The push to make ethnic studies a staple within the California education system received nationwide attention when a South Los Angeles teacher was named the National Education Association’s Social Justice Activist of the Year.
Teaching to avoid riots
June 29, 2015 By Leave a Comment
This article was produced for Watts Revisited, a multimedia project launched by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism that explores challenges facing South L.A. as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Watts Riots. Learn more at www.wattsrevisited.com.
Jay Davis stands in front of his class at Augustus Hawkins High School. | Photo by Anna-Cat Brigida
When Jay Davis talks to his students about the 1965 riots, which broke out all around his South L.A. campus, he wants to make sure it is not just a history lesson. Instead, he pushes his students to use the images to talk about the history, understand the factors that provoked rioting and decide what role they would play in history. [Read more…]
Supreme Court strikes does LA law on police access to hotel registers + Bernard Parks looks to the finish line
June 24, 2015 By Leave a Comment
Bernard Parks, councilman for District 8 | Stephanie Monte
Supreme Court strikes does LA law on police access to hotel registers: After a campaign from the Los Angeles Lodging Association, which represents small, family-owned motels in South L.A., the U.S. Supreme Court struck down at Los Angeles ordinance that requires hotels to maintain a guest register subject to police inspection. (Wall Street Journal)
Bernard Parks, City Hall’s Lone Wolf, Looks to the Finish Line: Councilmember Bernard Parks will end his 50-year civil service career when he terms out of office on June 30. His son has put together a 110-minute documentary about his father’s life’s work (DT News)
Police Make Arrest in Shooting of Teen Over His Red Shoes: Four people have been arrested in the case involving a 19-year-old from South LA who was allegedly killed over the color of his shoes. The mother of the victim, Tavin Terrell Price, said, “I want to thank God for answering me prayer for justice for my son.” (KTLA)
Hip nickname for South LA leaves some feeling lonely + In South LA, anger sadness in the wake of Charleston shooting
June 22, 2015 By Leave a Comment
Hip new nickname for South Los Angeles is stirring up controversy.
Hip nickname for South LA leaves some feeling lonely: Outgoing councilmember Bernard Parks is trying to rebrand South Los Angeles as “Sola” to make it more hip, but in Spanish – which is widely spoken in the area — the word has a different connotation. (LA Times)
In South LA, anger sadness in the wake of Charleston shooting: The First African Methodist Episcopal Church — the oldest black church in the Los Angeles — stood in solidarity with the members of A.M.E. church in Charleston recently affected by a mass shooting. (KPCC)
Photo exhibit features students from LAUSD schools:A pop-up photo gallery highlighted the experiences of students within South L.A. schools, including Jefferson High and John Muir middle schools. The Instagram pictures were taken by City Year AmeriCorps members. (Los Angeles Wave)
Taco stand vendor shot dead in South LA: A well-known street vendor who ran a taco stand was shot and killed on Friday at the corner of East 51st Street and McKinley Avenue. No suspects have been apprehended yet. (NBC4)
South LA’s food desert might be getting some homegrown relief: A South L.A. non-profit focused on food justice issues just purchased a 5,000 sq. ft. building on 66th Street and Vermont Avenue. The organization is hoping to transform the area into the neighborhood’s first beyond-organic produce market. (LA Weekly)
Paying for the right to affordable housing with health
June 22, 2015 By Leave a Comment
By
Selene Rivera | Hoy LA
Soudi Jiménez | Hoy LA
This story is also available in Spanish.
This article was produced for Watts Revisited, a multimedia project launched by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism that explores challenges facing South L.A. as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Watts Riots. Learn more at www.wattsrevisited.com.
Juana Lopez had to move because her son Anthony was sick from asthma and the administrator of the building where she lived did not pay attention to her complaints.
The dust on the tables and carpet never worries Juana López, nor the condition of the paint on the walls of her home, even though her seven-year-old son Anthony Perez has suffered from asthma and allergies since 2013.
It was in a medical consultation where the doctor made it clear that there was a connection between the diseases and the environment around her child. “I did not know how to clean, or what products to use,” said Lopez, originally from Guerrero, Mexico.
The medical center referred López to the organization, Esperanza Community Housing. A health promoter said they urgently needed to change the carpet and repair areas where paint was falling off.
Mayor Eric Garcetti signs minimum wage law + South LA gets new hospital
June 15, 2015 By Leave a Comment
Mayor Eric Garcetti speaks at town hall meeting at Holman United Methodist Church in. Photo by Susan Fitzpatrick.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti signs minimum wage law: The mayor signed the proposal to raise the minimum wage in the city to $13.25 by 2017 into law on Saturday in a South L.A. park. (L.A. Daily News)
South L.A. gets new hospital after 8 years: The Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital is set to open three weeks in the South Los Angeles area. It has been 8 years since the original King Hospital closed because of poor patient care. (ABC 7)
Help pours in to restore South L.A. widow’s water service: Readers help a South L.A. resident pay her bills after she enduring a year without running water. (L.A. Times)
All-boys Watts high school has 100 percent college acceptance: For the seventh year in a row, every student at Verbum De School, a Watts high school, was accepted to a four-year college. The high percentage of students at the school are from a low-income background or might be the first in their family to attend college. (ABC 7)
Curren Price, 9th District councilmember, brings home the trash cans: The Los Angeles City Council approved funds to be used for 200 automated trash cans in South LA. The councilmember says that trash cans are virtually non-existent in his district area. (My News LA)
Latino families transition from unemployment to work
June 15, 2015 By Leave a Comment
By
Araceli Martínez Ortega | La Opinión (text)
Brian Watt | KPCC (audio)
Maya Sugarman | KPCC (photo)
This story is available in Spanish here.
