L.A. Forward Institute

01/19/2025

LA restaurant operators and chefs share the dramatic collapse in business due to the wildfires and evacuations

01/10/2025

Our hearts are with community members, families, small busine… Inclusive Action For The City needs your support for Cash Aid for Outdoor Workers Impacted by LA County Wildfires

12/24/2024

Southern California air quality officials have again failed to adopt rules to clean pollution at the ports of L.A. and Long Beach, backing down in the face of opposition from organized labor and business interests.

06/30/2024

We need Green Schoolyards for LAUSD!

LAUSD campuses could help reduce pollution and enhance water supplies if they obeyed stormwater regulations, environmentalists say. So why don't they?

12/25/2023

LA Forward Institute (LAFI) had our most powerful year ever in 2023. We’re incredibly grateful and proud for what our community – a growing team of staff, volunteer leaders, and members have achieved together.

* Report Forward: We launched Report Forward as a platform dedicated to highlighting the work of movement groups and emerging progressive policies. Spearheaded by journalist Alissa Walker, Report Forward is a monthly newsletter that shines a spotlight on policy proposals from LA County's vibrant social justice groups. Each issue also tracks the real-world impact of these efforts. We’re going to continue expanding our efforts to drive storytelling that empowers and equips our communities in 2024 and beyond.

* SGV Housing Justice Academy: This year, we proudly introduced a six-month leadership development cohort in the San Gabriel Valley. Our goal is to nurture committed and skilled advocates in the fight for affordable housing and housing justice in the SGV and beyond.

* Cleaning Up LA City Hall: In the wake of multiple corruption convictions, and leaked audio of Nury Martinez and Kevin de León that put an international spotlight on their racist and anti-renter efforts to gerrymander the City Council, it’s long past time to clean house at City Hall. We're deeply involved in coalition efforts to end gerrymandering by creating an Independent Redistricting commission to determine district boundaries, create publicly financed elections, and many more anti-corruption pro-democracy reforms.

* LA City Council Candidate Forums: We hosted the first set of LA City Council candidate forums of the 2024 cycle. These nonpartisan forums offered a chance for Angelenos to engage in robust, community-driven conversations with candidates running to represent them. We hosted forums for City Council districts 2, 4, 10, and 14 – while over 600 of you attended, you can watch the videos on LAFI's website.

* Best Start: We worked with Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE) to advance the housing justice knowledge of dozens of community members primarily across Southeast LA – many of whom are monolingual Spanish-speaking residents. In 2024, participants will build on their workshops from 2023 with direct application to local housing justice work meaningful to them!

We've been able to achieve all of this thanks to a team that's rapidly growing in size. To keep up the momentum, we're counting on support from our community, from people like you.

We'd be grateful for a tax-deductible donation at https://www.laforward.institute/donate. Check out the same link on how to give via check/DAF.

Thank you for considering us in your year-end giving!

09/08/2023

Happy to share the latest issue of Report Forward by journalist Alissa Walker! This issue is a deep dive into the question of whether LA City Council can reform itself and how it might get started...

Expanding the council isn’t a concept that LA’s councilmembers have warmed up to, even if, as polling and public comment shows, their constituents are clearly ready for change.

08/07/2023

Excited to share the first issue of Report Forward — a monthly newsletter researched and written by journalist Alissa Walker. Each issue will spotlight one or two policy proposals from LA County movement groups, plus progress updates on the real-world impact of past reports, other local policy happenings, national policy reports, and in-person opportunities to share knowledge, and celebrate big wins. Happy reading and learning!

Each issue will spotlight one or two policy proposals from LA County movement groups, plus other local policy happenings, national policy reports, progress updates on the real-world impact of past reports, and in-person opportunities to share knowledge and celebrate big wins.

07/30/2023

“A much-needed housing project that has been approved and reapproved by the City Council, that is six years into development, is being hamstrung by the city attorney, whose job is to facilitate the decisions of city leaders, not interfere with them. That is outrageous. Any delay in a project like this is costly.”

Mayor Karen Bass wants to fast-track homeless housing. So why is the city slow-walking a project in Venice?

06/12/2023

One of the projects we're most proud of -- our LA 101 guide, produced in collaboration with Inclusive Action for the City!

WELCOME TO THE LA 101 GUIDE! Our goal is to help you understand how local government in Los Angeles really works so you can take control of the systems and policies that shape your community and your life. More than 10 million people live in Los Angeles County. Our population is larger than 42 other...

06/12/2023

Have you seen our website? Check it out at laforward.institute

Together, we can make democracy real Advancing racial and economic justice is our north starThe LA Forward family of organizations is dedicated to a vision of Los Angeles County as a fair, flourishing region where our public institutions ensure that all people can live in dignity and reach their ful...

06/11/2023

Excited to share content from our new 501c3 nonprofit!