Youth. Power. Democracy.

Cultivating a Los Angeles County where the youth of color thrive.

We dare to hope. In the middle of a raging global pandemic and the uncertainty of economic recession, Los Angeles’ youth of color dare to hope that their lives can be different. Together, we are buoyed by a vision for an end to the status quo and an inclusive world.

Recently, LA County youth of color participated in a “Poetry for the People” workshop where they developed a poem that shared their vision of a better LA County.

We are excited to share this poem and video with you.

Did you know that eighty-three percent of youth in Los Angeles are people of color?

This poem is about the youth of color and their dreams for a brighter future for themselves and Los Angeles. We felt it necessary to share this poem now because, with the upcoming election, Angelinos have an opportunity to influence the future of Los Angeles and our Country. We hope that this poem inspires people to take advantage of this opportunity and vote before or on November 3rd.

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Bold Vision is a multi-year, multi-sector initiative to create a better, more equitable Los Angeles County for our youth of color. We do this by transforming the systems that govern our lives.

Through Bold Vision, we hope to create an LA County where the youth of color thrive and ultimately achieve their dreams.

We engaged youth of color throughout its community engagement process through focus groups, interviews, and convenings to ensure their perspective informed the initiative’s direction.

We are founded and lead with the principle of community engagement where the youth of color, experts, practitioners, and community leaders discuss identify the policy and systems changes needed to improve the lives of LA County’s youth of color.

This community engagement process focused on four subject areas tables that addressed the issues of:

• Education;
• Housing and Healthy Built Environment;
• Youth Power and Democracy, and;
• Youth Impacted by the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice systems.

In addition to addressing the subject areas above, Bold Vision also explored issues that cut across these subject areas — including health equity, immigration, and issues that youth of color with disabilities and LGBTQIA+ youth face.

The Bold Vision community engagement process is ongoing and will conclude in Spring 2021. The process will culminate with a community council of 13 people-of-color-led youth-serving organizations developing a final set of policy recommendations shared in a public report. This report will serve as an equity roadmap for advocates and systems leaders to implement over the next 10+ years.

Bold Vision principles:

• Community-driven: the initiative has been designed from the outset to foster leadership and decision-making by advocates, activists, and residents from the target geographic areas
• Explicitly focused on race: the initiative intentionally addresses race and is committed to eliminating racial barriers and advancing racial equity
• Long term: the commitment of resources to the initiative through 2028 and beyond
• Transformative: focused on policy change, structural reform, and strategic alignment of systems in both the public and private sectors
• Data-driven: grounded in research/data to shape policy recommendations and track progress
• Youth centered: the initiative is committed to building and expanding youth power and voice
• Collaborative: the initiative operates by forging partnerships between community members, philanthropy, public agencies, business and labor leaders

We intend to transform LA County’s systems to ensure that youth of color reach their fullest potential.

Bold Vision Community Council:

• Active San Gabriel Valley
• Advancing Communities Together
• Brotherhood Crusade
• California Native Vote Project
• Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
• Community Coalition
• East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice
• Empowering Pacific Islander Communities
• Khmer Girls in Action
• InnerCity Struggle
• Legacy LA
• Pacoima Beautiful
• Social Justice Learning Institute

We hope to create an LA County where the youth of color thrive and ultimately achieve their dreams. To learn more and get involved, please contact us at boldvisionla@gmail.com.

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