social justice
We are currently curating links to organizations working to advance social justice and responsible policing, as well as helping community organizers in their fights against racial discrimination and systemic inequities.
Please send any resources, virtual events and/or information you’d like to share to Civicas4LA@gmail.com.
aDVOCACY
Resources for Accountability and Actions for Black Lives
By Black Lives Matter.
New Era of Public Safety: An Advocacy Toolkit for Fair, Safe and Effective Community Policing
An initiative of the Policing Campaign at the Leadership Conference Education Fund, the education and research arm of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and was supported by the Google Foundation.
Petitions to Sign
What to sign and what not to sign, as told by Black Lives Matter.
NAACP Legal Defense Fund
5 Ways To show up for racial justice today
Resources in the Fight for Racial Justice
Resources to educate yourself, take action, which Black-owned businesses to support, and knowing your rights. By LA2050.
Movement for Black Lives (M4BL)
Made up of over 150 organizations that coordinate actions, messages and campaigns. Seeks to reach millions, mobilize hundreds of thousands, and organize tens of thousands, so that Black political power is a force able to influence national and local agendas in the direction of our shared Vision for Black Lives. Accepting donations.
Whites for racial equity
Policy Link
A national research and action institute advancing racial and economic equity by Lifting Up What Works®. Accepting donations.
Front and centered
A statewide coalition of organizations and groups rooted in communities of color and people with lower incomes; on the frontlines of economic and environmental change. Accepting donations.
Equality Can’t Wait Challenge
Pivotal Ventures, Melinda Gates’ investment and incubation company, with additional support from MacKenzie Bezos, has announced the Equality Can’t Wait Challenge which will award $30 million to the organizations or the coalitions of organizations with the most compelling ideas to help expand women’s power and influence in the United States by 2030. The Challenge will be managed by Lever for Change.
How Philanthropy Can Support Black Workers
Five ways philanthropy can act to help ensure a fairer economic future, centering the need to level the playing field for Black workers, by Nonprofit Quarterly.
Commit to Action
A call for mayors, city councils, and police oversight bodies to address police use of force policies. By former President Barack Obama.
Coming to the Table
Advocates a vision for the United States “of a just and truthful society that acknowledges and seeks to heal from the racial wounds of the past” and “provides leadership, resources, and a supportive environment for all who wish to acknowledge and heal wounds from racism that is rooted in the United States’ history of slavery.”
l.A. SPECIFIC
Black Lives Matter Los Angeles
First chapter of Black Lives Matter. Accepting donations.
Action Bail Fund LA
Los Angeles Action Bail Fund, led by Black Lives Matter LA.
People’s Budget LA
Calls on the Mayor and City Council to prioritize funding services, not the police.
The People’s Budget Los Angeles 2020-2021
A participatory budgeting project initiated by the People’s Budget LA Coalition. Calls on the Los Angeles City Council to adopt a budget that aligns with the priorities of the people who they have been elected to represent.
Alliance of white anti-racists everywhere - Los angeles
An all-volunteer alliance of white anti-racist people organizing to challenge racism and work for racial justice in transformative alliance with people of color. Accepting donations.
(For more information about why Aware-LA hosts spaces specifically for white folks, please check out this document).
LA’s Black owned restaurants
Comprehensive breakdown by neighborhoods and services offered (takeout, delivery, dine-in).
Advancement Project California
Strategize with community partners to identify funding, services and opportunities in our public systems that can be redistributed for more just outcomes for all. Accepting donations.
Community Coalition South LA
Built to help transform the social and economic conditions of South LA residents—from the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s to the challenges impacting South Central amidst the COVID-19 global crisis. Accepting donations.
The Free Black Women’s Library - Los Angeles
The traveling Library operates as a pop-up book swap event where visitors can engage and trade books written by Black women. Find out more here.
Los Angeles Urban League
Works to close opportunity gaps throughout Los Angeles by providing targeted social programs and advocating for issues that impact minority communities. Accepting donations.
