Built Environment Policy Advocacy Fund (BEPAF) Program Overview
With funding from First 5 LA, Prevention Institute will award one-year (June 2020 – May 2021) grants ranging from $40,000 – $100,000 to community-based organizations, policy advocacy networks, and coalitions working to improve neighborhood conditions for children 0-5 and their families in Los Angeles County. BEPAF grantees will support resident leaders and advocate for policies and procedures to increase access to parks and open space, safe walking and biking routes, public transit options, healthy food, and resources for children and families living in communities that have experienced historical disinvestment. This is a unique opportunity to improve the built environment, with a goal of promoting healthy early childhood development in First 5 LA’s Best Start communities. The BEPAF is part of First 5 LA’s mission to ensure that all children in Los Angeles County enter Kindergarten ready to succeed.
Following a highly competitive application process, seven organizations were selected to receive BEPAF funding in Year 1 (2020 – 2021):
- Alliance for Community Transit – Los Angeles (ACT-LA) is a broad-based coalition of 37 organizations that is building a grassroots movement for more equitable public transit systems and budgets. ACT-LA, with coalition partners Community Power Collective and Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance, will lead a new LA County-wide campaign for transit justice that builds the power of low-income residents to shape policies and funding decisions. The coalition will organize parents and residents in East LA and Koreatown, developing their skills to become effective leaders and spokespeople in the transit justice campaign.
Volunteer with @InvestinPlace and help tell the story of what’s happening on the buses in L.A. Sign up today to ri… t.co/tPViXHz6T2
🗓️✍️ Please stay tuned for how to take action as the Housing Element goes next to the City Council Housing Committee in *late October*.
Thank you to the community members and organizations who submitted emails and called in today. The process for the… t.co/sjrWcMMxXw
Callers from mostly white neighborhoods calling for preservation of neighborhood character 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩 #LAHousingElement
Public comment is set to begin in 8 minutes from now, at 10:15am PST. Here's how to call in: ⬇️ t.co/j0r8rhLMnO
The City Planning Commission will be holding a hearing at 8:30am regarding the Housing Element. Here's how to tune… t.co/7Df8mec8Sl
We're hiring for a coordinator to work on our transit justice, affordable housing, and other campaigns! Can we get… t.co/FJLPU58AOl
- Community Coalition works to transform the social and economic conditions in South LA that foster addiction, crime, violence, and poverty by building a community institution that involves thousands in creating, influencing, and changing public policy. Community Coalition will apply its renowned model of community organizing and power-building to the issue of park equity. Community Coalition will cultivate knowledge, agency, and leadership among low-income African American and Latino residents of South LA to influence public policies—including tax and fiscal reform—to improve parks, open space, and recreation areas in their neighborhoods.
We invite you to join us Saturday, October 23rd for a conversation that foster a sense of community amongst Black m… t.co/rXTWYDcYpp
Are you an LAUSD student or parent? The search for a new Superintendent is underway and the Board of Education is g… t.co/E5xBMpTMU8
It’s unfair that the current NEM structure expects customers who aren’t financially eligible for solar to cover mor… t.co/R0pAvX5T8g
Our Fall Fundraiser is exactly one month away! This year’s theme is focused on how to achieve radical recovery fo… t.co/U84lsipCbQ
With Latinx Heritage Month coming to a close this Friday (Oct. 15th), let’s turn the replies into one of celebratio… t.co/4abSY8C0JA
Californians shouldn't have to pay more for energy from rooftop solar if the same renewable energy and environmenta… t.co/ZCA0cFrDOy
Californians should be free to generate or store their own clean power, but those choices shouldn’t substantially i… t.co/e5tOiJmeuo
Happy Indigenous People’s Day, NOT Columbus Day. Today and every day, we stand in solidarity with Indigenous comm… t.co/gIi9m6FwYV
- Investing in Place works to align policies and public dollars to support transportation investments that strengthen communities. Investing in Place and partners East Side Riders Bike Club, Los Angeles Walks, and South Central LAMP will advance the Moms and Mobility project in South Central LA, Watts, and other South LA neighborhoods. Recognizing that women and their young children face access and safety barriers as they travel to school, work, medical providers, grocery stores, parks, and other destinations, the project will combine new data and new voices from women to influence policy and public investments for a more equitable transportation system.
Sign up today! And help us create profiles of 5 key bus lines in the City of Los Angeles! t.co/R88howh1S2 t.co/ZpyQxB9KTN
@All4Transit And if curious about what are the 5 bus routes? We are hoping to finalize that this week. But you can… t.co/L1UdMKsBR2
@All4Transit Thank you friends 🥰 We welcome help signing up volunteers to ride 5 key bus routes and collect data ov… t.co/a8WK45lRqU
Key ingredients we see contributing to this space? The Public Safety Advisory Committee is supported with resources… t.co/OMLDhAQnjy
Listening to a meeting with community members sharing their experience over years of living in the Los Angeles Regi… t.co/ci1hrhzplk
This whole process from challenges and opportunities to the many members of Public Safety Advisory Committee and f… t.co/4iy7taClFk
- Just Environment Long Beach is a collaborative of organizations and individuals working to achieve systemic changes on matters of environmental health and justice in the most affected neighborhoods of Central, West, and North Long Beach. Just Environment Long Beach will organize and build power among Long Beach residents to develop a community-led “Green Zones” strategy. These Green Zones will transform areas overburdened by pollution, disinvestment, and unhealthy land uses into healthy, thriving, stabilized neighborhoods, with parks, open space, and safe mobility as key priorities.
