OUR STORY

It all started with a multi-racial coalition of workers and organizers. The Los Angeles Black Worker Center, in partnership with Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA) and UCLA Labor, locked arms and hit the streets for a local civil rights department. Their #LocalEnforcementNow movement of 2017 led to the city’s first Civil and Human Rights Law, and a new department - LA Civil Rights - to enforce it.

The coalition grew, and so did LA Civil Rights.

In our first year, founding Executive Director Capri Maddox met with over 350 community-based organizations. Five commissions, previously scattered across city departments, joined forces within LA Civil Rights. We launched the city’s first Office of Racial Equity, focused on growing equity and rooting out systemic racism. We created the city’s largest antihate PSA campaign in 18 languages. We’ve invested over $10 million in underserved communities and launched first-time programs to lift up a better Los Angeles.

Everything we do is in partnership with the community.

We believe in helping the people who help the people - nonprofits, community-based organizations, neighborhood councils, faith-based institutions and more. We have partnered with and supported hundreds of local organizations to affect change and invest in a more equitable and empowered Los Angeles.

Together, we are building an equitable, inclusive, and just Los Angeles for all.

The LA Civil Rights Department was born from workers getting organized. The Black Worker Center, with a coalition of multicultural partners, spent years fighting for a city entity that could bring real justice to communities that have been wronged for too long. Workers know what our businesses and communities need and how to stop discrimination where it happens. LA Civil Rights has the potential to build a level playing field for workers across the City of Los Angeles.

— Lola Smallwood Cuevas California State Senator, 28th District Co-Founder of the LA Black Worker Center