Together, we can make democracy real
LA Forward Institute builds power for a fair, flourishing Los Angeles County. We organize people, ideas, relationships, and resources to strengthen local democracy, advance justice, protect the environment, and help create public institutions that are more responsive, effective, and accountable to the people they serve.
We believe democracy should be accessible to everyone, not just people with insider knowledge, political connections, or the time and resources to participate full-time. That is why LA Forward Institute works to create welcoming entry points into public life and equip people with the knowledge, skills, and relationships they need to lead, advocate, and take collective action.
Our work is rooted in the belief that everyone deserves dignity, stability, and opportunity. We believe local government has a profound impact on daily life, from housing and public safety to climate, immigrant justice, and the quality of public services. We also know that inequities of race, class, geography, and power shape who gets heard, who gets left out, and whose needs are met. LA Forward Institute exists to help change that.
We are proudly progressive, but our work is not about labels for their own sake. It is about building people power, developing leaders, and winning policies that improve people’s lives. We support a stronger, more inclusive democracy where everyday Angelenos have a real voice in the decisions that affect their communities.
Partnership is central to how we work. We collaborate with community groups, advocates, researchers, decision-makers, and coalition partners across Los Angeles County, especially those rooted in communities most impacted by injustice. We believe lasting change requires bridge-building across neighborhoods, identities, issue areas, and political spaces.
We develop leaders, support civic engagement, shape public conversation, advance policy ideas, and build the power needed to turn community priorities into lasting change. Our goal is a Los Angeles County where all people can live with dignity, stability, and opportunity, and where public institutions work for everyone.
Our Strategies
Explaining local issues
The very first thing we ever did was produce a guide to the November 2016 ballot, including thoughtful analysis and progressive recommendations on every local and state initiative. In every election since then, our guides have reached hundreds of thousands of people. Our work to help people understand the challenges and inequities facing our region has grown exponentially, including guides on issues such as Climate and Criminal Justice and dozens of events every year like teach-ins, panel discussions, workshops, and reading groups.
Making Government Accessible
Our signature civic education program is LA 101, a guide to local government and advocacy. Check it out to learn more about how local government works — and doesn’t, and how you can make a difference. We host public programs to walk people through the basics and also offer LA 101 workshops to groups of all kinds. Contact us for more information.
developing community leadership
We awaken people to their own power, training them to speak, act, and work together to transform LA County into a fair and flourishing place for everyone. Through our training programs and leadership development activities, we guide everyday people to effectively collaboratively with their fellow Angelenos. We develop collective leadership for our community to organize on issues important to them and in the neighborhoods where they live, so we can hold local government accountable for advancing justice.
Building Powerful Coalitions
LA Forward Institute is proud to be part of a growing ecosystem of community, labor, civil rights, and faith-based organizations engaged in the long-term work of creating a just society where all Angelenos can thrive. We’ve played important roles in citywide and countywide victories and become leading coalition-builders, including our work to co-found and co-coordinate one of the largest networks in local history .
Bringing Transparency to Governance
By the time a piece of legislation makes it to the local news, it’s often too late to change course. LA Forward Institute works to change that by sharing information about priority legislation as it goes through byzantine committee processes, highlighting who voted which way and reporting on the dynamics behind the decision-making.
Developing Policy from the ground up
Community groups and grassroots coalitions are full of brilliant ideas and plans for policies that would improve the lives of millions of people. But too often their detailed proposals don’t make it beyond fellow activists or the desks of low-level government officials. That’s why we’re creating a new publication, a democratic forum that will uplift ideas for dismantling injustice and solving our region’s biggest challenges through dialogue among organizers, civil servants, researchers, people with relevant lived experience, and sympathetic elected officials.
Check out the recent issues of Report Forward.
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A donation to LA Forward Institute is an investment in making democracy real. Your tax-deductible gift makes possible education, training, and research programs that supports powerful grassroots leadership for racial and economic justice.