In 2022, the California Community Foundation (CCF) launched the Regional Recovery Hub to strengthen place-based coordination in Los Angeles County regions that were most heavily impacted by COVID-19. CCF contracted with six regional leads to build recovery action plans and distribute financial resources in their regions. Regional leads convened a table of local organizations to guide and implement the work in each region.
NDSC provided data and technical assistance support to each of the regions and their network of local community partners. This data story is part of a series on CCF’s Regional Recovery Hub and provides insights into the work being led by the SELA Collaborative in Southeast Los Angeles
To explore more data on the NDSC map for this region, please click here.
The Southeast Community
Positioned between Long Beach and Downtown Los Angeles are ten communities with a longstanding history of resilience and self-determination: Bell, Bell Gardens, Cudahy, Huntington Park, Lynwood, Maywood, South Gate, Vernon, and the unincorporated communities of Florence-Firestone and Walnut Park. With a total population of 413,414 these communities comprise Southeast Los Angeles (SELA), a region initially designed to be a manufacturing center for Los Angeles County. In the Southeast, rich culture blends into high traffic, environmental pollutants, and institutional underinvestment.
"There is an existing culture of resistance in the region — thousands of southeast young people and families have already defeated power plants, corrupt politicians and fought anti-immigrant policies like Proposition 187. This current generation is organizing through regional solidarity groups, in the literary arts, with local businesses and through art and wellness collectives. Even more, the southeast could become an interest group of working class people if they had to unite for the same thing: the right to live".
Southeast LA has long been a community in transition, changing from a majority White population in the early 20th century to a predominantly Hispanic population by the close of the century. Today, about 94% of residents identify as Hispanic/Latino. During the economic recession of the late 70s, the region hemorrhaged manufacturing jobs, and the “Anglo-enclave” began to dwindle as people returned to unionized factory jobs in the Midwest. Simultaneously, drawn by more affordable housing prices, many middle and working-class Latina/os moved into the communities of Vernon and Bell Gardens and bought homes as more urbanized regions of Los Angeles became less affordable for new homeowners. Today, SELA is characterized by large numbers of immigrants and young people. As of 2022, 43% of SELA residents were born outside of the U.S., nearly 10% higher than the county average. The community of Maywood accounts for the most significant proportion, with about 48% of residents being first-generation immigrants. Moreover, the region is fairly young compared to neighboring communities. About 37% of the population is under the age of 24, nearly 7% higher than the Los Angeles County Average.
The region has historically experienced economic, health, education, and social disparities, such as outdated digital infrastructure, low college enrollment, and low graduation rates. Demarcated by I-710, the 110 freeway to the West, the 10 to the North, the 5 to the East, and the 105 to the South, SELA also faces environmental justice issues like high rates of pollution burden and extreme heat. These problems persist in part due to underinvestment in the SELA region coupled with underrepresentation in the civic process.
To address the impacts of historic and ongoing disinvestment, the SELA Collaborative acts as a facilitator, building collective power across several community organizations to drive regional systemic change. The SELA Collaborative focuses on regional relationship building through a cohort-oriented approach. This past year, the Collaborative concentrated on building organizational capacity through a series of grants provided by the California Community Foundation. This unique approach allows community partners and grantees to create and innovate, with the SELA Collaborative as both a backbone and steward of resources. This data story will highlight the seven grantees and their respective focus areas, including Civic Engagement & Education, Health & Environmental Justice, and Economic Development & Housing.
Health & Environmental Justice
The I-710 corridor divides the SELA region, an integral hub for commerce that links the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach to America’s consumer economy. According to a 2021 LA Times article, over 215,000 vehicles travel the freeway daily, and that number is expected to nearly triple by 2035. Proximity to this thoroughfare means SELA residents are exposed to toxic releases from manufacturing plants, transport vehicles, and refineries at a rate higher than 80% of other neighborhoods in Los Angeles County. Toxic emissions are linked to brain cancer in children, higher infant mortality rates, low birth weight, cardiovascular disease, and higher overall mortality rates. The same 2021 LA Times article found that the communities of Lynwood and Bell Gardens suffer from some of the nation’s worst air quality.
