The LA River- The Intersection between Homelessness and the Environment

I got to work on a podcast!- Small Revolutions- LIsten on Spotify and Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your podcasts!

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East Hollywood, Silver Lake, and Los Feliz Neighborhood councils joined forces to explore the struggles and evolution of civil rights in our Los Angeles Communities.

Do you know what a neighborhood council is? It’s the most local level of government. There are 99 neighborhood councils in the city of Los Angeles. If you are looking to make a change in your community?

In the past, we talked about the History of Redlining, Endangered LGBTQ Spaces, and this podcast episode’s topic is The LA River: Homelessness & the Environment. These topics we touch on are hyperlocal, happening to our direct neighbors. It speaks to the history of something you walk by every day but wonder about.

Helping out with the graphic design for the first two “Small Revolutions,” I got really excited about pitching a topic about the environment. The first two events had a homelessness angle.

Some of the blaring challenges the city of Los Angeles has include homelessness, transportation & mobility, and its large scale. When the “Small Revolutions” working group was hoping to continue with the homelessness issue, the idea was formed of “Homelessness & the Environment.”

Intersectional Environmentalism was having a moment in 2020. The idea is that the issues we’re dealing with are not stand-alone issues, but issues that intersect and need an intersectional approach to understand and solve them. Housing Justice is Climate Justice. Tackling Racism is Climate Justice. Food justice is Climate Justice. The panel was going to explore this intersection between Homelessness & the Environment.

Los Feliz and Silver Lake are adjacent to the Los Angeles River, a concrete urban watershed, and the home to some unhoused individuals. At the same time, the County of LA had proposed a LA River Master Plan and was accepting comments from the public. It was all coming together.

When looking for panelists, it was especially important to have diversity. I was set on finding an indigenous voice local to the LA region, an unhoused individual, and an expert on the River. Voices that were overlooked, but absolutely necessary. Especially since the current plan and steering committee lack more indigenous input and unhoused voices.

I have complete gratitude for the moderator, panelists, the working group, the editors that made this event/podcast possible. Brilliantly moderated by Danielle Bond, SELAH Homelessness Coalition, LA River expertise from Liliana Grego, a Director from Friends of the Los Angeles River, Indigenous knowledge and input from Andrew Salas and Matthew Teutimez, and Theo Henderson from “We the Unhoused” podcast. (Links provided down below)

After our 1st event “History of Redlining,” the live Zoom panel turned into a podcast that anyone can listen to, on the go. It’s available wherever you listen to podcasts!

LISTEN- THE LA RIVER- The Intersection between homelessness & the environment

How can we find and get people to voice their opinions and act to make?

Relevant Links

Gabrieleno Indians Website

https://gabrielenoindians.org/news/

We the Unhoused Podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-the-unhoused/id1490017575

Submit your own letter to the County

https://folar.org/county-plan/

LA River Master Plan Sign-on Letter

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EKvA1TkyUlbfNNO7ITDvQr4LCHD0MNC3/edit

Small Revolutions Podcast