LOS ANGELES - The Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department (LA Civil Rights) and Creating Justice LA opened a Peace & Healing Center on 5th & Los Angeles streets today, the ninth such center to open and the first on Skid Row. The Center will provide at least 20 hours a week of free public programming, such as meditation classes, healing through arts and music, access to healthy food, and more.
“While we work to restore people's housing, we must restore their dignity as well,” said Capri Maddox, the General Manager of the LA Civil Rights Department. “Unhoused Angelenos deserve mental well-being just like anyone else. We are honored to open this Peace & Healing Center with Creating Justice LA, and to offer a quiet and safe space for shared meals, creativity and healing on Skid Row.”
“This Peace & Healing Center will be a space of synergy, love, creativity, and collaboration, and a place where our unhoused neighbors can find respite and healing,” said Pastor Cue Jn-Marie, Executive Director of Creating Justice LA. “Our Peace & Healing Center will meet you where you are, and be with you on your healing journey.”
LA Civil Rights, Creating Justice LA, and city & community leaders celebrated the opening with a community event featuring a local choir, a tour of the new facility, and local businesses and organizations such as Skid Row Coffee, Skid Row People’s Market, Polo’s Pantry, the Row Church and more. On top of the free public programming, The Skid Row Peace & Healing Center will host at least two events each month for the community.
The Skid Row Peace & Healing Center is just one way LA Civil Rights is serving unhoused and housing unstable people in Los Angeles. Though the department does not own or operate housing, it focuses resources and community programming in low-income areas like Skid Row, including Participatory Budgeting, which is currently welcoming applications in Skid Row and five other neighborhoods to its Advisory Committees.
LA Civil Rights’ Office of Racial Equity also studies inequities in city policy and practices and is set to release a report on Black People Experiencing Homelessness later this year. According to the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority, Black people make up 40% of the homeless population in LA County, while only comprising 9% of the total county population. The racial disparities seen in homelessness, COVID-19 mortality, and discrimination are areas of focus for the department and its Office of Racial Equity.
The department also enforces civil rights law in the City of Los Angeles with a team of investigators fighting discrimination in the private sector of commerce, education, employment, and housing. Anyone in the City of Los Angeles can file a discrimination complaint with LA Civil Rights by clicking here.
LA Civil Rights’ $2 million Peace & Healing Center program, which began in February, has opened Peace & Healing Centers in nine historically marginalized communities, known as REPAIR Zones. Each Peace & Healing Center is operated by a community-based organization, and each one offers programming relevant to their community. For example, the Westlake Peace & Healing Center offers a counseling group for Spanish-speaking mothers, while the Leimert Park center offers help for justice-involved veterans.
Click here to learn more about the Peace & Healing Centers program.
