Case Study: Los Angeles Unified School District - Building Better Schools

In the year 2000, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) embarked on an extensive process of building over 160 schools throughout the Greater Los Angeles area. The project team included professionals from the fields of Master Planning and Demographics, Real Estate, Community Outreach, Design Facilities, Grants and Funding and outside agencies including the California Department of Education.

DSO was engaged on the LAUSD team to kick off the community outreach and education process for the selection of school sites in East Los Angeles and South Central Los Angeles. DSO implemented an outreach program with local stakeholders, community, and religious and business leaders that yielded consensus support for constructing several primary centers and high schools.

Services:

DSO’s services included the identification and development of an extensive school-site stakeholders database. DSO hosted community information sessions and orchestrated the coordination of one-onone meetings with key stakeholders. DSO was responsible for conducting door-to-door canvassing of impacted neighborhoods to educate the public about the process. DSO was responsible for developing a process of participation amongst stakeholders that resulted in support for potential school sites. DSO assisted in the production of materials in both English and Spanish describing the process. DSO provided translations for all community sessions.

DSO contacted hundreds of participants in both the East Los Angeles and South Central areas of the School District, and helped develop a community involvement process that yielded support for the construction of three primary centers and two high schools.

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"DSO was one of the inaugural members of the Community Outreach Branch for LAUSD New Facilities. They helped engage the community in the site selection process for new schools in the East Los Angeles area."

Lorena Padilla
Director, LAUSD Community Outreach