers. POWER parent
leaders presented a proposal for monthly meetings between
parents and teachers for each classroom. The meetings
will not only build relationships but ensure that parents
have shaping role in their children’s day to
day educational experience. The monthly meetings will
also bring the community into the classroom and the
classroom into the family.
Leading up this December
meeting with the teachers, POWER leaders and key board
members visited the Logan Square Neighborhood Association
(LSNA) in Chicago to observe their Ambassador and Parent-Teacher
Mentor Programs. This provided leaders the opportunity
to learn from LSNA’s model programs and see how other
low-income parents were taking critical leadership
roles in their schools and working to improve the educational
opportunities for their children. It was as a result
of these visits that POWER leaders polished their plan
for monthly meetings and presented that plan to teachers
at the December meeting.
Saving $300,000 in Funding for Local Schools: In
September 2003, Stoner elementary in Mar Vista was
in danger of losing over $300,000 in State funds
due to a lack of parent involvement in 3 main school
councils (School Site Council, Compensatory Education
Advisory Council and English Learner Advisory Council).
Upon learning this, POWER parent leaders conducted
over a dozen house meetings and fifty one-on-one’s
in the community to build relationships with and
agitate other Stoner Elementary parents to become
involved in the councils. This resulted in over 30
new parent leaders developed and full participation
in the councils.
Education Town Hall: In
June 2003, more than 400 POWER leaders organized
a rally and town hall at Venice High School to protest
State budget cuts to public education. Assembly member
Koretz, Supt. Dodd, United Teachers of Los Angeles
(UTLA) Vice President Mike Dreebin, LAUSD school
board member Canter and representatives of six other
State Legislative offices joined POWER leaders at
the town hall. The elected, appointed and union representatives
committed to fight cuts to education and to a working
relationship with POWER. The Town Hall created a
core of 60 committed education leaders poised to
continue building a powerful common agenda. The event
built POWER’s clout with State Senate and Assembly
leaders, school district officials and key union
representatives. To build off this event, POWER leaders
took the summer to develop an aggressive education
strategy for the next year and half that serves to
strengthen our education team and solidify our local
and State agendas.
top
Affordable Housing
Creating Affordable Housing: POWER won $60 million in the new construction of affordable housing in Venice and Marina del Rey for low-income families by forcing developers to comply with a state law requiring all developers building one mile from the beach to include affordable housing in their new developments.
Preserving Affordable Housing: POWER successfully prevented the owner of a HUD subsidized residential building from opting out of Section 8 which resulted in the preservation of 246 affordable housing units for low-income residents.
Fighting Gentrification: On February 5th,
2004, more than 100 POWER leaders spoke out at the
Los Angeles Housing Department’s Hearing on the State of Housing in
Los Angeles. Leaders testified to the West LA’s
rapid gentrification and voiced support for a proposed
city ordinance, “Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning,”
which mandates the inclusion of affordable housing
(for low and very low income people) in all new developments
throughout Los Angeles. POWER community leaders have
continued to be an integral part of the Los Angeles
Inclusionary Zoning Coalition, which is leading the
campaign to pass the Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning
ordinance.
POWER leaders win commitments from top government
officials in Washington D.C.: On March 26th-29th,
POWER attended the National People’s Action
conference in Washington D.C. This forum provided
POWER leaders the opportunity to meet and win commitments
from top government officials from the Department
of Education (DOE) and the Housing and Urban Development
(HUD). At these two meetings POWER leaders won commitments
from Laurie Rich, Assistant Secretary of Intergovernmental
and Interagency Affairs of DOE, and Alfonzo Jackson,
new Secretary of HUD, to conduct sites visit later
this year at Mar Vista and Venice so that our community
leaders can dialogue with them regarding some of
the work POWER is doing around the issues of improving
public education and preserving affordable housing.
Coalition Work on Affordable
Housing in Los Angeles: In October 2003,
POWER joined with ACORN and several other Los Angeles
area non-profits to form the Los Angeles Inclusionary
Zoning Coalition. We sought and won the commitments
of LA City Council members Ed Reyes and Eric Garcetti
to draft an inclusionary housing ordinance for Los
Angeles mandating that all new developments in the
City include 12% of units as low income housing or
10% of units as very low income housing. Initially
Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski opposed the ordinance
but after several meetings with POWER leaders including
protests, she decided to co-sponsor the ordinance.
