STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

Los Angeles Trade Technical College (LATTC) is the oldest public two-year college in the Los Angeles Community College District, serving more than 23,000 students each year. As a recognized leader in workforce education, LATTC serves as the lead agency and anchor institution under the South Los Angeles Promise Zone designation.

SLATE-Z serves as the backbone entity for the federally designated South LA Promise Zone and regularly convenes partners; facilitates open, continuous communication; builds shared agendas and consensus; and collects and shares progress and measurements. SLATE-Z thrives on a strong cross-sector public-private partnership between residents, businesses, educational institutions, governmental entities, and community-based organizations to develop pilot programs and policy solutions that foster transformational change. Committed partners include key elected officials (among them Mayor Karen Bass), government agencies (including LADOT and LA Metro), UCLA, USC, California State University Dominguez Hills, LA Trade Technical College, LA Chamber of Commerce, LA Unified School District, small business incubators, community-based organizations/nonprofits (i.e., Community Coalition, CDTech, Coalition for Responsible Community Development, LA Promise Fund), and residents.

As a placed-based, collective impact effort SLATE-Z is focused on addressing poverty through five overarching and interrelated goals, advancing: Education, Jobs, Public Safety, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Transit. Our work leverages the South Los Angeles Promise Zone’s designation to focus on true, sustainable, and transformative change in South Los Angeles. Together, we are preparing South Los Angeles students, residents, and businesses for the New Climate Resilient Economy and facilitating the creation and promotion of green pathways to improve health and wellness.

LEVERS OF CHANGE

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

The responsibility of the Blue Sky Funding Taskforce is to research, discuss and strategize grant opportunities that support the mission and focus of South Los Angeles Transit Empowerment Zone (SLATE-Z). The taskforce focuses on advancing a common agenda, shared measurements, and collective work in the LA Promise Zone area.

EQUITY COMMITMENT

The South Los Angeles Promise Zone is home to over 200,000 residents, of which 72% of whom identify as Latinx and 14% as Black/African American, 60% of residents in this area earn less than 50% of the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area's median income, roughly 30% of the residents live below the federal poverty level, and unemployment is 10%. At the South Los Angeles Transit Empowerment Zone (SLATE-Z), a project of Community Partners, our mission is to revitalize South Los Angeles by moving residents to economic opportunity. Our approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion across race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, religion, ability, and experience is to use a collective impact framework that brings people together in ways that are effective and authentic. To do that well, we foster and facilitate a network to build a climate-resilient community with a dynamic local economy, living wage jobs, high-achieving students, safe streets, green spaces, and accessible public transportation. SLATE-Z is committed to building a team with a variety of backgrounds, skills, and views, and is governed and supported by an advisory board and committees that reflect the diversity of South Los Angeles. We deeply believe in living in a city, county, state, and nation that embraces its diversity and is dedicated to building platforms where everyone thrives together.