Building Collective Power
Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) was established in 1978, making it one of the first environmental justice organizations in the nation. CBE prioritizes building community power in the SELA region and uplifting residents to advocate for environmental justice. By offering leadership training, legal training, and scientific and technical assistance, CBE ensures residents can confidently confront threats to their health and well-being.
While SELA has a rich nonprofit sector and community organizing presence, CBE points to a need to increase support for youth in SELA who are faced with growing environmental justice and climate change concerns. Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) youth living in low-income communities like SELA face both socioeconomic and environmental justice barriers. CBE is focused on building a future generation of leaders to address these intersecting issues.
The SELA Youth Organizing Network (SYON)
Through the grant provided by the California Community Foundation and administered through the SELA Collaborative, CBE has facilitated conversations and convened a network of diverse youth-serving organizations, known as the SELA Youth Organizing Network (SYON). The aim of the network is to bring together youth-serving organizations working across issue areas in SELA to share resources, create collaborative priorities and collectively uplift the voices of the region’s youth. The network includes representatives from other community-based organizations including Latino Equity Alliance (LEA), California Latinas for Reproductive Justice and Nuestros SELA (formerly the People of South Gate).
Envisioning a SELA for ALL
This past year, in a shared effort to uplift youth voices, SYON canvassed at local parks, schools, and businesses to administer a community survey to over 150 youth across SELA. The survey asked SELA youth about their top concerns and priorities and offered them an an opportunity to envision what SELA could look like in the next twenty years. Key priorities uplifted by the survey respondents are shown in the graphic to the right.
CBE found that 41% of respondents want to see increased access to accessible and affordable healthcare to improve chronic conditions across their communities. On the issue of community safety, respondents noted a need for increased de-escalation training for police and opportunities to build rapport with first responders. In addition, the SELA youth who were surveyed would like to see more resources dedicated to a range of issues from afterschool programs to funding for affordable housing.
To better understand youth backgrounds and their future goals, CBE asked respondents what types of jobs they were working and their motives for employment. A majority of youth reported working jobs in manual labor (construction, carpentry, warehousing, and transportation) followed by retail, recreational centers, and social services. The primary reason for employment was to provide for their households, to pay off personal expenses and bills, and to build skills for career growth.
A majority of respondents report working outside of the SELA region due to a lack of quality, fair-wage jobs in their communities. In the future, youth respondents would like to see an increase in opportunities within their communities across the industries depicted below. These findings are crucial to understanding how CBE as a collective can align efforts and establish a unified goal rooted in the needs of the community.
Paving the Way for Future Leaders
CBE recognizes the interconnected nature of community well-being and environment. By understanding the needs of young people in Southeast LA, the SYON strengthens movement building and deepens engagement with young and emerging leaders across SELA. The work of CBE ensures that the voices of its residents are central to the vision of progress and continues to drive meaningful change and transform the SELA region into a place where all community members can thrive.
The Southeast Los Angeles (SELA) Collaborative is a network of organizations working together to strengthen the capacity of the nonprofit sector and increase civic engagement in Southeast LA. Founded in 2011 by eleven core organizations, the Collaborative seeks to revitalize the communities of Bell, Bell Gardens, Cudahy, Florence-Firestone, Huntington Park, Lynwood, Maywood, South Gate, Vernon, and Walnut Park.
These grantee vignettes highlight the work and impact of individual Collaborative members, each of whom have a long history of serving and advocating in partnership with residents of Southeast Los Angeles. Read more about the SELA region here.
Authors & Contributors
Emily Phillips
Emily (she/her) is the Project Specialist at Neighborhood Data for Social Change. Emily received her Master in Public Policy with a specialization in advocacy communications from the USC Price School in the Spring of 2024. Prior to relocating to Southern California, Emily grew up in Phoenix and then obtained her BA in Political Science and Global Studies from Loyola University Chicago. Her main focus incudes policy advocacy across a variety of policy areas including housing, health, and racial justice. She is passionate about community engagement and social impact.
Other contributors include: Nicole Ouyang
