COVID-19 Response

Addressing the impacts of COVID-19 in Northeast LA

When the coronavirus outbreak began locally in March 2020 and Safer at Home orders went into effect, LA Más pivoted its operational model to provide immediate assistance to neighbors directly impacted by the crisis.

We started by reaching out to our neighbors: David De La Torre, who heads Elysian Valley Neighborhood Watch and Jardín del Rio Community Garden, and Ceci Dominguez, who heads the Elysian Valley Senior Group. They shared that neighbors were already checking in with each other through an informal “phone tree”, learning that many were being laid off, having their work hours reduced, struggling to take care of aging parents or getting groceries. Thanks to the everyday advocacy and partnership of two neighbors, LA Más was able to develop a more robust system and form the Northeast LA Community Response.

With a group of 150+ dedicated volunteers, we called neighbors, identified needs, and connected them to resources, such as free food delivery, rent or mortgage information, unemployment filing, among others.

The initiative concluded in June 2020 and has since evolved into Northeast LA Mercadito, a weekly food and resource distribution program coupled with ongoing community engagement.

Community Profile

In the span of 10 weeks, over 2,000 Northeast LA residents were engaged, and over 750 residents received direct support. This report highlights trends and resident priorities identified throughout our COVID relief initiative and in exit interviews with over 250 families. We hope the lessons we learned can be useful to government agencies and local organizations that are continuing to provide COVID-related assistance or other neighborhood response efforts.

Partners

This initiative was made possible by a collective of community organizations, grocers, foundations, government partners, and residents who are committed to supporting impacted neighbors. These include organizations that donated time, resources or funds, and those whom we purchased goods from to distribute to residents.