The fifth of five Expos was held in LA County’s 4th Supervisorial District at the local community college, the Los Angeles Harbor College in Wilmington, California.

Communities for a Better Environment (CBE)- a statewide nonprofit organization addressing environmental and climate justice with strong local organizing in Wilmington and Southeast LA – acted as the Expo’s primary partner.

Throughout the course of the event, attendees circulated around 8 discussion tables. Each table focused on 6 Actions from the Plan, grouped around a central theme that reflected one or two goals.

Key Takeaways

All Actions presented in the discussions received some votes, but several received received far more than others. Top vote-getting Actions reflected a wide range of issues, with those regarding landscapes and ecosystems receiving the most votes. Offering free transit for students, seniors, disabled and low-income people placed second, while phasing out oil and gas ranked third. Several other priority Actions focused on resiliency and engagement within communities.

The top vote-getting Actions were:

  1. Increase parks, greenways, joint use schoolyards in high need areas
  2. Increase native plants, trees, landscape
  3. Offer free transit for students, seniors, disabled & low-income people
  4. Implement zero-emission vehicles on freight corridors
  5. Explore how to engage neighborhood groups in unincorporated areas
  6. Phase out all oil and gas operations, emphasizing environmental justice neighborhoods
  7. Train neighborhood leaders to become emergency responders
  8. Use community air monitoring to increase regulations on oil refineries
  9. Reduce urban heat with cool roofs, cool pavement & greening

Sample Comments/Feedback Received

  1. Several comments focused on community gardens, native plants, green spaces, and access to food. All comments in these areas pointed to the belief that individuals should be better supported in cultivating these in/with their own communities. They suggested the County should play a supportive role by incentivizing land owners and local residents to preserve green space and allocate resources to take on this work.
  2. Creating transit-oriented development policies that benefit low-income residents and alleviate pollution is a top priority
  3. Participants want a ban on fossil fuels, and recognize removing refineries and fossil fuel facilities as a way to reduce the threat of emergencies and toxic exposure
  4. Many comments addressed the need for continued inclusive engagement. Feedback shared on this topic included:
    • Providing free transportation or bus vouchers for people to attend public meetings
    • Incorporating more youth-oriented components to meetings and making youth recruitment a priority
    • Investing in more advertisement of meetings
    • Continuing to leverage community-based organizations and partners to gather people together as communities to work on implementation steps

Attendee Demographics

113 attendees signed in and shared information about themselves through entrance polling. According to those polled, 22% of attendees were born outside the United States, while the rest were U.S.-born. Nearly 40% of attendees who completed exit surveys were ages 18 and younger, the largest proportion of youth participants at any Expo event. 36% of attendees were between ages 18-35, while 19% of those responding were between ages 35-64. 7% of attendees polled were 65 or older. Of those that signed in, the majority identified as Latino/a, making up nearly 70%. 14% identified as White, and 7% identified as Black. Only 4% identified as Asian in entrance polling, while 6 attendees identified their race/ethnicity as Other.

Context

OurCounty, the Los Angeles Countywide Sustainability Plan, is an effort to outline a bold, inclusive and truly regional vision for the present and future generations of Los Angeles. To ensure that residents, local groups and youth from across the County had an opportunity to understand the Draft Plan and provide input to the final plan, Liberty Hill Foundation and the LA County Chief Sustainability Office organized five “Our Voice, Our County Expos” with support from community-based organization anchors.

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Our Voice, Our County: Environmental Community Fair (May 18, Wilmington)

Los Angeles Harbor College, Figueroa Place, Wilmington, CA, USA