Preventing clinic closures: In 2002, a budget shortfall prompted Los Angeles County to propose closing several clinics and trauma centers. In reaction, One LA - IAF leaders along with healthcare organizations throughout the county and several county supervisors supported a ballot measure to raise additional funds through a parcel tax on all new construction in the county.
Measure B required a two-thirds majority to pass and One LA - IAF leaders worked vigorously to get out the vote in support of the measure. In the precincts where One LA - IAF leaders worked, the measure passed at 80 percent. Countywide, Measure B passed at 67 percent, preventing the closure of much-needed health services.
Ensuring a healthy school environment at Park Avenue Elementary: In 2001, parents and teachers at Park Avenue noticed a thick black substance surfacing through cracks in the school's playground. School district personnel made initial inspections and declared the substance not a safety hazard.
After several students became ill with respiratory problems and two teachers miscarried, a team of parents and teachers began organizing with One LA - IAF (then known as LA Metro - IAF) to address the school's environmental problems. They learned that the school was built over an old chemical plant whose materials had turned toxic. Parents and teachers reached out to congregations in the area, challenged LAUSD, and secured an agreement to move all the students from the school site and to devote $14 million to a cleanup effort.
Once the students had moved, parents and teachers continued organizing and secured agreements from the district for numerous school renovations, including new paint, air conditioners, carpets, and desks. In 2003, students moved back to their school - a building that, thanks to their efforts, was now healthy and beautiful.
Improving nutrition at Miles Avenue Elementary: In 2005, teachers and parents at Miles Elementary began a series of house meetings. Those conversations surfaced stories of the cafeteria at Miles: Parents spoke of their children complaining of unripe or rotten fruit, of greasy pizza and "blue" hot dogs. The school's core team decided to launch an effort to improve the quality of food in the cafeteria.
The core organizing team discovered that one obstacle to improving the food options at Miles was the size of the school. Miles Avenue is one of the largest elementary schools in the country, with more than 2,000 students. With such large numbers of children, the cafeteria could offer only a limited menu of quick-serve items such as nachos, pizza, and hot dogs. Miles Avenue successfully organized to renovate the school cafeteria so more students could be served at any given time and healthier food was on the menu.
The school district also began a taste-testing program with several Miles Avenue classes to try out healthier menu options. The winners are now available to all students in the district.
Ensuring clean air in Sun Valley and at Fernangeles Elementary: The Bradley Landfill, located in Sun Valley in the Northeast San Fernando Valley, is one of the city's two major landfills. Garbage from businesses and apartment buildings throughout Los Angeles - up to 10,000 tons a day - goes to Bradley.
In 2002, One LA - IAF leaders at Fernangeles Elementary in Sun Valley began a series of house meetings on health concerns in their community, having discovered that neighborhood asthma rates were three times the county average. In preliminary research into the causes of these health problems, parents and teachers learned that Waste Management, the operators of Bradley Landfill, were applying for a permit to increase the height of the landfill.
Parents, teachers, and administrators at Fernangeles, along with families from congregations throughout the neighborhood, began organizing to make sure their community was no longer the dumping ground for the city of Los Angeles. Since then, One LA - IAF has won several victories alleviating the landfill's environmental hazards, including securing a commitment from the city to install air-quality testing devices throughout the neighborhood and another to close Bradley and begin shipping waste out of Los Angeles County.
In reaction to One LA - IAF's organizing, Waste Management is developing a community reinvestment program and has planted numerous trees throughout Sun Valley. The dump itself is now surrounded by vegetation.
One LA - IAF leaders are currently in negotiation to ensure that the transfer station built to move waste from Sun Valley outside of the county is constructed so as to ensure minimal environmental impact on the region. In addition, leaders are working to limit the emissions produced by the garbage trucks that will continue to move through the neighborhood.
For press on the work in Sun Valley, click here.