ABC In the News

In my decades of working in Los Angeles, I’ve seen firsthand how the digital divide affects the Latino/a community here. I’ve sat with hundreds of involved parents and local community advocates who can’t fully participate in civic life or pursue their goals because of unreliable internet service or who are forced to make the difficult decision to cut their service because of unaffordable rates. In fact, over 1 million Latino/as in California are without internet access.

Climate change presents serious challenges to creating an environment conducive to learning in areas called “heat islands,” an urban area surrounded by concrete and cement where the reflection of the sun significantly raises the temperature.

Four years ago, Claudia Aleman and her family had only one way to get online — through their cellphones. Without internet service on a computer, her youngest daughter couldn’t get homework assignments in on time, her parents couldn’t keep up with online doctor visits, and the English classes she wanted to sign up for were out of reach.

Groups that Alliance for a Better Community works with largely non-English speaking non-US born immigrant parents are often left out of that community engagement project.

Nearly half of the city of Los Angeles is Latino and was the hardest-hit population by COVID-19. As we look ahead to the recovery efforts and what the future of Los Angeles looks like, we must engage on a number of different issues affecting the Latino community. From immigration to housing displacement, to the Mayor’s race, these issues are Latino issues.

“The model that they’ve come back with is really lacking a focus on instruction, having kids return back to school to only do Zoom in class and not have real instruction isn’t creating learning,” said Vanessa Aramayo, head of Alliance for a Better Community, a local advocacy and social services nonprofit.

Whether or not to return is “a loaded question with a lot of implications,” said Vanessa Aramayo, executive director of the local nonprofit Alliance for a Better Community. “It’s extremely difficult for the families we work with because of what’s at stake.”

El acceso a la internet es un salvavidas para la comunidad.

Aseguran que una medida lucha contra la discriminación en la educación y el empleo; mientras la otra da recursos para que los alumnos se superen.

Dos madres hispanas que no pueden votar, incentivan a los jóvenes a participar en las próximas elecciones a través de mensajes de textos, pues en muchos casos son la voz de padres inmigrantes que aún no tienen ese derecho.

Op-ed by Vanessa Aramayo, the executive director of the Alliance for a Better Community, and Michael Lawson, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Urban League.