Visiting South L.A.: Community Challenges and Strengths

Nowhere is the impact of U.S. deindustrialization and a shifting economic base more apparent than in south Los Angeles. Yesterday’s off-site visit to the neighborhood revealed the ways that changing demographics and economic challenges are deeply intertwined.

Thirty years ago, south L.A. was home to a predominantly African-American community that had solid livable wage jobs in manufacturing. As these private sector, unionized jobs evaporated in the 1980s, economic dislocation resulted, exacerbated by the era’s crack cocaine epidemic. In the wake of this change, Latinos came into the area, attracted by affordable housing and jobs, albeit low-paying and non-unionized ones.

USC American Studies and Ethnicity Professor Manuel Pastor provided an overview of the demographic changes during our visit. Among the statistics he offered:

• In 1970, the Watts neighborhood was 90 percent African American and 50 percent Latino. In 2010, these numbers have nearly reversed, with 70 percent of the population Latino and 27 percent African American.
• In the 1981 school year, 93 percent of the students at Fremont High School were African American. In the 2008 school year, only 9 percent were African American.

Overall, African Americans have concentrated in the western neighborhoods of south L.A. while Latinos have moved to the eastern regions.

When visiting the area you are immediately confronted with the fact that it defies simple generalization. It is a low-income part of the city with all of the attending challenges. The median income for African Americans over the last 10 years, for example, has decreased. Yet, it is also, clearly, a place of community solidarity and social capital. Off the beaten commercial boulevards are well-cared-for homes and highly tended yards.

Community Coalition, led by Marqueece Harris-Dawson, is an example of a nonprofit organization building and cementing the neighborhood’s social assets. The coalition is working keep local children involved in the child welfare system connected to their families and neighborhood. It is also nurturing the next generation of local leaders and creating a safer neighborhood.

This work is complemented by SCOPE (Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education), led by Gloria Walton. SCOPE is working collaboratively across ethnic and racial groups to build a stronger, more economically vibrant south L.A. Recently, it has spearheaded a green jobs initiative in the community that focuses on environmental retrofitting.

Economic dislocation and shifting demographics are relevant to all cities in the United States. These trends are thrown into high relief in Los Angeles, both because of the city’s sheer size and its convulsive experience in the 1992 civil unrest. At the same time, organizations in the city’s southern reaches are working to build a more vibrant community and to strengthen the local economy. They serve as inspiring models for foundations and nonprofits confronting similar trends throughout the country.

William Vesneski is director of evaluation, planning and research for The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.