Increased exposure to emissions is directly related to chronic diseases, and SELA residents suffer from higher rates of adulthood obesity, diabetes, and asthma compared to the county average. A lack of access to green space further exacerbates health disparities. Only 7% of Southeast Los Angeles is covered by vegetation such as tree canopies, public greenspace, and residential gardens, less than half the county average. Limited green space in urban areas creates pockets of heat or “heat islands,” resulting in temperatures about 1–7°F higher than in outlying areas, putting vulnerable populations such as older adults, children, and low-income individuals at higher risk for heat-related conditions and illnesses. Limited green space coupled with higher temperatures can significantly impact well-being and is linked to higher rates of chronic stress and mental health disorders. About 19% of individuals in the SELA region self-report poor mental health, and 15% self-report having poor physical health.
Despite the fact that SELA residents face high rates of health conditions and risk factors, the area has limited access to healthcare. The region has just two hospital facilities serving over 360,000 residents. Furthermore, although access to health insurance has increased dramatically since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2012, nearly 17% of SELA residents still lacked access to health insurance in 2022, almost double the Los Angeles County average.
The environmental conditions we live in often feel outside our control despite how deeply they impact our day-to-day and overall well-being. Through community building, workshops, and outreach, SELA-based organizations Altamed Health Services and Communities for a Better Environment are working to encourage community engagement and uplift the connection between civic participation, health, and environmental justice. This work aims to enable SELA residents to advocate for policies to shape and improve the communities in which they live, work, and play.
Housing & Economic Development
The SELA region is still recovering from the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on employment and earnings. Many residents in these areas work in industries hit particularly hard by COVID-19, including Manufacturing, Retail, Accommodation/Food Services, Administrative/Waste Management, and Healthcare/Social Services.
About 20% of employment available in the region is in the manufacturing sector compared to just 7% countywide; however, the total number of jobs in the area has decreased significantly over the last decade. As of 2020, only about 115,000 jobs were available in SELA compared to 133,000 in 2018. Similarly, the share of jobs in manufacturing has decreased by over 35% in the last decade. This decline is largely a result of improving technology and the rise of artificial intelligence. The decline in jobs has remained stagnant over the last decade, suggesting that the automation of manufacturing jobs has become the new status quo. This decade-long trend was further cemented during COVID-19. Despite the decrease in available jobs, the unemployment rate remains nearly identical to Los Angeles County’s at about 8%.
The impact of COVID-19 on earnings and employment has a domino effect on one’s ability to obtain housing in the region. The LA Times recently reported on the lack of Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO) policies in many cities in the Southeast, which put parameters on how much landlords can increase rent in a given year. In Maywood, Cudahy, and Bell Gardens, three cities that recently passed RSO policies, rent for recent movers increased by 21% between 2017 and 2021.
Living conditions in SELA reflect a heavily working-class community. About 65% of residents are renters, while only 36% are homeowners, about 10% lower than the Los Angeles County average. About 27% of individuals live in overcrowded households, nearly tripling the county average, and 30% of renters are severely rent-burdened, meaning they spend more than half their monthly income on rent and utilities. Homeownership rates in SELA have mainly remained the same over the last decade.
While the pandemic severely impacted households and individuals alike, it also posed significant challenges for businesses in SELA. According to the SELA Agenda Report, released in 2021, 90% of SELA businesses are small businesses employing 50 workers or less, making them highly vulnerable to fluctuations in consumption and income loss. As of 2022, small businesses in SELA had received a total number of 4,472 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loans, totaling $274,789,082. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan is a financial assistance program established by the U.S. federal government to support small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program provided low-interest, forgivable loans to businesses with fewer than 500 employees. The primary goal was to help these businesses maintain their workforce and cover essential expenses. However, despite assistance efforts many businesses that suffered economic loss within the SELA region are either minority-owned or women-owned.
To help mitigate challenges to small businesses, community-based non-profit Hub Cities most recent work has focused on economic recovery efforts to uplift local businesses as they recover from the pandemic and prepare for the future. Hub Cities has been operating in the region for over 35 years which has equipped them with the knowledge of community needs and challenges to better inform their work.
Civic Engagement & Education
Since 2010, the SELA region’s voter turnout rate in general elections has been consistently behind the County average by about ten percentage points. This discrepancy is largely due to a history of political corruption and systemic barriers to achieving a higher education. Scandals in Huntington Park, South Gate, Bell, Bell Gardens, Maywood, Commerce, Cudahy, Vernon, and Lynwood have made local and national headlines. In 2010, an LA Times investigation exposed widespread corruption and six city officials served time. As a result, SELA residents are unlikely to place their trust in local governance. In turn, this affects involvement in the civic process and community members are less likely to vote, volunteer, or donate.
