Project Number __________________________________

Grantee                                                  Occidental College
Requested Grant Amount                                      $399,654 
Project Address                                    1600 Campus Road
City, State, and Zip Code      Los Angeles, CA 90041-3314
Project Contact Person                                      Dr. Jan Lin
Phone Number                                               323-259-2994
Fax Number                                                    323-256-6246
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Project Description:

The Northeast Los Angeles Community Outreach Partnership Center will partner one of the West Coast’s premier private undergraduate institutions, Occidental College, with the Northeast Community Resource Coordinating Council (NECRCC) on an ambitious array of urban and environmental improvement projects in the challenging planning and service terrain of the decentered and sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles.

Northeast Los Angeles is confronted by rapid population growth, residential overcrowding, deteriorated housing stock, commercial decline, crime and gang activity, economically, educationally, and nutritionally challenged households, degradation in environmental quality, and lack of open green space. The COPC advances a plan and process to address these problems through ten project components, including: a) GIS and asset mapping, b) commercial revitalization and business development, c) promoting homeownership and housing rehabilitation, d) community heritage documentation, e) training for afterschool tutoring programs, f) community website and network development, g) enhancement of the natural environment, h) food access and nutrition, i) community greening, and j) consolidated strategic planning.

The Northeast Los Angeles COPC will produce a Community Data and (GIS generated) Map Bank and a Community Assets and Resources (CARE) Guide for the region. Mass outreach drives and street surveys will assist in the forming of two Business Improvement Districts to improve streetscapes, building facades, and spur business expansion. Homeownership and housing rehabilitation will be promoted through mass outreach drives and technical assistance workshops to help aspiring homeowners and existing property owners gain access to publically-subsidized and private loan sources. Community heritage activities will be conducted through oral histories, photography, and video, culminating in real-site and on-line exhibitions. A Community Website will be launched, to disseminate the Data and Map Bank, the CARE Guide, community heritage exhibitions, and eventually a community calendar, job bank, and real estate inventory, as the Website transitions to a full-fledged Community Network which provides some degree of free public Internet access. A symposium will be held to organize community and government partners in reclaiming a section of the L.A. River for habitat restoration and public recreation. A buying cooperative will be created to help local residents gain access to affordable, nutritious fruits and vegetables. A community garden will be created as a local food source, which promotes neighborliness and healthy family life through engaging in communal horticultural therapy.

Bi-monthly outreach/education forums and annual "Vision Day" workshops will help to generate a process and structure for coordinated strategic planning among community organizations and public sector actors in the Northeast Los Angeles region. The Northeast Los Angeles region suffers from a status of relative invisibility in the metropolitan media and political affairs, and is threatened by administrative neglect. The Northeast Los Angeles COPC will work with NECRCC to form an organizational "hub" which coordinates the mobilization of regional resources and advances a strategy for effective leadership and innovative governance.