SJPLA: A Name Change to Reflect Their Equity Mission
Like SVP Portland, SVP Los Angeles has focused on having a deep and lasting impact through investments in nonprofit organizations and community initiatives. Last week, SVP Los Angeles renamed their organization to Social Justice Partners Los Angeles (SJPLA) to better reflect their purpose: to connect people creating systems of care and community for the well-being and liberation of all Angelenos. Social justice is both the process and the outcome they seek in a liberated Los Angeles, and they plan to do that by challenging systems that maintain unjust power structures, building pathways for connectedness and equitable opportunities, and creating the space needed to explore individual and collective potential.
In their recent virtual open house, SJPLA Programs & Engagement Manager Sharon Stratton said, “We invest a tremendous amount of resources into crisis management here in LA while far less attention is given to eradicating and tackling the issues that are causing these problems in the first place. So we asked ourselves at SJP: what would it look like if we could create the space and community to invest deeply in tackling the root causes so that we eradicate these problems for good?” SJPLA will start addressing systems change by partnering with ten leaders over the next nine months. During the open house, each community leader shared their bold vision of how LA will be better when their work is successful. Stratton said that SJPLA will “partner with LA leaders with lived experience of the problems they're addressing. We follow their visions and we learn along the way how each of us can contribute our power, our resources, and our presence to building just and truly supportive systems here in LA.” Executive Director Christine Margiotta added that “SJP is all about building a big vibrant community, and that’s why we’re all here, for connection, for belonging, and for shared purpose in this work for justice and liberation for everyone in LA.”
Equity and systems change is also at the heart of what we do at SVP Portland, especially as we work toward our goal of equitable access to early learning opportunities for all our children. As part of this work, we encourage all Partners to invest in learning more about issues of racial and social justice, and what each of us can do to work toward more equitable opportunities and outcomes in our community. Here are several we recommend:
Get involved with SVP Portland’s Equity Team’s work
If you are a Partner or Encore Fellow, learn more about SVP Portland’s equity journey
Explore our compilation of resources
Join our Partners in LA in a year-long cohort: Anti-Racism for White People