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. If you would like to see more data about the SELA region, view the SELA Community Profile (2024).
Southeast Los Angeles
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 white workers began to return to unionized factory jobs in the Midwest. Simultaneously, drawn by more affordable housing prices, many middle and working-class Latino/as 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. See the countries of origin for the Hispanic population on the chart below.
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. Immigrant communities are most prevalent in Maywood, where 48% of residents are first-generation immigrants, as depicted on the map below. Moreover, the region is fairly young compared to neighboring areas. 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. In 2021, the SELA Collaborative released the SELA Agenda, a flagship report that outlined eight priority areas for investment in the region. This past year, the SELA Collaborative distributed a series of grants from the California Community Foundation to local nonprofits in the Southeast working towards shared goals in the SELA Agenda. In addition to providing grant funding, the Collaborative also used a cohort learning model for their grantees to build their grantees capacities in grant writing and reporting, building implementation plans, and tracking impact. This unique approach allows local organizations in the Southeast to innovate together, learn from one another, and build community under the backbone and stewardship of the SELA Collaborative.
SELA Agenda Investment Areas
This data story highlights seven grantees working across many of the focus areas in the SELA Agenda including Civic Engagement & Education, Health & Environmental Justice, Economic Development & Housing, and Capacity Building for the Nonprofit Sector. Each section includes an overview of an issue area in the SELA region as well as the grantee organizations focused on the issue. Click on a partner organization to learn more about their story, work through this grant, and contributions to the SELA network.
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. Rates of asthma and diabetes across SELA neighborhoods are shown on the map below.
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. Learn more about their work by clicking the boxes below.
Housing & Economic Development
Recognizing that the region is still recovering from the long-term economic impacts of COVID-19, the SELA Agenda also prioritized Housing and Economic Development as two key issue areas. Many residents in the region 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 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. In addition to decreases in the manufacturing sector, 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. Despite the decrease in available jobs, the unemployment rate remains nearly identical to Los Angeles County’s at about 8%. The map below shows the industries that are most concentrated in the region.
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. Approximately 27% of individuals live in overcrowded households, nearly triple 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 considered “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 the recent challenges to small businesses in the SELA region, community-based non-profit Hub Cities 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, equipping them with knowledge of the community’s unique strengths and challenges. Learn more about their work by clicking the box below.
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. In addition, the Voter Registration Rate is about 9 percentage points points lower than the County average despite increasing over the last decade. 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 in the justice system. 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. Recognizing these barriers, the SELA Agenda uplifted Civic Engagement and Education as critical areas for investment in the region. The graph below shows the Voter Registration Rate in SELA relative to Los Angeles County.
To address the effects political corruption has had on civic participation, the SELA Collaborative has 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 in SELA do not have a high school diploma, 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 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. Linguistic isolation across SELA neighborhoods are shown on the map below.
Residing in linguistically isolated households also poses barriers related to civic participation. Non-English speakers can have a difficult time obtaining benefits or advocating for policies to improve their quality of life due to a lack of resources in their native language. In addition to educational attainment, the SELA region is home to one of the largest immigrant populations who aren’t naturalized citizens, meaning a large portion of residents are ineligible to vote. About 63% of immigrants in SELA 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. Learn more about their work by clicking the boxes below.
Building Non-Profit Capacity
Despite being a critical safety net to thousands of SELA residents, non-profits in the region often face limited capacity to secure funding and expand their efforts. These challenges can include a lack of dedicated staff to pursue and manage grants, insufficient training in fundraising strategies, and or access to networks that connect them with funding opportunities. Capacity constraints make it difficult for organizations to invest in the infrastructure necessary to expand and serve a greater number of individuals in their communities. In an effort to strengthen the SELA non-profit sector and build organizational capacity, the collaborative also awarded three capacity-building grants to Avance Latino, Chicxs Rockerxs South East Los Angeles, and Florence Firestone Community Org. These grants provided unrestricted funding and an opportunity to participate in SELA’s learning cohort with other grantees. Learn more about these organizations below.
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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