Mariana Paredes Luna, Assistant Director, Organizing and Advocacy
June 9, 2026
Since 2024, SAJE has been assisting L.A. Metro in the development of an Equity Toolkit, a centralized resource for Metro staff, partners, and communities to access data sources and apply key equity indicators to their projects.
Equity is central to Metro’s mission to expand mobility and access for all, and this toolkit is intended to help Metro staff see disparities in how they are serving riders, especially in regards to race and income. Before developing a new service, Metro staff might use the toolkit to take a step back and ask, “Are there barriers—whether physical, financial, or geographical—that would prevent some groups or communities from accessing this new service? If so, how could we design it so that more riders benefit?”
SAJE’s work in the areas of equitable development and transit justice have allowed us to understand how past planning practices—including transit projects and infrastructure—have shaped Los Angeles’s built environment, often in ways that have perpetuated economic and racial segregation. The expansion of our freeway system in the mid-twentieth century, for example, isolated neighborhoods as well as displaced residents through eminent domain. And a lack of transit stops in high-resource neighborhoods has made it harder for workers to commute to their jobs there, driving traffic congestion and pollution.
To develop the Equity Toolkit, SAJE staff and members of our Transit Committee worked with L.A. Metro’s Office of Equity and Race and Office of Sustainability through Metro’s CBO Partnering Strategy and Database. We brought key insights into how community members experience and are affected by transit projects in their neighborhoods and throughout the city. We contributed rider testimonials and hosted engagement activities that informed various toolkit components, including Equity Indicators, Key Terms, and Community Engagement Best Practices. Our efforts contributed to ensuring the Equity Toolkit is a comprehensive, user-friendly resource that integrates community voices into Metro’s planning processes to help foster equitable, resilient neighborhoods across L.A.
You can now visit Metro’s Equity Toolkit to explore SAJE’s contributions by visiting equitytoolkit.metro.net. Interested in getting involved in our Transit Committee? Reach out to cgonzalez@saje.net.
