The “Our County” Stakeholder Engagement Team invited nonprofit organizations throughout Los Angeles County to provide input on the topics of Equity and Resilience for the County’s first Sustainability Plan.

The “Equity and Resilience” workshop, held on October 26, 2018 at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, attracted dozens of attendees from a diverse set of nonprofit organizations, as well as several public agencies, and members of the “Our County” Stakeholder Engagement team.

The workshop provided an explanation of how the “Our County” plan will be developed and an overview of equity and resilience issues the County faces. After introductory remarks from Marissa Aho (L.A. Mayor’s Office) Dr. Martha Matsuoka (Occidental College) on the topics of Resilience and Equity, attendees were broken up into four morning sessions of their choice, with each section led by a discussion facilitator, along with a butcher paper scribe and computer note taker. After lunch, participants split into an additional topic session with a similar configuration. The discussion topics included:

Morning Breakout Sessions

  1. Cumulative Impacts in Environmental Justice Communities
  2. Healthy Homes for All
  3. Eliminating Barriers to Employment
  4. Community Cohesion and Emergency Preparedness

Afternoon Breakout Sessions

  1. Food and Food System Justice
  2. Anti-Displacement & the Right to Thrive in Place
  3. Defining Just Growth in L.A. County
  4. L.A. County Governance to Advance Sustainability

As part of the interactive discussions, participants were encouraged to propose alternative or additional priority strategies to those contained in notes captured from previous “Our County” workshops as it related to the session topic.

While each stakeholder brought their own unique set of recommendations and input for the “Our County” plan, several common themes emerged throughout the workshop that either seek to address missing issues or enhance the goals of Equity and Resilience. The following are the top themes identified:

Key Recommendations

  1. Centering historically and currently disenfranchised groups in decision-making through a responsive and bottom-up governance structure that invests in grassroots leadership development.
  2. Targeting investments and resources to support community-led models that build neighborhood wealth, eliminate housing instability, and strengthen social infrastructure.
  3. Accelerating the shift away from exploitative and extractive practices through enforceable regulatory mechanisms with a prioritization on vulnerable residents’ health and safety.
  4. Advancing public awareness and literacy through timely, accessible communication methods, culturally-competent trainings, and diverse data collection approaches.

 

Comments on the key recommendations can be directed to sustainability@lacounty.gov.

Read more in the Equity and Resilience Nonprofit Workshop Summary

Download the Equity and Resilience Nonprofit Workshop Notes

Download the Equity and Resilience Nonprofit Workshop Presentation

Download the Our County Equity and Resilience Briefing

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