Alberto Retana listens to ideas from community members.

Over 60 people met last night at the Community Coalition’s headquarters in South LA for a People Power Assembly. African-Americans and Latinos from the area were there to learn how they could mobilize to gain more political power and promote positive change in their community.

“We were inspired by the Occupy movement and their message of holding the one percent accountable,” explains Alberto Retana, Community Coalition’s Executive Vice President as to why they decided to start the People Power Assembly. “We didn’t see African-Americans and Latinos from South LA participating in the movement and we wanted to create a space for people to feel motivated and to empower themselves.”

The non-profit group organized the first assembly in November of last year. Thursday night’s meeting is the first one of 2012. The People Power Assembly will be meeting on the first Thursday in March, and will then move to the first Wednesday of every month starting in April.

People were pumped up during the two-hour meeting, participating and offering ideas, as organizers asked community members what they wanted to see change in South LA.

“More jobs,” some people exclaimed.

Carla Vega, a dedicated volunteer, signed up to be in the People Power Assembly Committee.

More than 20 people signed up to be part of the People Power Assembly Committee, that will also meet once a month to come up with specific projects the group should tackle. Carla Vega is one of the committee volunteers.

“You have to become involved in order to make things happen,” says Vega, who also volunteers as a parent coordinator at John C. Fremont High School. “It’s my community. How are we going to be recognized if we don’t support each other. I’ve been involved with Community Coalition for two years. They have many goals, but they need our help.”

As part of their civic engagement efforts, the first order of the group is to get people registered to vote. They’re organizing a door-to-door campaign during the next two months to get South LA voters registered.

In April, they plan a week of activities to commemorate the 1992 civil unrest, which will include a vigil. A few months later, volunteers will be knocking on doors again to encourage people to go out and vote in the November elections.

“This is about civic engagement,” Retana says. “It’s about people power.”