We are creating a more sustainable East Los Angeles with community programs around food, energy, water, environmental justice, green business, community empowerment and youth leadership development. La Causa (Los Angeles Community Advocating for Unity, Social Justice, and Action) engages disenfranchised young people and their families from East Los Angeles to take action against the injustices that impact low-income communities of color. LA CAUSA fosters a commitment to social justice and nurtures a variety of skills necessary to act as agents of resistance and community transformation. LA CAUSA fulfills this commitment through the creation of an inclusive and supportive community where they utilize culturally relevant instruction within their educational, vocational, housing and leadership development programs. Summer of Solutions (SOS) is a youth leadership development and empowerment program that trains young leaders from low-income communities to work as Social Entrepreneurs to build the green economy as an engine for local employment opportunity, proactive social and environmental justice, and climate and energy solutions. We will open participants to their own potential as individuals and as a team. Together we will create measurable and audacious goals for each project and develop strategies to ensure lasting economic and environmental change. This summer our projects include:
* Developing the East Los Angeles Food Justice Center.
* Expansion and maintaining a community garden network of gardens.
* Creating local energy solutions with Renewable Energy Credit (REC) system in East Los Angeles
* Placing solar panels on low income homes, and public schools.
* Establishing a Green Business Advisory Board.
* Promoting “Market Makeovers” to introduce fresh, local produce into the East Los Angeles Food Desert.
