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Building Healthy, Equitable Communities
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CCCS_Neighborhood_East Palo Alto

Overview

East Palo Alto

In East Palo Alto, 268 youth and caregivers shared their thoughts through small group conversations, surveys and “dream walls”. Nine local champions led the outreach and engaged with residents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following were identified as top strategies for East Palo Alto:

The following were identified as the top needs in East Palo Alto: 

  • Housing costs, high cost of living, and lack of living wage job opportunities 
  • Lack of adult support (often due to parents needing to work multiple jobs and dealing with long commutes) and safe spaces
  • Lack of community empowerment + inclusion, esp. in decision-making / Structural + institutional racism (esp. related to educational and career opportunities and interactions with law enforcement)
  • Mismatch between current educational environment and what children + youth need to learn and succeed academically (from early childhood education to post-secondary)
  • Dealing with past and current trauma without adequate support and/or culturally responsive opportunities for healing (or to learn healthy coping mechanisms)
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What we learned in East Palo Alto

56% of youth respondents and 45% of adult respondents speak Spanish in their home. 12% of youth respondents and 15% of adult respondents speak Tongan. About 45% of respondents identified as Latino/Hispanic, 28% identified as Pacific Islander, and 20% identified as Black or African American.

56% of youth reported being discriminated against by law enforcement in the past year, and 46% of parents reported their children had been discriminated against by law enforcement in the last year. 

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East Palo Alto Champion Profile

We have launched community planning in Daly City and East Palo Alto. One of the first planning efforts is to partner with local leaders in identifying local champions to work with their neighborhoods and in their communities to bring their voices to the CCCS initiative. The champions engaged in CCCS are truly special. They are experts in their communities, with diverse backgrounds and experiences, interested and invested in seeing their communities continue to succeed.