$75,000 / 2015
124 North Townsend Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90063
Maria Brenes, Executive Director
Website: www.innercitystruggle.org
This three-year $75,000 renewal grant will support InnerCity Struggle’s (ICS) ongoing organizing efforts in six critical areas – college access, student dropouts/pushouts, discipline policies, family engagement, food justice, school funding/school redesign – that will move towards high quality, equitable education for students and help to transform the social and economic conditions for the majority Latino residents of East Los Angeles who are disproportionately impacted by lack of resources and quality education. Over the last grant year, as a result of ICS’s Health and Wellness campaign, the Los Angeles School Board unanimously passed a historic resolution to set aside $50 million for school-based wellness centers in high needs schools. In addition, the Los Angeles School Board passed a 2014-2015 school year budget that included Restorative Justice Coordinators and Restorative Justice focused professional development, in response to ICS members’ demands to increase funding to support the implementation of the School Climate Bill of Rights district-wide. Over the next year, ICS will continue to focus campaign efforts to two main areas of school funding and community Schools and restorative justice; and two supplemental strategies, Boys and Men of Color and voter mobilization efforts. These efforts together aim to secure a quality and equitable education for students and also transform the social and economic conditions for Latino residents in the Eastside, Los Angeles.