Over 150 POWER leaders turned out to three separate
LA City Council meetings and presented on LA’s
affordable crisis. Due to their presence a once firmly
resistant City Council unanimously voted to conduct
a preliminary environmental impact study on the inclusionary
zoning proposal and hold meetings in every local
district to get input from community members. Over
100 POWER leaders attended our local meeting to support
inclusionary zoning (the largest in the City) and
fully expect that our continued support will win
inclusionary zoning for Los Angeles.
top
Political Action
POWER improves community safety in Mar Vista
Gardens Housing Projects: On March 25,
2004 POWER leaders from Mar Vista Gardens Housing
Projects gained recognition and support from District
11 Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski on their efforts
to improve the safety of their community. Community
residents of Mar Vista Gardens have been concerned
about a dangerous intersection without a traffic
light that is crossed each day by countless school
children that attend three local schools. Over
a 3 month period, POWER leaders built a coalition
that included LAPD Pacific Division, LAPD West
Traffic Division, the 3 local schools, Del Rey
Neighborhood Council, Del Rey Home Owner Association
and Mar Vista Housing Authority. This coalition
did important traffic research and met several
times with LA DOT and the Councilwoman’s
office. As a result of the community pressure,
Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski recently agreed
to make this project the highest priority in her
district and expedite the design and installation
of the traffic signal.
Saving Child Care Funding: On
March 25th, 2004, POWER and ACORN of Los Angeles
collaborated to help organize over a dozen childcare
subsidy organizations to devise a countywide strategy
to fight the proposed budget cuts to childcare.
The culmination was a 1,200-person countywide “Say Yes to Children” rally
and protest where state legislators in attendance
were pressured to fight against the cuts. One
hundred POWER leaders were involved in this Downtown
L.A. event.
On June
9th, 2004 — POWER leaders (through their
partnership with the Center for Community Change)
put together a 120-person rally and press conference
at the Santa Monica restaurant of Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger to protest his proposed budget
cuts to Childcare and CalWORKs. Eleven media
outlets covered the event.
Fighting State Budget Cuts: POWER
leaders travel annually to Sacramento to fight budget
cuts targeting public education and the social service
safety net. Over the past two years, more than 100
POWER leaders have led meetings with state legislators,
such as Senators Kuehl and Bowen, to demand that
the State make the education, health and safety of
children a top priority. This year’s trip to Sacramento, on May 12th,
was under the theme “United for a Fair Budget”,
which focused on governor Schwarzenegger’s proposed
cuts to CalWORKS, food stamps, health care, child care
and immigrant programs. POWER leaders led a 200-person
action on the governor’s Director of the Department
of Finance, Donna Arduin, for her recommendations in
cutting several programs that benefit low-income families.
top
Elections
Political Accountability: On March
2nd, 2005, POWER leaders organized a City Council Forum
attended by 150 neighborhood and institutional leaders.
Mar Vista and Venice POWER leaders organized the event
to pose key questions on preserving affordable housing
(Holiday Venice and Mar Vista Gardens), public education
(funding after school programs and parent leadership)
and asked candidates to commit to work with poor and
working class POWER leaders as important constituents.
All three candidates for Los Angeles City Council District
11 attended the event and said YES to all questions
posed. Additionally, reporters from the Los Angeles
Times and La Opinion were present, and La Opinion published
a story on March 5th. Mike Bonin, campaign manager
for the race’s frontrunner, Bill Rosendahl, said, “I
have attended 30 of the City Council Forums over the
past 6 months and this was by far the most intelligently
run forum of them all. The questions that you guys
asked were so smart and of such great detail.”
Voter
Power: From August 1st to Election
Day in November 2004, POWER community leaders and staff:
1) Registered over 1,500 low-income voters in the areas
of Santa Monica, Venice, Inglewood, Westchester and
Mar Vista. 2) Did over 2 dozen Voter Education Forums
in the local communities that focused on the Ballot
initiatives, voting procedures, and the importance
of registering others to vote; 3) Coordinated a GOTV
campaign on Election Day that was responsible for physically
bringing out over 500 low-income voters to the polls.
Our targeted demographic for the project was low-income
African American and Latino community members.
top
|
|
