Meet Bright Watts, a Latin American community-based organization in the Watts neighborhood that helps us build relationships with communities to rebalance a transportation system so everyone can have access to dignified transportation choices. As part of Latinx Heritage Month LADOT is celebrating some of the community-based organizations we partner with who focus on lifting up LA’s many Latinx communities.
Bright Watts is building a unified and safe community in the Watts neighborhood by teaching different working skills and providing classes to the residents to help improve mental health and create a sense of belonging.
In 2020, Bright Watts partnered with LADOT through the Slow Streets project to provide residents with safe spaces for recreational activities where they can share as a community.
“Thanks to the partnership with LADOT, the community feels supported, and they are seeing that LADOT has finally been listening to their requests for safe and slow streets and decent transportation for the Watts community,” said Amada Valle, Bright Watts Executive Director.
Collaboration with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation has continued in 2021. The Watts community was one of the focus neighborhoods of LADOT landmark Gender Equity Study, Changing Lanes. As one of the three pilot areas surveyed, our partnership with Bright Watts helped us identify how some L.A.’s current transportation network fail to meet the needs of women in the area and how we can do better.
The partnership between LADOT and Bright Watts has been an integral part of understanding the needs of Los Angeles residents and the changes our transportation systems need to work for everyone.
