LOS ANGELES – Eight organizations received grant funding totaling $1.7 million to support programs intended to benefit residents in the unincorporated Florence-Firestone and Ladera Heights areas, Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell announced Tuesday.
Mitchell began the Participatory Budgeting Project last year in partnership with the Reimagine LA Coalition and Tres Luna Consulting, which sought to enable her constituents to decide how $1.7 million should be used.
Following a monthslong process, Mitchell announced Tuesday the following organizations received grants:
— Bridge the Digital Divide, Inc.
— Building Futures, Inc.
— Inspire Together;
— Los Angeles Conservation Corps,
— Los Angeles Trade-Technical College;
— St. John’s Community Health;
— Tree People; and
— UNITE-LA.
More than 700 ideas were submitted across both communities, which were narrowed down and presented for a final vote by residents with the help of an advisory committee.
Los Angeles implemented a similar program last year, distributing $8.5 million to nine communities, called REPAIR Zones.
The initiative began in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 1989 as an anti- poverty measure. Participatory budgeting has spread to more than 7,000 cities worldwide.
More information can be found at www.participatorybudgeting.org/about-pb/.
