Stop The Hate Convenes in Sacramento To Raise Awareness and Ask For Continued Funding
By Marsha Mitchell, Senior Director of Communications
Unifying diverse communities has always posed a challenge. Regardless, maintaining unity, while difficult, is critical in this current climate in America. Following the surge of anti-Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) violence during COVID-19, The Stop Hate program emerged as a community-resiliency response to the race based attacks the AAPI community endured.
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In April of 2025, the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations (LACCHR) released its first ever annual Hate Incident Report, with some alarming findings. Reported hate incidents in Los Angeles County grew 35% from 609 in 2022, to 821 in 2023. Reported hate incidents taking place at schools, colleges, and universities rose 234% (from 59 to 197). Incidents with White supremacist ideology increased 124% (from 33 to 74). Middle East conflict-related incidents grew from 2 to 45, an astounding increase of 2,150%.
The report’s significant findings also include the following:
- African Americans were targeted for 52% of all racial/ethnic/national origin -motivated hate incidents (52%), and anti-Black incidents increased 12% from 211 to 237.
- Incidents targeting Jewish persons spiked 153% from 66 to 167. Ninety percent of religious motivated hate incidents targeted the Jewish community.
- Sexual orientation incidents increased 24% from 119 to 148. Incidents targeting gay males, lesbians, and LGBT (non-specified)* all grew.
- Latino/as were the second largest racially targeted group, reporting 69 hate incidents (15%), and 60% of these incidents included anti-immigrant slurs.
- Asian Americans comprised 15% of all reported racial incidents, with a decrease from 76 to 66. Thirty-three percent of these incidents were anti-Chinese.
- Gender-motivated incidents increased by 53% from 36 to 55. Forty of these incidents were anti-transgender and 13 were anti-female.
- Disability-motivated incidents grew from 3 to 11.
The goal of the Stop the Hate program is to support community solutions that are culturally relevant in aiding healing hate crime experiences. The program also seeks to bolster feelings of empowerment and prevent such incidents in the future. Hate crimes in the state and in Los Angeles County rose significantly between 2022 and 2024, serving as a stark reminder of the urgent need to address the root causes of intolerance and racism in our society. The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) and the Civil Rights, Accessibility, and Racial Equity (CARE) Office allocated $135 million in funding for its Stop the Hate (STH) program over four years to do just that.
“Dismantling structural racism requires systemic change, economic investment, deep education, and opportunities to engage and interface with one another,” said Marsha Mitchell, Senior Director of Communications at Community Coalition. “It also requires everyone’s willingness to address the root causes of racial oppression and hate so that everyone has the opportunity to thrive.”
Community Coalition (CoCo) was one of 180 organizations throughout the state awarded an funding allocation for this effort. Sunsetting in 2026, Stop the Hate has had significant outcomes including:
Culturally Responsive Direct Services
- Successful deliver of mental health, legal and asexual management services tailored to diverse communities.
Community-Defined Safety
- Expanded traditional approaches to include cultural healing, collective wellness, and alternatives to law enforcement.
Cross-Racial Solidarity
- Strong collaboration between AANHPI, Black, Latinx, LGBTQ+, and other communities targeted by hate.
Youth Leadership Development
- Effective empowerment of next-generation voices through school-based programs and peer educations.
Under the grant, CoCo:
- Created a three-part arts series to deepen empathy and foster community interconnectedness across racial groups in South LA,
- Examined racial biases and facilitated conversations during our monthly People’s Assemblies,
- Engaged in a deep study of systemic racial oppression in America
- Elevated the personal experiences of people who have been the target of hate speech and hate incidents
- Created an art wall to envision the world we want to build
Recently, organizations participating in the Stop the Hate program convened in Sacramento to encourage California legislators to continue funding the program because 1) the campaign is making a positive impact and 2) are love for each other in California is stronger than hate. More than 200 people representing 69 of the 180 organizations visited with state assemblymembers, senators and their staffs to collectively raise the awareness of the program and ask for continued funding after the program sunsets next year.