Aiding Community Groups Could Broaden Region’s Recovery

The good news out of Washington is that the economy finally shows signs of emerging from the doldrums. The bad news for California is that the recovery is not happening as fast here as it is nationally. Ironically, massive federal investment in the aftermath of the recent earthquake may prove to be just the economic shot in the arm our region needs to speed us on the road to economic recovery. An unanswered question, however, is whether this recovery will trickle down to the very neighborhoods left out of the boom of the 1980s.

Probably not, unless a more deliberate link is made between broader, regional recovery strategies and those being pursued by grass-roots organizations. Although much has been written about the broader regional initiatives, too few decision makers know the contributions being made by community organizations.

With few resources and sparse publicity, a number of community-based organizations are systematically working to assure that the growing majority of the city’s residents (primarily people of color and of limited means) will have a stake in the city’s future. Nearly 100 of these organizations--from one end of the San Fernando Valley to the other, in East Los Angeles and sprinkled throughout South-Central--are building impressive track records in job training (especially for youth) and job creation and are supporting micro-enterprises through credit access, incubators and support services.

Take, for example, the Coalition of Neighborhood Developers. This unique affiliation of nearly 50 African American, Latino and Asian neighborhood-based development organizations, with funds from the Local Initiative Support Corp., seeks to influence public policy issues pertinent to a wide range of community economic development concerns.

The coalition’s concerns include construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing, commercial and industrial revitalization, neighborhood improvement and the expansion of capital availability for community economic development efforts. Neighborhoods served by the coalition include South-Central Los Angeles, Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights, Pico-Union, Koreatown and Venice. Successes to date include the creation of 10 neighborhood plans that will help guide future development and service provisions in low-income minority communities, as well as programs offering recreational activities for 1,000 youths, including intensive leadership training and development for 50 of these youngsters.

The Coalition for Women’s Economic Development is the only program of its kind in Southern California. Created in response to rising poverty rates among women, it provides opportunities for women--and now men--to become self-employed.

Its peer lending model, sometimes referred to as the Solidarity Circle, is what sets CWED apart from other micro-credit organizations. In the Solidarity Circles program, micro-business owners organize into groups of five to obtain credit and training from a revolving loan fund, and also to help support each other’s enterprises. Each circle gets a group loan; the members determine the order of distribution among themselves. The circle members act as guarantors for each other, sharing responsibility for repaying the loan. Since the program began in May, 1989, some 120 loans, totaling more than $170,000, have been made. The repayment rate is 98%.

Proyecto Esperanza, established in 1990, provides housing, food, clothing, marketable day labor training and a client-run job bank. It also sponsors classes in trade skills, English and life skills such as money management, economical grocery shopping, meal preparation, housekeeping and personal hygiene.

Participants in the Proyecto Esperanza program stay for at least three months. During that time, they work as day laborers through a job cooperative organized and run by young men. Job training is coordinated with placement; the aim is to boost employment in Echo Park and the San Fernando Valley.

What is particularly intriguing about the emergence of this impressive array of community-based organizations is that they are multiethnic, and they are committed to improving the quality of life for the fastest-growing segments of Angelenos: recent immigrants and those barely subsisting economically.

The city would be well served if the emerging Office of Economic Development enlisted a number of these organizations as allies in “revitalizing” Los Angeles, and if the Convention and Visitors Bureau marketed the positive contributions so many of these community-based groups make toward enhancing the rich cultural diversity of the Basin.

The obvious advantages to the city in forging an alliance with these organizations is that they are genuinely committed to investing in the most needy neighborhoods. They are not about to relocate in the suburbs, nor do they demand the costly investment in policing it will take to attract outside businesses to reinvest in these neighborhoods.

For a relatively modest investment in a dedicated group of community organizations, the city stands to reap a huge dividend.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

* Coalition of Neighborhood Developers: (213) 368-9760

* Coalition for Women’s Economic Development: (213) 489-4995

* Proyecto Esperanza: (818) 834-2214

* For information on other community-based, development-oriented groups in the Los Angeles area, call (310) 206-1317.