Office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti

About the Promise Zone

The LA Promise Zone Initiative is a collective impact project involving leaders from government, local institutions, non-profits and community organizations to target resources to create jobs, boost public safety, improve public education and stimulate better housing opportunities for our residents and neighborhoods. We do this by identifying and implementing innovative solutions to problems that affect our neighborhoods.

More than 70 local organizations work together to meet our goals and 40 additional organizations have signed on as supporters of the initiative. We represent the diverse makeup of the LA Promise Zone and provide the linguistically and culturally appropriate services necessary to meet the needs of the area's mutli-ethnic, mutli-cultural and Limited-English Proficient (LEP) populations.

The LA Promise Zone is comprised of five ethnically and linguistically diverse neighborhoods based in Central Los Angeles – Hollywood, East Hollywood, Pico-Union, Westlake and Wilshire Center.

The City of Los Angeles is the lead agency that oversees the LA Promise Zone and Youth Policy Institute is our lead implementation partner.

The LA Promise Zone is home to approximately 165,000 residents, of whom 35% live in poverty (compared to 20% city-wide). Nearly one-quarter of Promise Zone households earn less than $15,000 each year, and educational attainment for adults is weak with 35% of the population 25 years of age and older having obtained less than a high school diploma. The Promise Zone also has alarming high school dropout rates, high unemployment, and a shortage of affordable housing. 

Promise Zone Goals