REDEEMER COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP
PO BOX 180449, Los Angeles, CA 90018 www.redeemercp.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: Redeemer Community Partnership is a non-profit, Christian community development corporation seeking the uplift of a community in South Los Angeles. Our mission is to create a safe, healthy, opportunity-rich environment where children and their families thrive.

FY2019 Program Accomplishments July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 ADVENTURES AHEAD The goal of Adventures Ahead is to improve education outcomes for elementary students by achieving grade-appropriate literacy and nurturing each childs development as a lifelong reader. Students who remain with the program for a full year average 1.5 years of improvement in their reading proficiency. Adventures Ahead is closing the achievement gap for children in South LA and nurturing in each one a life-long love for reading.Devastating headlines gave voice to our deepest dread. On June 5 the New York Times reported, Research Shows Students Falling Months Behind During Virus Disruptions. The article went on to report that, When all of the impacts are taken into account, the average student could fall seven months behind academically, while black and Hispanic students could experience even greater learning losses, equivalent to 10 months for Black children and nine months for Latinos.The proverbial writing was on the wall by late February 2020. As COVID-19 spread, we needed to prepare to take the Adventures Ahead after school tutoring program online. When schools closed on March 13, we checked Chromebooks out to each family, reorganized classes by household instead of grade level, worked with parents and grandparents to teach them how to use Zoom, trained our staff, held our breath and jumped.Eight weeks into online instruction we tested our students to take stock of the toll. Imagine our joy and relief when we found that instead of falling behind, our students had continued to make progress. Last week, the program ended with our students making 1.4 years of literacy progress over the course of the year. While this is just short of our 1.5 year goal, under the circumstances we were delighted.Continuing the program over the summer to prevent summer learning loss required many adjustments as well. We made weekly deliveries of snacks, activity kits, art supplies, and prizes to keep kids excited and engaged. After an hour every morning in a small group classroom working on word attack skills, students would participate in a hands on project creating balloon powered cars, bubble wands, watercolor paintings, clay models, and other art and engineering challenges. They would return every afternoon for one-on-one sessions with a volunteer Reading and Math Buddy. With all the challenges that comes with distance learning, a bright spot was how the online format brought us into our students homes. We got to meet their pets, see their favorite toys, visit with their younger or older siblings, and chat with parents in more substantial ways than during the rush of pick up and drop off. This feels even more important this year as a way for us to quickly get to know all the new families that joined. Parents have expressed their appreciation for the care and dedication of our staff and volunteers. Students were sad to see the program end and said they will miss their summer teachers. Long time supporters and new partners showed up to volunteer allowing us to provide a quality program.And weve learned new things about our students. Weve seen a resiliency in each one of them, overcoming immense obstacles in order to improve. Theyve taken ownership of their learning -- logging in to work after program hours, creating goals for themselves and making commitments to become better students. This year was difficult, sometimes painful, and definitely very strange. But it was beautiful. Praise God for his faithfulness in the midst of crisis, for his comfort and care in the midst of storms.ADVENTURES IN ROBOTICS Adventures in Robotics allows elementary school students the opportunity to engage in authentic engineering and programming experiences as a part of a FIRST Lego League (FLL) team while being mentored by members of the USC and Exposition Park community. In 2012-2013, we registered our first team of 2nd-5th grade students to participate in FLL Tournaments. This year, our students built a robot using LEGO Mindstorms EV3 kits and the mission models for the FLL City Shaper challenge. Adventures in Robotics is a critical part of our strategy to nurture high academic achievement and a love for learning that bridges children to college and fulfilling careers.SCHOOL CHOICE FAMILY OUTREACH The neighborhood that Redeemer Community Partnership serves contains some of the lowest performing schools in the state of California. But students also have access to high-performing magnet schools with free transportation, charter schools that are boosting student achievement with innovative strategies, special programs led by local universities and a small number of neighborhood schools that are beating the odds. Over the years we have seen that many families either dont know about the options available or cannot figure out how to access better opportunities. To address this knowledge gap we began publishing a full-color guidebook in Fall 2018, with easily understandable graphics, data charts, maps and instructions for various types of applications. We also posted a bilingual video online. We continue to share our online school choice guide and informational videos. Our community continues to request and utilize these resources regularly. END NEIGHBORHOOD DRILLING In 2013 RCP began organizing residents to close the toxic Jefferson Drill Site embedded in our densely populated residential community just a few feet from neighboring homes. Over the years, adjacent homes and cars parked on the street had been sprayed with oil. Toxic acid fumes had killed plants on the downwind corner of the drill site. The deafening din of 1000s of feet of metal pipe being driven into the ground had robbed residents of the peaceful enjoyment of their homes. Closed windows could not keep out petroleum odors and diesel fumes from childrens bedrooms. Residents reported high incidence of miscarriages, pollution-induced headaches, and nighttime nosebleeds in children. When we started the campaign the drill site was owned by an oil company with a market capitalization of $38 billion. In 2019, following years of organizing, protesting, bringing public officials to tour the site, and participating in public hearings, the City of Los Angeles ordered the operator to close and clean-up the drill site. We celebrated years of hard work and answered prayers as God honored the mustard seed-sized faith of residents and moved a mountain called Sentinel Peak Resources out of our community. Soon, the site will close and generations of children will go to bed each night without fear from the catastrophic health and safety hazards which have hung over our community for decades. Since that decisive victory in 2019, Redeemer has led the effort to make sure that the oil company meets its commitments and that the City enforces its rules. Redeemer also convened residents to begin uncovering a shared vision for the future of the drill site. Residents would like to see a park, affordable housing and a community center. We remain engaged in writing a new chapter of Gods redemptive in our community.Now that the Jefferson Drill Site has been put on a path to closure and clean-up, RCP is working with neighbors to close the last fully operational toxic drill site in South LA. Every community impacted by toxic neighborhood drilling does not have an RCP to stand in the gap. Therefore, in 2013 RCP became a founding member of STAND-LA (Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling), a grassroots coalition working to increase health and safety protections near toxic oil and gas extraction sites in vulnerable LA neighborhoods. CREATING SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL AND MOBILITY JUSTICE FOR ALLCountering the historic dis-investment in South LA that has left most major boulevards in our community on the Citys High Injury Networkthe 6% of city streets that account for more than 70% of severe injuries and fatalities for people walkingRedeemer Community Partnership continues a concerted effort to create safe routes to school for children walking and biking to school and to seek mobility for justice for our friends and neighbors who are often forced to navigate their wheelchairs into the street to avoid broken sidewalks and other obstacles.Jefferson BeautifulFive years ago RCP led a community campaign to secure a $7 million active transportation project grant that will repair sidewalks, add pedestrian lighting, street trees, bike lanes, curb extensions and new pedestrian crossing signals to a one-mile section of Jefferson Blvd. from Vermont Ave. west to Western Ave.This past year, Redeemer Community Partnership has continued to engage monthly all-hands meetings and project walk-throughs with City staff to finalize the location and design of street lighting, tree plantings, bus stops, landscaping and striping plans and more. The project will go out for bid in early 2021. Construction is scheduled to begin in fall 2021. Normandie BeautifulThis past year RCP led the Norm

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