To address the effects political corruption has had on civic participation, non-profits like the SELA Collaborative have underscored the need for a deeper sense of community agency. However, becoming self-involved in the civic process can be daunting, especially for residents with limited access to higher education. About 46% of adults above age 25 do not have a high school diploma in SELA, and while this number has decreased from 55% in 2010, it remains more than double the county-wide rate.
Educational barriers can impede residents’ ability to engage and remain involved in the civic process. Those with a high school education or beyond are more likely to be in an environment that treats voting as the norm and they are more likely to view voting as a civic duty. Moreover, attending college can provide the skills to become a more informed voter, making the process seem less intimidating.
School completion rates are in part due to outdated digital infrastructure. As of 2021, about 7% of households have no computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone access. Moreover, 17% of households don’t have access to any type of internet at home – including a cell phone data plan. Lynwood suffers from the highest rates of disconnectivity, with over 25% of households without internet access. These numbers were significantly higher before 2020, when COVID ushered in an era of remote school and learning, forcing local and state governments to subsidize these as a basic household necessity. However, as of September 2023, Governor Newsom overturned the COVID-era broadband expansion programs to low-income areas of California, including the SELA region.
Moreover, school completion rates were impacted by resources available to Multilingual learners. About 86% of SELA households speak Spanish at home compared to 39% countywide, and 21% of households in the region are linguistically isolated, meaning no one over the age of 14 reports speaking only English at home or English “very well” as a second language. According to the Department of Education, attendance and participation rates during COVID-19 were significantly lower for multilingual learners than non-multilingual learners. Higher rates of absenteeism can significantly impact graduation rates and overall academic achievement.
Residing in linguistically isolated households also poses barriers related to civic participation. Non-English speakers can have a difficult time obtaining benefits or advocating on behalf of policies to improve quality of life due to a lack of access to resources in their native language. In addition to educational attainment, the SELA region is home to one of the largest immigrant non-citizen populations meaning a large portion of residents are ineligible to vote. About 63% of SELA residents are not currently naturalized U.S. citizens. This is where community organizations step in to meet the needs of community members often overlooked by traditional forms of education and governance to ensure residents can advocate for system-level changes to mitigate the above mentioned disparities.
Organizations across the region, such as Latino Equity Alliance (LEA), Alliance for a Better Community (ABC), Southeast Community Development Corporation (SCDC), and Southeast Community Foundation (SCF), are working diligently utilizing multiple approaches to address education gaps, digital disparities, and civic underrepresentation to enhance the quality of life for all residents in the region and ensure they are given a seat at the table.
Building Non-Profit Capacity
Non-profits often encounter significant challenges, such as limited capacity to secure funding and scale their impact. These hurdles may stem from a lack of dedicated staff to pursue and manage grants and limited access to networks that connect them with funding opportunities. These capacity constraints hinder their ability to invest in the infrastructure needed to grow and serve more individuals in their communities.
To address these barriers and strengthen the SELA non-profit sector, the collaborative awarded capacity-building grants to three local organizations: Avance Latino, Chicxs Rockerxs South East Los Angeles, and Florence Firestone Community Organization. These grants aim to bolster organizational capacity, enabling them to enhance their programs and expand their reach.
Avance Latino
Chicxs Rockerxs South East Los Angeles
Florence Firestone Community Org.
The SELA Collaborative
The SELA Collaborative’s mission is grounded in recognizing that no organization can address large-scale social and community challenges independently. To create systemic change, a cross-sector model is necessary to foster collaboration, coordination, and collective impact that improves the quality of life in SELA. By building on the assets already existing within the community, the SELA Collaborative serves as a regional convener and connector whose work prioritizes explicitly: 1) Elevating SELA’s regional identity, 2) Strengthening the SELA Nonprofit Sector, 3) Increasing civic engagement, and 4) Grounding all strategies, action, and work in authentic, community informed data and research to drive learning and ground decision making. Read more about the work of the SELA Collaborative and envisioned recovery efforts in the 2021 SELA Agenda.
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: Elly Schoen, Caroline Ghanbary, Elinor Amir-Lobel, Nicole Ouyang, Cameron Yap & Ben Regev
Sources
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