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Vote for People, Not Prisons. Support Measure J This November.

09.15.20
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By Mike Russo, Managing Director

Los Angeles County operates the world’s largest jail system, with an inmate population that has the 11th highest level of racial disparities in the state. 

Our state’s penal code criminalizes poverty, substance abuse, and mental health challenges while denying Californians of color, especially Black and Indigenous residents, their just share of the resources communities need to survive and thrive. 

In recent years, residents, organizers, and advocates have won critical victories by partnering with a reformist Board of Supervisors, creating new investments in housing and care for the houseless, and building alternatives to incarceration that help those with mental illnesses.  But the essential element to scaling up these promising innovations is funding – and with over 40 percent of the county’s local tax revenues dedicated to incarceration, policing, and other public safety purposes, there are not enough resources going to the programs that can really make a difference in our communities.

Measure J would answer the call of activists to defund policing and incarceration by requiring that at least 10% of the county’s local revenues be dedicated to investments that support communities – including housing and renter support, access to capital for Black-owned businesses, youth development programs, and alternatives to incarceration.  This would catalyze almost a billion dollars in new investments for these critical approaches. Budgets are statements of values, but for too long L.A. County’s has not reflected the values of Angelenos.  Support Measure J for a critical chance to change that this November.

Contact Mike Russo, Managing Director, to learn more.

This November, Californians will consider a set of ballot measures that could reshape our state into a more just and equitable society for generations to come. Here are our endorsements, offered to help move California into that better tomorrow: