SAJE is a founding organization of the National Right To The City alliance.
We're reframing the fight against gentrification as a fight for the right to the city.
Why We Host Bowlathons -
And How YOU Can Help Create Grassroots Change
My name is Maria, and I’m the former Associate Director of SAJE.
These days, I’m a SAJE board member, and I’ll always consider myself a friend.
Back when I worked at SAJE I thought we needed a fundraiser that was different and fun— something that really showed SAJE’s personality and individuality. A formal dinner just wouldn’t demonstrate our spirit so I suggested that we try hosting a bowlathon.
It's definitely not your run-of-the-mill fundraiser, i.e. dinner, cocktail hour, or silent auction.
It’s also not a very common type of event to find in the world of grassroots social change.
So, why bowling?
Well, this type of event is built on the same model that SAJE is built on.
We serve economically diverse communities and families and our bowlathon is organized in a way that ensures that together we can all make a difference, we can all contribute to SAJE's work—whether we can donate $5 or $100, whether we join as a Team Captain, or whetherwe join another team.Every level of participation makes a difference, and serves to betterment of our families, our neighborhoods, and our communities.
I think that the best thing about the bowlathon is that you can hang out with friends and family while contributing to a fantastic cause. You can stay all afternoon, or stop by just for your game. Kids are more than welcome, and you can be as loud as you want without worrying whether you’re bothering anyone. It is a bowling alley, after all.
At our first event in 2005 we raised about $3,700.
It's been getting bigger each year—last year we raised more than $40,000—and we're hoping this year’s party will be a huge blowout.
I fundraise for—and donate to—SAJE because I believe in the work SAJE does.
SAJE is a growing organization that's starting to have a national presence. I believe that my limited participation can help them reach their goals. And, even though I'm not “out there” on a day-to-day basis I believe that whatever our supporters contribute —whether monetary assistance or in-kind—they make a significant contribution to lasting social change.
So, how about it? Be a part of a great, and unique, opportunity—sign up to bowl or donate to support a friend in their efforts. Or, if you don’t know anyone who’s bowling and can’t make it down that day,you can still make a contribution.
During the campaign against Prop 98, volunteers and commuity leaders from SAJE, Union de Vecinos and ELACC took to the streets of our city and talked to thousands of tenants in South and East L.A. who are interested in building a citywide movement for tenants rights.
We're on to something, and we're not the only ones.
The time to wake up the sleeping giant of L.A.'s tenant majority is now.
Visit the Making Sense blog over the next few days to read more opinion pieces about Prop 98 and community building.
Thank you for supporting SAJE!
May 3, 2008
No On Prop 98!
April 3, 2008
Long-term community residents oppose UPC Master Plan details Community leaders oppose inclusion of University Village into campus.
By Dan Loeterman
Pastor Brian Eklund has seen how the growing demand for housing near USC's campus has taken a devastating toll on parts of the surrounding community.
During the last decade, Eklund's St. Marks Lutheran Evangelical Church, on Vermont Avenue across from USC, has lost a quarter of its membership and has seen many churchgoers move away because they're unable to afford the rising cost of rent.
No-Contest Plea in L.A. Slumlord Case Owner gets probation, must make repairs for tearing down building around low-income tenants. By Susannah Rosenblatt, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
The landlord of a residential hotel near downtown Los Angeles who was accused of trying to drive out tenants by cutting phone lines, knocking down walls and ripping out sinks in the rent-controlled building pleaded no contest this week to 10 criminal counts, the city attorney's office announced Friday.
Joon Ho Lee, 47, was placed on probation for three years and ordered to repair the building in the 100 block of East 21st Street within a year, authorities said. Lee also must perform 200 hours of community service, undergo property management training and contribute $20,000 to an approved charity.
SAJE believes that local and long term residents and other community stakeholders need to craft our own community visions, because it's our community too.
We’re working with residents to build a vision for the future of the Figueroa Corridor. It’s a resident-centered approach to community education, inspiration, and organization, one that has the power to create lasting change in our community, and make our community last.
Hundreds of Los Angeles residents gathered in Downtown LA this morning to say "Stop Displacement NOW!"
"There isn't any place for folks to go anymore," says Davin Corona, SAJE Director of Organizing, "Most tenants have lived here for many years, and when they're pushed out in this accelerated housing market, they don't have any housing options at all."
SAJE's message was covered by a wide array of television, radio, and print media, including NBC 4, KTLA, ABC, KRGA 62, KMEX 34, KAZA 54, KFWB, Garment & Citizen, and the LA Sentinel.
"We're here to send a clear message that we're not opposed to development, but it's critical that development benefit everyone," said Corona.
The scale and scope of displacement (due to forced evictions, market conditions, and redevelopment) has reached crisis proportions in Downtown and South Los Angeles.
Bristol Hotel tenants were all illegally evicted overnight and still have not received restitution, housing, or support – even though LACAN and Legal Aid exposed the fact that the redevelopment agency had restrictive convenants on the property for affordable housing. The property owner still plans to convert the site to a boutique hotel.
The Morrison Hotel owners suffered criminal convictions from a City Attorney complaint and tenants received monetary damages as part of a settlement to a civil lawsuit against slum conditions. But all of the tenants were ultimately displaced, including the late Markie Anderson, and the building remains empty and unrepaired.
Doctors and mental health professionals from St. John’s Well Child Center now report that patients continually report that they are being forced out of their homes and about the physical and emotional stress they suffer from the constant threat of displacement.
To most of us, it’s something that we don’t often think about in the abstract. ‘Home’ is just where we live.
Markie Anderson lived in the Morrison Hotel for eight years. He lived in a studio with a private bathroom on the fourth floor and while it wouldn’t have been much to most folks, for him it was home. He was one of the last people to move out of the Hotel after the tenants’ two-year struggle against the slumlord owners.
However, living in the Morrison Hotel and fighting untenable conditions caused by the slumlords were extremely costly to Markie.
When he moved into the Hotel, Markie was in a wheelchair. During the course of his eight years at the Hotel, he lost his left leg from an infection which he attributed to the unhealthy conditions of his building.
What does ‘home’ mean to you?
