Safety For All in Koreatown

You can make a difference by donating today to World Food Bank, Kitchen, and Urban Farm.

We distribute culturally relevant food and direct aid to low income people of color, Black, Native American, Indigenous, and others in need. We nurture safer communities for all through shared food events. Asian Americans for Housing and Environmental Justice is a program of World Food Bank, Kitchen, and Urban Farm a 501(3)c nonprofit.

Help support Koreatown Community Safety Patrol and Homeless/Unhoused Outreach. If you cannot donate, please share this fundraiser

It's only getting worse. Anti-Asian Hate Crimes increased 339% in 2021. They rose 73% in 2020. The homeless/unhoused Asian American population keeps increasing.

Please donate to this fundraiser or make in kind donations of the following:

Safety whistles or personal alarms

Pepper spray

High beam flashlight

Instant ramen (cup or packets)

Vienna sausage cans

Seaweed snack

Pre-cooked, packaged rice

Tuna in pop-open cans or pouches

Cases of bottled water

Individually wrapped tissue (kleenex)

Toiletries and personal care (Toothpaste, toothbrushes, facial/body cleansers. Menstrual products)

Socks

T-shirts (new or used, cleaned)

Elastic waist pants and shorts (new or used, cleaned)

Socks

Masks

(Donations can be dropped off in Central LA, please message us for address)

Asian American seniors in Koreatown are scared. Asian Americans have the lowest rate of calling the police. This is true across the nation and across law enforcement agencies. Language and cultural barriers persist as does mistrust of state institutions.

It’s up to the community to increase safety by reaching out to all community members.

Gentrification and development in Koreatown has pushed entry level wage earners further out of their communities or onto the streets.

There are approximately 700 unhoused Korean and Asian Americans in Koreatown alone. This number was confirmed by multiple people: Korean American social workers, Korean American pastors who do outreach, and Korean American business owners and residents. Approximately 200 are LGBTQ+ Korean youth. The Asian Americans include Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Filipino, and South Asian.

Yet, mainstream homeless outreach services claim that they’ve done outreach to 15-20 Asian Americans in the past 5 years. Asian Americans are constantly invisibilized even in our own enclaves. Non-Asian Social Workers have characterized homeless Korean women as “former hostess bar workers.” Not only is this irrelevant, it’s a racist assumption.

What we do:

Safety patrols on every other Saturday from 1:00 pm to approximately 2:00 pm.

Hot meal distribution on every Saturday evening starting at 5:00 pm starting on April 23rd.

We pass out brown bag meal kits, personal care, and safety items on these days.

We know we need to do more. To go out more. We need funding. We need funding to demand institutional change to provide in-language, culturally competent community driven safety patrols and outreach to homeless/unhoused residents of Koreatown.