Mission Statement
The mission of LA CAN is to help people dealing with poverty create & discover opportunities, while serving as a vehicle to ensure we have voice, power & opinion in the decisions that are directly affecting us.
The Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN) was formed in 1999 when 25 residents of Downtown Los Angeles came together and acknowledged the issues that existed in our community. We made a commitment to address those problems by organizing and becoming a force that demands change. Today we work on a variety of initiatives and projects across Skid Row and South Central LA.
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“When I think of home, I think of a resting place…”
BLACK HISTORY MONTH MOMENT
Fannie Lou Townsend Hamer rose from humble beginnings in the Mississippi Delta to become one of the most prominent, passionate, and powerful voices of the civil, housing and voting rights movements. She was also a fierce leader in the efforts for greater economic opportunity and independence for African Americans.
Frustrated by the political process, Hamer turned to economics as a strategy for greater racial equality. In 1971, Hamer helped to found the National Women’s Political Caucus. This was a follow up to her grassroots approach: In 1968, she began a “pig bank” to provide free pigs for Black farmers to breed, raise, and slaughter. After that effort, she launched the Freedom Farm Cooperative (FFC), buying up land that Blacks could own and farm collectively. With the assistance of many donors (including famed singer Harry Belafonte), she purchased 640 acres and launched a general store, boutique, and sewing enterprise. She single-handedly ensured that 200 units of low-income housing were built—many still exist in today. The FFC lasted for longer than anyone expected and it was among the largest employers in Sunflower County, Mississippi. Before Hamer succumbed to cancer in 1977, she paved the way for subsequent voting, housing and civil rights activists and organizations such as LA CAN.
In September 2020, the Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice rule went into effect nationally, This new HUD rule destroys a crucial regulatory provision of the Fair Housing Act of 1968. That provision, called Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH), was strengthened by the Obama Administration in 2015, ensuring that U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds would support only those local and state municipalities who could clearly demonstrate that they and their housing and other programs are furthering the non-discrimination goals of the Fair Housing Act.
The September HUD rule waters down the AFFH provision and gives a green light to continued segregation and status quo discrimination within America’s cities, towns, and villages.
Nowhere is this reality more prevalent and abhorrent than Los Angeles, where luxury condominiums and apartments, which boast an average of a 30 percent occupancy, line the same city streets as tents and improvised domiciles. More than 70 percent of those unhoused in DTLA are African American, in a city with an African American population of 8 percent.
We must continue to pressure our local and national “leaders” to re-imagine housing as a human right…not as a catalyst for capitalism.
We salute you, Fannie Lou Townsend Hamer…and we carry your legacy forward as a badge of honor and a necessary reminder of what the fight is for!
“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free”… Fannie Lou Hamer
Find out more about the Housing Justice work we are undertaking at LA CAN…AND GET INVOLVED:
www.Cangress.org
#LetsGetFree #FightForwardNotBack
LA CAN’s EcoHood sustainable housing project is on fire! A big shout out to @KtownforAll and @thelapod for raising $3,500 at LA Jeo-pod-y last weekend! As our initiative draws praise for meeting the needs of unhoused people quicker and cheaper than traditional construction without harming the environment, donations have poured in from Angelenos fed up with the city’s failure to address the problem. Thank you!
As COVID-19 rages in Los Angeles and beyond, there has been little attention paid to the most vulnerable Angelenos.
As cases rise sharply in Skid Row and DTLA, we are redoubling our efforts to stand in the gap for negligent city leaders and insure that our neighbors’ lives are prioritized as they should be.
Here is our 10 Point COVID-19 mitigation plan. Read it, adhere to it and spread it far and wide!!(no pun intended).
Check out a few members of the LA CAN Arts and Culture crew featuring Natosha Trulybeats Smith in “Real Talk”…
Stay tuned for more art and “real talk” coming soon!
Find out more:
www.Cangress.org
A Black History Musical Moment featuring Brother Pancake!
“Precious Lord” was Martin Luther King Jr.’s favorite gospel song. He was known to listen to it often and request this song at times of great consequence for the civil rights movement. He famously uttered these words shortly before his tragic death: “play ‘Precious Lord’ in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty."
Learn more about The Freedom Singers and Arts and Culture at LA CAN…
#BlackHistoryMonth #fightforwardnotback #LetsGetFree
www.cangress.org
Learn About the Issues
Become a part of a movement to end poverty create and create opportunity. Learn more about the issues that impact us all and ways that you can make a difference in solving them.
Become An Organizer
We change problems together. Join LA CAN in ensuring that we have voice, power and opinion in the decisions that are directly affecting us.
Follow Us On Social Media
Follow LA CAN on all of our social media channels and stay up-to-date on the latest news and developments.
Show Off Some Swag
Show off your support of LA CAN by purchasing our latest merchandise that directly supports our local and national organizing efforts.
Learn About the Issues
Become An Organizer
Follow Us On Social Media
Show Off Some Swag
Take Action:
Sign Our Petition
Over the years, we added core projects addressing women’s rights, the human right to housing, and healthy food access. LA CAN also has projects focused on economic development, civic participation and voter engagement, and community media.
Climate Change
Food Security
Crisis Support
Facts about LA CAN
LA CAN has been a strong and visible leader in promoting and defending human rights in Downtown and South LA, with additional impacts regionally, nationally and internationally.
Facts
Eliminated the guest fee practice in more than 2,500 homes, saving tenants from an unjust charge
Facts
Organized community-lawyering projects that resulted in 2.84 million dollars
LA CAN provides legal assistance and organizes to protect poor communities against illegal evictions.They do a great job focusing on many areas of poverty, housing, civil rights and community health.
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