- Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who at that time was an emergency room physician assistant, gathered a group of South L.A. activists together to find viable solutions to the public health crises that enveloped their community as a result of the crack-cocaine epidemic.
- Community Coalition pioneers its youth program, South Central Youth Empowered Through Action (SCYEA, pronounced “Say Yeah!”), now a nationally recognized model for youth organizing and leadership development.
- Coco conducts its first Community Survey through which residents identified liquor stores as the main culprits in fostering crime and violence in their neighborhoods.
- CoCo’s starts the“Rebuild South LA Without Liquor Stores” Campaign.
- Community Coalition moves into its headquarters at 8101 S. Vermont from its original location on Broadway and 83rd Street.
- SCYEA enacts its first direct-action campaign to ensure South Los Angeles schools received an equitable share of funds from Proposition B.B. This school bond measure authorized $2.4 billion in bonds for the construction of new schools and the repair and modernization of existing schools. As a result, the Tax Bond Oversight Committee reopened the repair contracts and allocated an additional $153 million for repairs in overcrowded South L.A. schools.
- SCYEA youth protest Prop 21 which sought to incarcerate minors with adults.
- CoCo’s Prevention Network, made up of service providers who focus on strengthening the social safety net, conducts a significant study and review of the needs and gaps in human services in South Los Angeles.
- Community Coalition introduces its “Family Care Not Foster Care” campaign to stop the breakup of South L.A. families and challenge the inequity in the foster care system.
- Fremont 911/Godinez vs. Davis lawsuit challenges the state’s allocation of the 1998 Proposition 1A school bond funds by showing the disparities in the system that allocates school construction funds. The campaign won $1 billion for new school construction
- CoCo pilots the “Summer of Success” (SOS) Program, violence-reduction effort that brought late-night recreational activities to Jim Gilliam Park. During the Summer of Success, there was not one homicide in the community surrounding the park. SOS was the model for LA.’s city-wide “Summer Night Lights” program.
- CoCo organizes the “Alliance For Better Communities” and establishes Communities for Educational Equity (CEE)
- South L.A.’s relative caregivers help CoCo establish the Kinship In Action Center, the first of its kind to combine services, advocacy & organizing/direct action.
- CoCo forms the “Communities for Educational Equity” alliance to fight for college prep courses for all students throughout LAUSD.
- CoCo organizes service providers to end barriers to
employment for individuals returning home from prison by creating the Ex-Offender Task Force.
- Residents win the 10-year struggle with notorious Oakwood Inn Motel, replacing it with affordable homes.
- Student activists win A-G college prep classes for ALL students and schools in the LAUSD, making college prep courses a civil right.
- Relative caregiver leaders work with then California Assembymember, Karen Continued on back Bass to win $82 million in the state budget to strengthen and improve foster care, including $36 million for kinship care. They organize kinship rallies in Sacramento and meet with lawmakers to urge them to expand programs that support kinship-care families.
- SCYEA youth win $350M in Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) funds to reduce class sizes and improve academic performance in South Los Angeles schools.
- CoCo helps to establish ACE Academy at Locke High School to prepare youth for both college and high wage union jobs with benefits.
- The Los Angeles City Council passes the citywide Nuisance Abatement Ordinance. Coalition members helped author the ordinance to increase accountability for nuisance businesses.
- “Summer Night Lights” program is created at Martin Luther King Jr. Park. The organizing effort created new basketball and tennis courts, a soccer field, and removed toxic mold from the rec center.
- CoCo purchases its building, creating a permanent institution in South LA.
- Community Coalition partners with the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools to begin a program in South L.A. The national program’s goal is to end the school-to-prison pipeline by diminishing summer learning loss.
- CoCo members engage with the Blue Ribbon Commission in support of the unprecedented overhaul of L.A. County’s child welfare system with kinship as a priority.
- Community Coalition’s “Families Helping Families” campaign wins one of seven federal demonstration grants to operate a kinship navigator program.
- CoCo organizes community support for Prop 30—bringing $6.8B in new state revenue for education and Medi-Cal.
- SCYEA’s involvement leads to the passage of the School Climate Bill of Rights which requires LAUSD schools to use proven and effective discipline approaches to address student misbehavior, such as restorative justice.
- CoCo, as an Equity Alliance for LA’s Kids anchor, forms the Equity Is Justice: Student Equity Needs Index (SENI) Campaign. The alliance won unanimous support from the Los Angeles Unified School District Board members on a new formula for allocating funds based on the highest-needs schools.