National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles
Unites lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse lawyers to function as an effective force in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests. The LA Chapter amplifies, educates, protects, and connects. Accepting donations.
Liberty Hill Foundation
Los Angeles’ social justice epicenter since 1976. Accepting donations.
Summaeverythang Community Center
A community center based in South Central Los Angeles dedicated to the empowerment and transcendence of black and brown folks socio-politically and economically, intellectually and artistically. Accepting donations.
Mutual Aid network Los angeles
A network comprised of different grassroots organizations, movements, organizers, and volunteers who are committed to organizing material support in the LA community. Accepting donations.
mENTAL HEALTH
Therapy Resources for People of Color
cOVID-19
Black Lives Matter COVID-19 Resources
No Going Back: A COVID-19 Cultural Strategy Activation Guide
By the Center for Cultural Power.
eDUCATION fOR ALLIES
Anti-Racism for Beginners
Anti-racist resources, readings, and other materials.
“In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.” — Angela Davis
How to Be an antiracist
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning comes a refreshing approach that will radically reorient America on the urgent issues of race, justice, and equality.
An antiracist reading list
Ibram X. Kendi on books to help America transcend its racist heritage.
Books to Read about Anti-Racism
What Else Black Booksellers and Publishers Say You Should Read. From Time Magazine.
Racial Justice Art & Story Sessions
“Building true cross-racial understanding and a sense of shared destiny amongst and between immigrant and refugee communities requires unlearning the centuries of anti-Black racism in the United States that has been exported across the world through social norms, culture, media, and policy."
Ibram X. Kendi wants to redefine racism
The Ezra Klein Show podcast with guest Ibram X. Kendi, who wants to redefine racism as: support for policies that widen racial inequality.
George Floyd, Racism and Law Enforcement
Anti-bias education from the ADL, a leading anti-hate organization. Accepting donations.
Table Talk: Family Conversations about Current Events.
What is systemic racism?
An 8-part video series by Race Forward that shows how racism shows up in our lives across institutions and society: Wealth Gap, Employment, Housing Discrimination, Government Surveillance, Incarceration, Drug Arrests, Immigration Arrests, Infant Mortality.
11-Step Guide to Understanding Race, Racism, and White Privilege
By Citizenship & Social Justice.
Curriculum for White Americans to Educate Themselves on Race and Racism–from Ferguson to Charleston
By Citizenship & Social Justice.
Environmentalism’s Racist History
Article from the New Yorker.
Birth of a White Nation
Written by “former Chicago police officer and professor” Jacqueline Battalora, this book “argues that white people didn’t exist prior to 1681.” Battalora “boldly asserts that early American law created a class of ‘whiteness’ designed to merely suppress others.”
The Invention of the police
From the New Yorker. Explores the question, “Why did American policing get so big, so fast? The answer, mainly, is slavery.”
A Guide on Racism, Inequality, and Health Care for African Americans.
FOR oRGANIZATIONS
How to Integrate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion into Everyday Operations
From The Bridgespan Group.
AWAKE to WOKE to WORK: Building a Race Equity Culture
From Equity in the Center.
DEI: Holding Ourselves and Each Other Accountable
From Training Resources for the Environmental Community.
The Dialogue Company
An organization founded by Dr. David Campt which “designs meetings and experiences built on inclusive processes to create smarter organizations and build stronger communities.”
Watch this 3-minute video, Distilling Collective Wisdom to hear “thoughts about engaging groups of Dr. David Campt - keynote speaker, audience response systems guru, civic engagement specialist, expert in racial equity, and author of multiple books.”
Dr. Campt’s White Ally Toolkit “helps white people who are a little ‘woke’ about racism have more productive conversations with other whites who don’t share their understanding.”
FOR EDUCATORS
Racial Equity Curricula
From Racial Equity Tools, for educational contexts.
Teaching Tolerance Curricula
From the Southern Poverty Law Center, this curricula address racism, tolerance, and historical oppression.
Center for Racial Justice in education
Trains and empowers educators to dismantle patterns of racism and injustice in our schools and communities.