For our September housing book club, we're switching back to discussing policies that can help solve the crisis we read about in The Color of Law and Evicted.

We're reading important policy report -- Communities over Commodities: People-Driven Alternatives to an Unjust Housing System

You'll be sent the address soon after RSVPing.

Join us for LA Forward's fall kickoff -- we'll do a deep dive into all the different campaigns for affordable housing and tenant protections, especially our very own campaign to build affordable housing in every part of the region.

Plus updates/ways to get involved on our campaign to fund our local schools and community services, and to fight climate change locally.

We had an awesome first westside book reading "State of Resistance" and now we're set to read activist Patrisse Khan-Cullors' memoir "When They Call You a Terrorist."

Join us on August 27th!

You'll be sent the address after RSVPing

For our July housing book club we are reading Evicted by Matthew Desmond. It tells the story of low income housing in Milwaukee from multiple perspectives (tenant/landlord, urban/suburban, etc.). Much more narrative and personal than last month's reading.

It's available at:

LAPL

Better World Books

You'll be sent the address after RSVPing

We're kicking off our book club about Manuel Pastor's new book, State of Resistance, about the rise, fall and rise of California's progressive governance -- https://stateofresistancebook.com

It offers a ton of lessons for how we can build the political power we need to take our country back!

Get your copy:

LA Public Library - paper and ebook versions

IndieBound LA bookstores

You'll be sent the address after RSVPing.

We’re sharing our new grassroots plan to crowdsource affordable housing across LA and showing you how you can get involved. Plus an update on our campaign to restore billions of funding to California’s schools and a chance to send a message to your elected officials to make it happen.

Want an easy (and kid-friendly!) way to help our public schools get the funding they deserve while also hanging out with great people? We have the event for you!

Come join our LA Forward Schools and Communities Kickoff Event where we’ll write postcards to our elected officials, asking them to endorse the California Schools and Local Communities Funding Act, a November 2020 ballot measure that will restore over $11 billion per year to California’s schools, community colleges, health clinics, and other vital local services by closing California’s commercial property tax loophole.

The measure protects homeowners, renters, agricultural land, and small businesses, while reclaiming the billions of dollars in tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations that have drained our schools and communities of funding for the last 40 years.

We’ll have snacks, postcards, and pens as well as activities to entertain the kids. Bring your friends and family. We’ll also have information for other ways to get involved for those interested.

There are simultaneous events for people who live west and those who live east:

Culver City Veterans Memorial Park - https://actionnetwork.org/events/postcarding-in-the-park-westside-2/

Echo Park Lake - https://actionnetwork.org/events/postcarding-in-the-park-eastside-2/

We face a massive housing and homelessness crisis here in LA and there's no 1 silver bullet to fix it.

We want to get more educated about the topic so we can understand the problem and push for comprehensive solutions. So a bunch of us started a Housing Book Club, that meet Monday evenings in Silver Lake.

For our 3rd session on June 17, we're reading about the concept of "social housing":

• https://prospect.org/article/why-america-needs-more-social-housing

• https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SocialHousing.pdf (only 40 pages)

• Plus for extra credit, a piece comparing the presidential candidates housing plans - https://www.dataforprogress.org/2020-housing-report

You'll be sent the street address after RSVPing.

Join us for a special monthly meeting where we’ll discuss the June 4th election results and host a LA 101 workshop to go over how local politics really works, the structure of government, and how to use the levers of power to enact policies that can make our city a better place.

Plus postcard writing to elected officials to ban oil drilling in our neighborhoods and more.

More than 52,765 human beings are homeless in Los Angeles. It’s a moral stain on our society and a waste of immense human potential. The good news? You have immense power to make a difference in your own backyard by getting supportive housing built in our city.

LA Forward, in collaboration with United Way's Everyone In, is hosting a Housing Advocacy and Land Use Training Sunday, April 28th from 2 to 5pm

• Homelessness 101 (myths, misconceptions, solutions, strategy)

• Messaging Training (Nuts and bolts of messaging and stories for advocacy)

• Land Use training (community empowered site-scouting)

• Campaigning 101 (how to implement this at a localized, Neighborhood by neighborhood level)

Join us and be part of the solution by RSVPing below!

Join us for another action-packed meeting!

We'll be hearing from an organizer with the Sunrise Movement about plans for a Green New Deal in LA and then breaking into action groups to continue organizing to get homes for the homeless built, to pass the Schools & Communities measure to fund our public schools, and to create a LA 101 guide. Plus book clubs!

Our guest speaker is UCLA student Natalie Rotstein who helps to lead the Sunrise Movement’s LA Chapter. The Sunrise Movement is an American youth-led political movement coordinated by Sunrise, an organization that advocates political action on climate change. Natalie will share about her experience as a volunteer with this national organization, and outline the on-going efforts of the LA chapter to lobby our local elected officials in support the Green New Deal, as well as identify and organize around other anti-fossil fuel and pro-environmental initiatives that are particularly relevant to Angelenos. 

LA's teachers went on strike to demand smaller class sizes and the resources they need to effectively do their jobs — including student access to nurses, counselors, and librarians. This crisis has been decades in the making. When our state passed Prop 13 in 1978, it decimated funding for local schools and community services. California went from being #1 in per student spending to #47!

The good news — there's a huge coalition working to boost funding for education across the state by closing corporate property tax loopholes. LA Forward is enthusiastically participating and we're already gearing up to pass the Schools & Communities ballot proposition next year.

Join us to strategize and hammer out our plans together.

Plus, there'll be updates on other exciting campaigns across Los Angeles like public funding of local elections and big moves to tackle the housing crisis.