- CoCo members canvass and rally around the passage of Prop 47. California becomes the first state to end felony sentencing for simple drug possession and low-level, non-violent offenses.
- LAUSD passes equity on A-G resolution to recommit to college prep for ALL students!
- CoCo hosts its first People Power Convention. The mass organizing event has more than 500 attendees annually and is meant to build neighborhood unity and civic power.
- CoCo partners with the city to organize embRACE L.A.’s inaugural dinner series—successfully mobilizing over 1200 Angelenos to discuss race and equity in Los Angeles.
- “Re-Imagine Justice” debuts as a living art exhibit which marked the 25th anniversary of the civil unrest.
- CoCo filed a lawsuit against LAUSD over the misallocation of LCFF funds. A groundbreaking $150 million settlement was reached with LAUSD, delivering new programs and support to 50 of the highest-need schools in Los Angeles over three years.
- Reform LA Jails coalition submitted more than 246,000 signatures to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk calling for criminal justice reform legislation to be placed on California’s March 2020 Presidential Primary ballot (Reform L.A. Jails).
- PUSH LA successfully demands LAPD to “Stop the Stops,” culminating in major shifts in law enforcement policies.
- embRACE L.A. dialogues lead to the L.A. City Council voting to create an Office of Racial Equity.
- CoCo was successful in revoking Monarch Liquor Store’s liquor license
- Measure R passes, significantly strengthening civilian oversight of the Sheriff’s Department and increasing and improving psychiatric care, drug treatment, and other services to individuals impacted by incarceration.
- The LA County Board of Supervisors voted to end the collection of criminal administrative fees. $1.8 billion in previously assessed fees were discharged.
- CoCo announces its Center for Community Organizing, its first-ever national Fellowship Program.
- Community Coalition celebrates 30 years of community building!
- Measure J passes requiring 10% of unrestricted county funds— between $360M and $900M annually—to be spent on investments in communities disproportionately harmed by racism.
- “SENI 2.0 Equity is Justice” campaign garnered an additional $700 million to schools using the Student Equity Needs Index for 2021-22 academic year.
- $170 million in funding that was demanded by The Making Los Angeles Whole Coalition was included in the City Council’s final budget for 2021-2022 to address the needs of families and communities adversely affected by COVID-19.
- CoCo vaccinated 4,478 Black and Brown at Jesse Owens Park in a two-week period.
- The UC System officially drops SAT and ACT scores from use in admissions and scholarships.
- The Mommy, Daddy, and Me Resolution was passed unanimously. SCYEA youth leader and LAUSD Board Member Kamarie Brown’s resolution provides support for youth parents throughout the district, a historically underserved student population. The resolution includes student lactation centers, day/infant care services, staff training, comprehensive sexual health education, and more.
- Funding Black Student Achievement. This was a milestone victory in the fight to divest school funds from LAUSD’s police force and into its Black students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). This win ensured a budget amendment that permanently reallocated $25 million from the L.A. School police budget and an additional $12.1 million per year to be spent in ways the community demanded.
- Redistricting. CoCo serves as the lead organization of the People’s Bloc, a redistricting alliance of 25-30 regional organizations. This alliance helped ensure that historically marginalized voices actively engaged in the redistricting process by convening everyday people to advocate on behalf of their communities.
- In February 2022, the Promoting Unity Safety and Health in Los Angeles (PUSH LA) coalition selected a firm to lead the study and implementation of alternative traffic stop models that exclude law enforcement, as mandated by the LA City Council in 2021.
- In March, the Police Free LAUSD Coalition surveyed over 2,300 students across 100+ LAUSD schools. The purpose was to assess all students’ access to mental health and community-based safety resources and Black students’ experiences accessing resources from the Black Student Achievement Plan (BSAP).
- The Community Coalition launched its People’s School, a community organizing training program in which Black and Brown residents participate in seven trainings, including City Hall 101, City Budget 101, and the Problem & History of Housing/Homelessness. Members also volunteer for five power-building activities.
- Make LA Whole 2023 Coalition partners demanded increased funding for childcare centers, senior meals, rental, and housing assistance, as well as decreased funding for LAPD. In all, $113,296,078 in funding was allocated to vital community programs, including GRYD and Inside Safe.
- On June 5th, Community Coalition welcomes the Debra Lee Community Organizing Fellows. This first-ever cohort of women and femme-identified community organizers comprises leaders who are part of base-building organizations.
- Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Budget Act of 2023, which includes $2MM in state funding for the Community Coalition (CoCo) to support the development of the Center for Community Organizing (CCO). South Los Angeles Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-57th District) made this investment possible.
