What’s stopping the region from implementing transformational transportation projects that center environmental and social justice? We’d argue it’s a political and policy problem – things that are solved by strong leadership from policymakers and an interdisciplinary team of community and advocacy groups organizing to hold leaders accountable. But we need your help to make that happen. We need allies, partners, colleagues, family and friends to join together in one room to meet each other, connect, build power together and strengthen the Los Angeles Region transportation advocacy efforts.
The more we connect and collaborate – the stronger our efforts will become.
Join us at our party on Wednesday November 20th from 6-8pm to celebrate and strengthen our collective wins and honor leaders that push for transformational change. The goal of this party is a friendrasier – a place to connect,celebrate,and look to the work ahead. It’s also an opportunity to invite new allies and partners to network and expand our collective impact.
This is an inclusive event and we don’t want the ticket price to be a barrier. If you or friends/partners/colleagues need to get the fee waived, let us know and we are happy to comp tickets (email jessica@investinginplace.org). We want this to a welcoming space to see all the friends and collective power we have in this work. Families and kids welcome – the more the merrier.
Join us to toast our colleagues and take a moment to recognize our accomplishments and get inspired to double down with partners as we work to collaborate to change our streets, promote safe access for all, and demand better buses, sidewalks, barrier protected bike lanes, and more over food and drink. We will be honoring leaders from CicLAvia, Southern California Resources for Independent Living, and ACT-LA — leaders already putting this vision into action and results.
All proceeds of the event are going towards the Better Buses for LA campaign – a campaign centered around collaborating with community base building organizations + policy, research, and legislative advocacy to build power for implementation bus only lanes, better bus stops, que jumpers, signal priority, or boarding islands, all door boarding. It is estimated that these types of infrastructure improvements can cut stop times and improve bus speeds by 20% or more.
Why We’re Hosting a Friendraiser
Over the past five years, Investing in Place has been a part of collaborative efforts that successfully advocated for hundreds of millions of dollars of public investment in accessible sidewalks, crosswalks, bicycle lanes, bus operations and improvements, safe routes to school and more. Now we need to do the hard work of ensuring that these dollars benefit the communities that need them most and support other goals related to housing, education, economic opportunity, and public health, among others.
We worked with partners across the region to build support for (and pass) Measure M. And then we collaborated with allies to see Metro adopt an equity definition based on race and income and fought to prioritize resource allocation based on need. With those hard-earned wins behind us, we now turn to implementation.
Because of this and the work of many of our partners, the LA region is seeing a surge of public investment in its transportation network and that’s great! But we want to make certain that our tax dollars are used to transform our communities instead of ensuring that business as usual marches on. To pursue this inclusive vision, we need a supported, community-grounded constituency – one that is lead by community based organizations and supported with policy, research and legislative advocacy (that’s the role of Investing in Place). That’s why we’re having this party — to put theory into practice, strengthen existing relationships, and build new ones.
Putting Theory into Practice
What does it take to build powerful community organizing and advocacy efforts? How can we all be a part of ensuring that community members lead transportation advocacy efforts that prioritize investments that serve them, their families, and their neighbors?
We believe we achieve these goals by:
- forming intersectional partnerships,
- supporting progressive base building community organizations with research and legislative strategy, and by
- working collaboratively with other organizations and agencies.
Investing in Place’s vision of work is to a coordinated approach for project implementation, support diverse leadership, and amplify the voices and experiences of historically marginalized communities to inform and lead transformational transportation projects and programs. Transportation investments in Los Angeles County have not always considered impacts on historically marginalized communities, resulting in freeways that crisscrossed communities of color (e.g., the 105 Highway) and bus service cuts that disproportionately affected low-income and non-white transit riders (e.g., consider the work of the Bus Rider’s Union). Today work remains because of the region’s housing crisis, reduced access to economic opportunity, higher traffic fatality and serious injury rates, and worse environmental conditions for residents of low-income communities and communities of color.
Tickets are here. Join us on November 20th to strengthen our connections and make new ones. And while we’re at it – let’s celebrate all of us, and our wins and inspire each other with continued collective action on these critical issues.