Afterwards, we'll grab drinks at a bar across the street, Nickel Mine, or Plan Check a few blocks away.

We're gearing up for a year of action and results in 2019.

Join us as we strategize and hammer out plans together!

We'll be celebrating our victories from Election Day and talking about how to keep winning and do even better in the months and years to come. Join us!

LA Forward and SIJCC are partnering up again to get you all the info you need about the November 6th midterm ballot. We'll have experts on hand to engage with guests about the issues that are central to this election and to our future. 

WHEN: Thursday, October 25, 7:00 - 9:00 PM
WHERE: The Box @ SIJCC – 1110 Bates Ave, 90029
WHO: You and experts from LA Forward, including Dr. David Levitus and Mike Young from the League of Conservation Voters
RSVP: https://sijcc.net/Community-Events
Or just show up!

$5 suggested donation to cover the cost of drinks and snacks.
No one turned away for lack of funds.

The California ballot is hella confusing, with more than 15 propositions in addition to all the candidates.

Fix that by coming to our Backyard Ballot Bash where we'll be BBQ-ing, listening to music, and hanging out by (in?) the pool!

In the middle of it all, we'll have a conversation with the experts behind the LA Forward Progressive Voter Guide to make sense of everything on the ballot and get you all the info you need to vote smart.

Don't forget your bathing suit and your sample ballot!

The clock is ticking and we're feeling the pressure. I'm sure you are too. We have just 4 more weeks before Election Day.

Come join LA Forward Action for our final meeting before the November 6th election. We've have been busy registering voters, phone-banking, and canvassing, and we are preparing for our final big push towards the midterms. Come and help us turn our collective frustration into action!

Plus brainstorming how to get the word out about all the ballot propositions with LA Forward's guide.

Join us as we build power at the ballot box and in the halls of power to win progressive priorities!

We'll share updates on our voter education, registration, and mobilization efforts up and down the ballot. You'll be able to plug into the team that's working on your priority -- whether that's making sure the rent isn't so damn high or getting out the vote in key districts in Orange County.

PLUS updates on campaigns to legalize street vending, ban oil drilling in residential neighborhoods and more!

Can you let us know if you'll join in?

Want an easy, fun, kid-friendly way to help flip the house while also socializing and meeting great people? We have the event for you! Come join our community event where we'll write postcards to people in key states, getting them excited about registering and voting. Postcards will be mailed through the ACLU to important voters who DID NOT VOTE in the last midterm election. And we even know this works - Sister District just published a study showing that sending postcard reminders can make people up to 20% more likely to register to vote.

We will have snacks, postcards, and pens. Bring your friends, family, and kids. We will set up right next to the playground to make it easy for families to join. We'll also have information for other ways to get involved for those interested.

For a fun added incentive, we have special prizes for the first 4 people to write 20 postcards!

Interested? Let us know below!

Want an easy, fun, kid-friendly way to help flip the house while also socializing and meeting great people? We have the event for you! Come join our community event where we'll write postcards to people in key states, getting them excited about registering and voting. Postcards will be mailed through the ACLU to important voters who DID NOT VOTE in the last midterm election. And we even know this works - Sister District just published a study showing that sending postcard reminders can make people up to 20% more likely to register to vote.

We will have snacks, postcards, and pens. Bring your friends, family, and kids. We'll also have information for other ways to get involved for those interested.

For a fun added incentive, we have special prizes for the first 4 people to write 20 postcards!

Interested?

Only 73 days to the election... what are you doing to swing the votes our way?

Come out this Sunday to learn how and get started!

Free snacks, free parking, and good people, PLUS training from friendly experts on what it takes to win elections and how you can get involved.

We'll cover the basics of phonebanking and canvassing, plus tips for making time to do it all from experienced campaigners and trainers. 

Can you let us know if you can make it?

Water is life and California doesn't have enough to go around. Learn how you can make a difference by hanging out with us in Venice! 

Featuring your new favorite young experts, activists, and elected officials.

We'll be on the back patio of Sweetfin and 25% of what you spend will benefit LA Forward.

Saturday, August 18,

11:00 AM - 2:00 PM

1146 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291

Come listen to some of LA’s foremost attorneys and organizers about what powers the current administration actually has to criminalize immigrants and how we can resist, from lawsuits and legal representation for individuals to organizing protests and building the power to win elections. Talk Box: Stand is a panel discussion on immigration moderated by David Levitus, the founder of LAForward.

Wednesday, August 15
7:00 – 9:00 PM
The Box @ SIJCC | 1110 Bates Ave
$10 or pay what you can at the door

Light refreshments will be served

Get Tickets:

https://cognitoforms.com/SilverlakeIndependentJewishCommunityCenter/TalkBoxStand

Panelists:

Mario Fuentes: Lead Organizer with L.A. Voice

Cynthis Buiza: ED of California Immigrant Policy Center

Sara Vanhofwegen: Supervising Staff Attorney in the Immigrants’ Rights Project at Public Counsel

Lindsay Toczylowski: Founding member and the Executive Director of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center

Join us on for a special meeting of LA Forward focused on the November elections.

We're getting organized to do voter registration and education here in Los Angeles. You'll be able to sign up to host or attend important local actions like house parties and community outreach.

PLUS updates on our campaigns to legalize street vending, preserve and create affordable housing, ban oil drilling in residential neighborhoods and more!
 

Join us for a first monthly meeting, where we'll spend an hour on learning and talking, followed by an hour of action to make change!

This month we'll focus on housing issues, especially relevant with the repeal of "Costa-Hawkins" rent control restrictions on the November state ballot.

Frustrated with the housing crisis? Confused about how the housing system works? Join us for this deep dive into how the housing system works, perfect for people who know almost nothing about the subject.