- Physicians for Social Responsibility – Los Angeles (PSR-LA) is a physician membership organization that advocates for policies and practices that improve public health, eliminate nuclear and environmental threats, and address health disparities. PSR-LA will engage communities across East LA, South LA, and Southeast LA County to take on the intersectional issues of increasing access to parks and open space while protecting children and their families from toxic exposures. The TIERRA project will produce a policy agenda and related tools to facilitate proactive contamination remediation as an essential element of community-driven efforts to increase safe access to parks and other green space.
The CA Water Shut-off Moratorium has been extended to Dec. 31, 2021! CA Water Systems can apply now for COVID-19 de… t.co/jQrguLqWLD
“Our study adds to the evidence that public health policies are needed to reduce residents’ exposure to air polluti… t.co/ntKrImoPzx
“This ecological disaster underscores the urgent need for @GavinNewsom to accelerate our transition away from fossi… t.co/hzePl7IeSN
- Promesa Boyle Heights is a collective impact initiative of Proyecto Pastoral, a Boyle Heights based organization that supports educational opportunities, economic opportunities, and safety and well-being. Promesa Boyle Heights, in collaboration with Pacoima Beautiful, From Lot 2 Spot, Advancement Project California, The Wilderness Society, and other Park Equity Alliance partners, will organize residents in neighborhoods across East LA, the Northeast San Fernando Valley, and Southeast LA County, to engage in policy- and systems-change advocacy for parks and open space, and strengthening community-led oversight of Measure A implementation.
We call for the just and dignified treatment of migrants and immigrants, and the respect of human rights for all.… t.co/Kev8Hkecib
Promesa Boyle Heights sits on Tongva and Tataviam ancestral lands. We recognize the resistance and survival against… t.co/GDGnk32d6g
Questions about the new LAUSD vaccine requirements? Learn more and participate in a Q&A Thursday at 10am. Join on Z… t.co/Y6GyASPFFj
We all need space to roam! Please join us on Wednesday at 5:00 pm to tell us how you use regional facilities like p… t.co/zWYNx9PSXw
Tomorrow is the day! Together, we will lift our collective demand for a path to citizenship for our immigrant commu… t.co/cikHhvJc5s
We reject an imposed mindset that requires immigrants to “deserve” immigration reform. We already belong here. We c… t.co/eer7YQ6DRQ
Thank you @SenatorHick and @SenAlexPadilla for introducing the Parks, Jobs and Equity Act! With your help, we're on… t.co/NAvGXZ84lL
- United Parents and Students supports students, parents, and community members in amplifying their collective voice and advocating for the issues and changes that matter most to them. United Parents and Students will increase equitable food access in low-income communities by improving the quality of existing grocery stores, enabling and equipping entrepreneurs to focus on healthy and affordable food, and increasing the number of large-scale, high-quality grocery stores that locate in neighborhoods across South LA, East LA, and Southeast LA County.
Join us on Tuesday, October 26th at 4:00PM for our monthly training sessions to address the racial, social, and eco… t.co/tRrjhSAKdt
About 1 in 5 Angelenos (~2 million ppl) don’t have internet service at home, mostly bc they can’t afford it. Tell… t.co/1xD92BjoVr
@CASenCaballero We are humbled by your leadership! Thank you!
@CASenCaballero @CAgovernor Thank you for Senator Anna Caballero for your support and for standing up for the milli… t.co/HPeolSgJSc
Congratulations UPAS leaders and Councilmember Mike Bonin! MYLA311 is now available in multiple languages for all A… t.co/bbsNTEckXX
Tell @californiapuc that they should pursue policies and actions that connect middle-mile infrastructure investment… t.co/ETPvIzq6MY
We’re calling on the CPUC to prioritize our highest-need, cyber redlined communities as they make plans for CA’s di… t.co/NB5W3WO5nT
Some parts of California have no wired infrastructure, but areas like @CountyofLA have large swaths of ill-served,… t.co/nbmnz01BLL
Program Management: The BEPAF is a program funded by First 5 LA. Prevention Institute will manage the BEPAF, selecting grantees and administering grants, convening grantees in a learning community, providing technical assistance, and building grantee capacity; Ersoylu Consulting will lead the BEPAF program evaluation. Since 2014, Prevention Institute has facilitated the Healthy Equitable Active Land Use (HEALU) Network, a multi-sector collaborative that works to improve health equity through land use/built environment policy and systems change in Los Angeles County. Since 2007, Ersoylu Consulting has provided strategy, evaluation, policy analysis, and systems consultation to strengthen systems and empower communities in the social justice space.
For more information, please contact BEPAF@preventioninstitute.org.