This article originally appeared in the March-April 2004 issue of the Children's Advocate, published by Action Alliance for Children.

Grassroots Snapshot

L.A. County adopts community coalition's spending plan

By Eve Pearlman

Early in 2003, the California Partnership (TCP), a coalition of 60 organizations advocating for low-income families, discovered a $45 million dollar pot of money sitting in the Los Angeles County budget-incentive money paid to the county for reducing welfare rolls.

The money was earmarked for a variety of county agencies. But by June, the L.A. Board of Supervisors had agreed to spend $11 million of that money according to a plan made by TCP.

"We wanted to make sure the money went back to help support CalWORKs families who had recently left welfare," says Nancy Berlin, coordinator of the welfare reform advocacy project at the Los Angles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness (LACEHH), a member of TCP.

A well-developed plan. TCP member organizations worked together to create the spending plan. They wanted some of the money to fund quality job training programs that would lead to well-paid jobs-including subsidies for workers receiving training and vocational ESL courses, which teach workers workplace vocabulary.

The rest, they said, should go to a variety of homelessness prevention programs, including emergency funds to prevent eviction and money for relocation. Some of the programs had been funded before at limited levels, others were slated to be cut back. "If people don't have good jobs, child care, homes, and food, what good are other, less crucial programs?" asks Alicia Lepe, a California Partnership organizer.

A sustained, varied campaign. Through the winter and spring, members of coalition organizations worked to promote their plan. There were lots of ways to help; many hundreds of people got involved.

• Going door-to-door, they ex-plained their plan and recruited parents to tell their stories at rallies and public meetings. "I like to talk to people," says Yolanda James, a 29-year-old former CalWORKs participant, now an organizer for LACEHH. "So why not, if you're talking anyway, talk about some important stuff-and try to change it."

• Lobbying in a variety of ways, coalition organizations held call-in days, letter-writing campaigns, town meetings, press conferences, rallies, and behind-the-scenes meetings with county officals. "It was an ongoing struggle," says Siotha Ashley, a single mother of three, "running back and forth to the Board of Supervisors, letting them know we're aware of what they're doing and that we're going to fight-not physically, but mentally we're going to fight back."

  "We would let them know that the money needs to go to these programs," recalls Nancy Hernandez, staff member of ACORN, a TCP member organization, "and they sat there and heard us out."

• In a mass visit to the county welfare office, 40 applicants challenged the county's claim that there were already enough job training programs. "They took people's addresses and told them they would send them information about job training," recalls Berlin, "but we got precious little from that day."

• Persistence was the key to success, says Lepe. "Parents just stuck in there and kept going back. People were determined to make this change even though they thought everything was against this."

The victory was significant, says Berlin. "This was the first time that we really got community groups and low-income people to push the county to use money the way people in the community wanted."

For more information:

• L.A. Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness, 213-251-2710

• ACORN, 213-747-4211

• The California Partnership, 562-862-2070 Ext. 304

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