Thursday, March 23, 2017

Recap of #JustGrowth March Meeting

by Investing in Place

Last week, we were joined by over 20 partners to discuss Investing in Place’s Equity Opportunity Zones strategy. We discussed indicators for equity, census tracts, and visualizing the data. Big thanks to Madeline Wander, Senior Data Analyst at USC PERE, who presented maps and led the discussion on Equity Opportunity Zones.

For the last two and half years, Investing in Place has vetted with partners and discussed which indicators would adequately address the issue of transportation inequity in Los Angeles County. The three variables we narrowed down to were based on research, best practices and our discussion with partners: race, income, and low vehicle ownership.

A key discussion last week was the idea of adding collision data as a factor in the Equity Opportunity Zones. Collision data is a poignant indicator that not only speaks to where disproportionate number of crashes are happening, but it’s also a real need that affects everyone.

This Spring, we are working to incorporate the feedback we heard from the first two #JustGrowth meetings of this year. If you haven’t already, please review the great feedback and comments we received at our January meeting.

Many of our participants at the last meeting, like Reuben De Leon from First 5 LA, also expressed the need to elevate diverse stories and experiences from community members and decision makers. We agree — and our experiences talking with mothers, fathers, and youth from First 5 LA’s Best Start Communities across Los Angeles County shows us that having more reliable and frequent buses, safe sidewalks and crosswalks, and having a bus stop can be a lifeline for many, but there’s still work to be done.

In regards to feedback: the invitation still stands for our partners to write a guest blog and highlight the different indicators discussed in our meeting. Please send to Jessica Meaney at jessica@investinginplace.org.

Again, thank you to all who attended! We appreciate it.

Next Steps:

  • Save the Date for next month’s Just Growth Work Group for April 20th from 2:30-4:00pm at Teach for America’s office by Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles. We will be providing our thoughts on the recently released Measure M Guidelines and continue to develop the EOZ maps and ideas.
  • For those who haven’t kept up on our Equity Opportunity Zones policy campaign, please click here for the Executive Summary and report.

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