Skid Row Action Plan — July 23

Introduced by County Supervisor Hilda Solis who represents Skid Row, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on June 28, 2022 passed a Motion titled: SKID ROW ACTION PLAN — Improving Service to Skid Row Residents by Addressing Homelessness Stemming from Decades of Institutional Racism.

The Motion called for a comprehensive strategic plan to be created for Skid Row based on the work to be done through seven work groups — Increased Permanent Housing, Safe Services, Increased Interim Housing, Substance Use Health Hub, 24/7 Low Barrier Health Services including Physical and Behavioral Health Urgent Care Services, Increased Sanitation Services, and Increased Sources of Income.

The community-based planning process began in August. The County hired Dr. Alisa Orduna as a consultant/facilitator. Alisa Orduna was highly respected in Skid Row. August began with two of the seven work groups listed as Additional — Increased Sanitation Services, and Increased Sources of Income.

In a December Action Plan report to the Board of Supervisors by the County Department of Health Services, the report had six sections — the five work groups plus Additional Community Recommendations which included sanitation services, sources of income, and other recommendations like more green space.

Throughout 2023, Skid Row Action Plan meetings to create a plan to implement the plan called Community Design Sessions took place. They were facilitated by consultancy firm ChangeWell Project.

Each Session began with a public reading of a Land Acknowledgment and a Labor Acknowledgment. The Land Acknowledgment was the official Land Acknowledgment of Los Angeles County. Attached was a visual of a mural Decolonize and Chill in Indian Alley. Indian Alley in Skid Row is one of the most well known Urban Indian locations in the country amongst Native Americans.

Land Acknowledgment:

“The County of Los Angeles recognizes that we occupy land originally and still inhabited and cared for by the Tongva, Tatavium, Serrano, Kizh, and Chumash Peoples. We honor and pay respect to their elders and descendants — past, present, and emerging — as they continue their stewardship of these lands and waters. We acknowledge that settler colonization resulted in land seizure, disease, subjugation, slavery, relocation, broken promises, genocide, and multigenerational trauma. This acknowledgment demonstrates our responsibility and commitment to truth, healing, and reconciliation and to elevating the stories, culture, and community of the original inhabitants of Los Angeles County. We are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on these ancestral lands. We are dedicated to growing and sustaining relationships with Native peoples and local tribal governments.”

The Labor Acknowledgment was created by Cal State Long Beach. Attached was a visual of Bridget “Biddy” Mason. Biddy Mason, a former slave, became one of the main Downtown landowners in the early days of Los Angeles due to her skill as a midwife. She was known for using her wealth to help those in need, sort of the first Real Estate Developer and first Service Provider.

Labor Acknowledgement:

“We recognize and acknowledge the labor upon which our country, state, and institution are built. We remember that our country was built on the labor of enslaved people who were kidnapped and brought to the U.S. from the African continent and recognize the continued contribution of their survivors. We also acknowledge all immigrant and indigenous labor, including voluntary, involuntary, trafficked, forced, and undocumented peoples who contributed to the building of the country and continue to serve within our labor force. We recognize that our country is continuously defined, supported, and built upon by oppressed communities and peoples. We acknowledge labor inequities and the shared responsibility for combatting oppressive systems in our daily work.”

I was one of ten people on the Residents Advisory Committee and we worked with ChangeWell on the Community Design Sessions. Alisa Orduna was still involved, now as part of ChangeWell Project. The Community Design Sessions took place in Skid Row at the Los Angeles Christian Health Center, known as Joshua House.

In preparing for the first two day Community Design Session in June, Alisa asked us on the Residents Advisory Committee who would like to do what’s called a Pixar Story. I was one of the people to raise my hand. Here is the story where you fill in the blanks: Once upon a time _______ Every day ______ One day ________ Because of that _______ Because of that ______ Until finally _______

Here is the story I gave: Once upon a time there was a place called Joshua House. Every day I would walk past it and think, is this named after some guy named Joshua I don’t even know or is this about crossing over into the Promised Land? One day I walked inside and found myself in an implementation community design gathering for the Skid Row Action Plan. Because of that I learned all kinds of good stuff. Because of that I said, yeah, this is about crossing over into the Promised Land! Until finally it was all milk and honey.

The series of Community Design Sessions ended in December with a public “report back” of the work done by the work groups. Hilda Solis was a speaker and she expressed her hope that the Skid Row Action Plan would be a model for the entire state.

JULY 23

The Residents Advisory Committee ended with the December work group report back with Hilda Solis. The work of Changewell Project ended with the release in April 2024 of a 92 page report Implementing The Skid Row Action Plan.

Skid Row has a community history of gatherings open to the public usually called Town Halls. In 2023 with the Residents Advisory Committee there was discussion for the need in 2024 for regular town halls either led by community based organizations and residents with County participation and/or meetings co-led by community based organizations/residents and the County.

However, there have not been any gatherings along those lines. Everything for 2024 has been led by the County.

One of the gatherings led by the County was on July 23 under the title Skid Row Action Plan Economic Opportunity Meeting. The purpose was to bring in leaders from the County and City to see how current government programs could help implement the Economic and Community Development section of the Plan. The County was their Department of Economic Opportunity and the City was Economic and Workforce Development.

There is a huge issue making it difficult, if not impossible, to implement the Economic and Community Development plan recommendations. One of the main recommendations, as part of multiple work groups, is to create Councils consisting of County representatives, City representatives, and Residents, a reference to those with Lived Experience.

Over recent years there has been growing consensus that effective systems must go beyond government agencies and large nonprofit service providers to include those receiving services to gain their wisdom and insight as those with Lived Experience.

The problem is that while the County has funding to hire residents for the Permanent Housing recommendations in the Plan in the form of a Council, it doesn’t have the funding to hire residents for the Economic and Community Development section of the Plan. Without that Council in place, it’s hard to see how those recommendations in the Plan can be implemented.

Where there has been major forward movement in implementing the Plan is in creating a Skid Row Health Care Campus. The County has acquired a huge piece of property in Skid Row and so one of the first sections of the Plan being implemented is to build a Harm Reduction Health Hub by renovating an old warehouse.

As part of the follow up to July 23, the County made available an opportunity for folks to apply to go through a Harm Reduction eight week training program by the County to then qualify for the health care jobs that will be created through the Action Plan.