Victory! Transit ambassadors—a safety strategy program envisioned within our Metro as a Sanctuary report—launched as a pilot last year on LA Metro. This year, we successfully advocated for the program to be made permanent and for them to be brought in-house as LA Metro employees.

Social Housing:

2023 was full of program design and organizing to start a social housing program within the City of LA—now possible thanks to the passage of and funding from Measure ULA. We rallied at City Council and across the city with our housing and labor partners, advocated at Measure ULA Citizens Oversight Committee meetings, drafted program guidelines, held educational webinars and trainings, and graduated our first Social Housing Leadership Cohort.

Equitable Land Use:

After years of training and advocating for equitable community plans, we finally saw the adoption of the Hollywood Community Plan which will incentivize more affordable housing in Hollywood. ACT-LA has been closely monitoring and weighing in on plans for new overlay zones and the implementation of the City of LA Housing Element, which will lead to rezoning throughout the City.

Universal Fareless Transit:

We joined SAJE in releasing the report “The Road to Transit Equity: The Case for Universal Fareless Transit in Los Angeles” and held multiple rallies at LA Metro, activating hundreds of community members. We drafted an advocacy roadmap to fareless transit, hosted a webinar and events, and held Mayor Bass to her campaign promise of universal fareless transit—which she reaffirmed!

Faster, More Reliable Bus Service:

We interviewed transit riders to understand their needs and priorities for change regarding bus service. As a result, we began a partnership with Metro, LA City Council Districts 1 (Hernandez) and 13 (Soto-Martinez) to build a bus-only lane along the Vermont Ave. corridor—which will be a launching point for ACT-LA’s new initiative to see new bus lanes and rider-supporting infrastructure throughout the County.

Care-based Safety on LA Metro:

We continued to advocate for the investment of care-based safety on Metro instead of the criminalization of riders. We gathered petition signatures with ACLU SoCal, held educational live sessions, released a topline analysis of the Metro police contract audit, released two op-eds in the LA Times, and led a major mobilization against renewing the police contracts.

A Growing Coalition:

We welcomed three new member organizations into the ACT-LA coalition: Brilliant Corners, Fideicomiso Comunitario Tierra Libre, and InnerCity Struggle, and one partner organization: Roots for Peace LA. We also welcomed two new ACT-LA staff members: Campaigns and Outreach Manager Carmina (left) and Capacity Building Manager Cynthia (right)!

Thank all of our partners who have made the ACT-LA coalition’s work successful this year.