A BLACK AGENDA
FOR LOS ANGELES

Black Angelenos should be able to afford to stay in LA, build wealth, raise families, feel safe, and shape the city's future.

From Watts and Leimert Park to Venice, the San Fernando Valley, and across LA, generations of Black people have shaped our city's culture, economy, and political life.

Decades of discriminatory housing policies and unequal investment have pushed families out of historically Black neighborhoods. Today, rising costs and declining city services continue to threaten those communities.

our plan

KEEP BLACK FAMILIES ROOTED FOR GENERATIONS TO COME.

Wealthier neighborhoods have long kept new housing out, concentrating development and displacement pressures in historically Black communities. Black families deserve to stay and build wealth in the neighborhoods they've helped create.

  • Make every neighborhood do its fair share. Build more housing in wealthier areas near jobs and transit, reducing displacement pressures on Black communities.

  • Protect renters and expand homeownership. Enforce stronger tenant protections, fight corporate housing speculation, and make it easier to build affordable starter homes.

  • Expand first-time homebuyer assistance. Advocate for more state funding to help Black Angelenos buy their first homes, build generational wealth, and stay rooted in their communities.

  • Move reparations toward action. Build on Nithya's land reparations work and partner with Black Angelenos to advance the City's Reparations Advisory Commission recommendations.

  • Develop neighborhood-level design guidelines. Work with architects and communities so new buildings contribute to the character of the block rather than ignoring it.

ADDRESS HOMELESSNESS WITH URGENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY.

Black Angelenos are about 9% of LA's population but roughly one-third of people experiencing homelessness on our streets. Black community leaders, service providers, and people with lived experience have spent years developing recommendations to address these disparities. It's time to put those solutions into action.

  • Prevent homelessness before it happens. Strengthen rental assistance and eviction prevention, prioritizing communities at greatest risk of displacement.

  • Get people indoors and into lasting housing. Expand the outreach and individualized case management that helped cut street homelessness 49% in Nithya's district in one year. Connect people to mental health care and other services they need.

  • Follow the money and demand results. Audit homelessness spending, track housing outcomes and demographic disparities, and cut encampments in half by the 2028 Olympics by bringing people indoors.

SUPPORT AND SCALE BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES

Black-owned businesses face rising costs, vacant storefronts, and a City Hall that makes it harder to grow. Longtime businesses and cultural spaces deserve support, protection from displacement, and a fair shot at new opportunities.

  • Help neighborhood businesses thrive. Revitalize commercial corridors, support longtime businesses and cultural spaces, speed up permitting, and protect against displacement.

  • Open doors to city contracts. Remove barriers that keep Black-owned businesses from competing for city contracts, expand technical assistance, and publicly track results.

  • Make major investments deliver for Black LA. Learn from the delays and disruption surrounding major capital projects, and work with Council Offices to provide business interruption assistance for affected businesses. Ensure the Olympics and other major investments create opportunities for Black-owned businesses and workers, with clear timelines and accountability.

GOOD JOBS AND LASTING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

Black Angelenos face barriers to good-paying jobs, career advancement, and opportunities to build lasting wealth. We need to break down those barriers and ensure Black workers benefit from LA's economic growth.

  • Expand pathways to good-paying careers. Work with unions, community colleges, and workforce organizations to grow paid apprenticeships, job training, and careers in industries like clean energy. Learn from community-led models like the LA Black Worker Center's 1000 Strong campaign.

  • Open doors to city jobs and economic opportunity. Cut unnecessary hiring barriers, speed up recruitment, and help more Black Angelenos access stable, good-paying public-sector careers.

  • Bring Olympic jobs and opportunities to Black LA. Ensure the 2028 Olympics and other major investments create good-paying jobs and apprenticeships for workers in historically underserved communities.

KEEP BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS SAFE.

Black Angelenos deserve safe neighborhoods free from violence, where the right kind of help arrives when it's needed, and where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

  • Prevent violence before it happens. Expand community violence prevention and intervention programs and provide long-term funding for trusted local organizations working to prevent shootings and retaliation.

  • Send the right help when people call. Improve 911 response times and expand unarmed crisis response citywide, so trained mental health professionals and other responders can handle calls that don't require armed officers.

  • Build trust and accountability. Strengthen police oversight, address police misconduct, and publicly track neighborhood safety outcomes, including anti-Black hate crimes.

  • Fix the basics that keep neighborhoods safe. Repair broken streetlights, address dangerous streets and intersections, and ensure underserved neighborhoods get reliable city services.

CLEAN AIR, MORE SHADE, HEALTHIER NEIGHBORHOODS.

For generations, Black neighborhoods have borne an unfair share of LA's pollution, from oil drilling to freeways and industrial sites. Many of these neighborhoods also have fewer parks, less shade, and inadequate city services.

  • More trees, shade, and parks. Prioritize neighborhoods with the least shade and green space as we plant 100,000 street trees, add 600 bus shelters before the Olympics, and open 100 school campuses for public recreation.

  • End neighborhood oil drilling. Phase out existing wells, hold polluters accountable, and protect communities from harmful air pollution.

  • Keep our neighborhoods clean. Coordinate crews to proactively address trash, illegal dumping, and graffiti, prioritizing underserved neighborhoods and busy corridors. Set clear cleanup deadlines and publicly track results.

CENTERING BLACK VOICES AT CITY HALL 

Nithya is committed to building an administration with Black leadership at the highest levels, where residents, community organizations, young leaders, and members of LA's diverse African diaspora help set priorities and make decisions.

Black Angelenos deserve a City Hall that listens, delivers, and follows through on its promises. This agenda is a commitment to partnership, accountability, and results.