This article was produced for Watts Revisited, a multimedia project launched by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism that explores challenges facing South L.A. as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Watts Riots. Learn more at www.wattsrevisited.com.
David Williams, who works at Homeboy Industries, fills out paperwork to enroll in a seven-week construction course at Los Angeles Trade Tech College on Monday, April 1, 2015. The class is put on by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations in partnership with LATTC. | Photo by Maya Sugarman for KPCC
Last September, Abigail Flores arrived heartsick at the WorkSource Center, a work placement agency in South Central Los Angeles. She had spent at least seven months unemployed, depending upon public assistance to support her three young children.
“What I encountered here was beautiful. They helped me in everything. The work that they found for me was at a Dollar Tree shop. Then the hours were decreased. Once again they found me another job in a hamburger restaurant where I made minimum wage,” said Flores, a resident of South Los Angeles and a 34-year-old single mother. Her children are 6, 7, and 14 years old.
At the same time that Flores returned to the labor force, and to be able to provide for her family, the WorkSource Center, located inside LA Trade Tech College at Vernon-Central, began to provide her with training in the hotel industry.
With these new skills, Abigail will be able to make a transition to full-time work with a better salary and benefits. [Read more…]
Chronicling Los Angeles history with menus + Inglewood school to take part in program for Internet access
June 12, 2015 By Leave a Comment
A map of South L.A. area.
Chronicling Los Angeles history, menu by menu: A city’s history can be seen through private letters, official records and sometimes even menus. A new book and exhibition by Josh Kun, a USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism professor, examined 9,000 L.A. restaurant menus from 1875 to the present, which mapped the growth of the city. (The New Yorker)
Inglewood school to take part in program for Internet access: Crozier Middle School are implementing the School2Home program to bring 300 seventh graders home access to Chrome book computers. The program will also provide training for both teachers and parents. (Wave Newspapers)
South LA partnership to continue health disparity initiative: Planning grant will extend programs in the community and at Jefferson High School that foster better community health and human development. (Market Watch)
L.A. seeks injunction to end gang activity at Watts home: Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer filed an injunction with the city to prevent gang activities near 2127 E. 110th St. filed an injunction after years of complaints from neighbors. (L.A. Times)
Metro partners with Zipcar + Fire burns through commercial building in South LA
June 10, 2015 By Leave a Comment
Metro’s Expo Line | Intersections
Metro partners with Zipcar: One South L.A. Metro lot is included in a partnership between the Metro and Zipcar to offer access to transit riders. The lot on LaCienega and Jefferson boulevards near the Metro stop will have two zipcars, which members can use to and from the Metro station on an hourly or daily basis. (L.A. Sentinel)
Fire burns through commercial building in South L.A.: A commercial building in South L.A. went up in flames on Tuesday, but no was reported hurt. More than100 firefighters were sent to extinguish the fire, located at 11600 block of South Main Street. (Fox 11)
People can fight traffic tickets without paying fine first: David Aceves, a South L.A. resident, is one Angeleno affected by the variety of fees attached with fighting a traffic ticket. On Monday, the Judicial Council unanimously struck down the rule of paying for fines before contesting them. (L.A. Times)
Metro maintenance worker saves robbing victim: Lawrence Sears, a Metro worker at the Willowbrook Green Line station, helped a women as her purse was being stolen and assisted officers in taking the potential robber into custody. (Glendora Patch)
Ezell Ford protestors kick off ’48 hours of protest’: Residents from across Los Angeles held “48 hours of protests” in front of Mayor Garcetti’s home, responding to the recent decision by the LAPD and police chief to call South L.A. resident Ezell Ford’s shooting death justified. (Los Angeles Daily News)
Healthy options pop up in South LA, but old eating habits die hard
June 8, 2015 By Leave a Comment
By
Adrian Florido | KPCC (text and audio)
Maya Sugarman | KPCC (photos)
This article was produced for Watts Revisited, a multimedia project launched by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism that explores challenges facing South L.A. as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Watts Riots. Learn more at www.wattsrevisited.com.
Mary Muñoz, left, and her daughter, Melanie, smell fresh herbs grown at one of Community Services Unlimited’s five mini-urban farm sites. | Photo by Maya Sugarman for KPCC
Each Friday afternoon, the corner of Western Avenue and 39th Street in South L.A. gets a little brighter. Just before 2 o’clock, Rosario Mireles pulls up in a utility truck, unloads crates of organic fruit and vegetables, and sets up a produce stand in the parking lot of a liquor store where addicts used to loiter.
The produce stand popped up not long after a nearby Ralph’s grocery store shut down in 2013, leaving only a Food 4 Less in the area, where neighbors say quality can be hit and miss. It’s one of a constellation of small efforts that nonprofits have launched to increase access to fresh produce across South L.A., where options are limited. They’ve included farmer’s markets, community and school gardens, and corner store conversions. [Read more…]
