By: Natalie Godinez 

The year 2020 was a tumultuous one where advocacy and art for social change took a strong lead in our community. The economic and emotional impact of the pandemic exacerbated the needs of Angelenos, leading to a greater need to take a stand for Black lives, wellness, protections for workers, tenants, and our BIPOC community as a whole. This was the year where we witnessed an uprising and an increase in civic engagement in Los Angeles, inspired in great part by the People’s Budget movement led by Black Lives Matter, and in anticipation of a vital presidential election. 

We want to share some of these advocacy highlights with you, in partnership with the Eastside LEADS Coalition, the Invest in Youth Campaign, the Healthy LA Coalition, and Artivist interns and encourage you to get involved in your community for good too! 

Eastside LEADS

In 2020, Eastside LEADS joined the Stay Housed LA initiative, which is a collaboration between LA County-based community organizations and legal aid service providers, to offer education and support to impacted renters. Public Counsel, Innercity Struggle and SHG led and developed numerous free “Know Your Tenant Rights” educational online workshops, with legal counsel present to answer live questions. Together we did outreach, provided legal counsel, and hosted twelve sessions via Zoom and Facebook Live, teaching viewers about their permanent and temporary rights as tenants. 

We also launched a new Youth Artivism Internship program in collaboration with Eastside LEADS, focused on uplifting youth voices and the arts in the work we are doing. Our Artivism interns, Sophia Garcia, Priscilla Hernandez, and Vanya Navarrete, created banners and posters for in person actions and our Día de los Muertos altar for our annual Noche de Ofrenda. The altar focused on displacement and tenants affected by Covid-19. In addition, our youth are working on a special “Tenant Power” zine to distribute to our Eastside LEADS membership and local neighborhoods in 2021. 

Lastly, we joined 3 “Blockade the Court” direct actions, in hopes that the local courts would stop processing eviction cases and continue to keep people safe in their homes. For two of the actions we created a make your own poster station with materials and stencils for sign making. 

Healthy LA

We joined the Healthy LA Coalition, a group brought together to offer solutions to the hardships caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic. This helped us expand our housing justice and tenant support work. As part of the coalition, Self Help Graphics sits on the Organizing and Communications committee. The committee works to educate and mobilize people toward contacting their elected officials; such as the LA City Council and LA County Board of Supervisors meetings, as well as attending in person actions, and sharing information about the policy proposals that Healthy LA is working on. 

Additionally, the SHG team supported with design for online graphics, and artwork for in person actions. You can read more about the coalition’s accomplishments in 2020 here. The coalition’s current priority is the cancellation of rents and mortgages to keep people safe in their homes and protected from additional COVID-19 exposure. You can read about the campaign and the policy platform here, and watch the Policy Teach-In hosted by the coalition regarding the platform here. 

Invest in Youth

The Invest in Youth Campaign focused on uplifting youth voices to ensure that they are included in the decision making process of a Youth Development Department in the City of LA. This year’s Youth Development task force, worked all year to create a blueprint for the eventual department. 

The Coalition also grew, and representation from across the City is now present in the membership. Youth organizers from the campaign, as well as their Social Justice Interns worked tirelessly to craft public comments for each task force meeting, making sure that youth voices had a place at the table in the process. The coalition hosted a Youth Led Budget Town Hall, a Youth vs Racism panel discussion, a Youth Power Town Hall, two Raising Youth Voices Through Arts events (where SHG Teaching artists and the Youth Committee developed and implemented workshops), as well as a series of listening sessions in partnership with the task force. Additionally, they launched a youth survey, to provide different avenues for youth to provide feedback and opinions regarding what they want to see in a Youth Development Department. You can watch some of the virtual events hosted in 2020 here. 

Though 2020 had some serious challenges to navigate, we are proud of our resilience and the seeds we have sown with like minded organizations, together in mission, to make our world not only better for artists, but for all citizens from LA to the bay.   We hope you’ll keep your ear to the ground and answer  calls to support future advocacy efforts to create meaningful change in your own community. To learn more about our advocacy, contact us here. 

Natalie Godinez is an artist, educator and Self Help Graphics & Art’s Community Engagement Coordinator.