About Us

Who We Are

The Urban & Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI) at Occidental College is a multifaceted, social change-oriented Institute. We provide a place for faculty, students, organizers, community partners, researchers, and policy analysts to collaborate. Our mission - to help create a more just, livable, and democratic region - provides the backdrop for a wide range of activities and relationships. UEPI functions both as an academic center with strong community ties and a community-based organization with a strong research and policy development capacity.

UEPI has a number of programs that reach a diverse set of constituencies and policymakers and that also include a number of community and academic partners. UEPI's focus includes issues of food, pollution, land and water, migration, housing, and transportation. UEPI's programs include:

UEPI operates in close collaboration with the Urban & Environmental Policy department, a parallel academic program at Occidental College.

Funding

UEPI has also received support from a number of individuals as well as various organizations, agencies and foundations such as: the American Civil Liberties Union, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Bauman Foundation, Bay Area Air Quality Control Management District, Bonner Foundation, Burbank Water and Power, California Coastal Conservancy, California Community Foundation, California Council For the Humanities, California Department of Health Services, The California Endowment, California Nutrition Network, The California Wellness Foundation, City of Los Angeles, Community Food Security Coalition, Environment Now, Ford Foundation, Health Care Without Harm, The Henry Luce Foundation, Institute for America's Future, The John Randolph and Dora Haynes Foundation, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Los Angeles Conservation Corps, The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, Los Angeles Unified School District, The Liberty Hill Foundation, The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, The National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, The Public Health Institute, San Diego Air Pollution Control District, Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, San Diego Gas and Electric, Solidago Foundation, The South Coast Air Quality Management District, Southern California Edison, Southern California Gas Company, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, Trust for Public Land, The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

What We Believe

UEPI works to achieve a just, livable, and democratic society, with a primary focus on the Los Angeles region.

Justice. A just society encompasses cultural, civil, political, social, economic, and environmental justice. Los Angeles falls short in these arenas, with a widening gap between rich and poor and inequitable distribution of the benefits and hardships of everyday life. To overcome these divisions and inequities, UEPI helps bring together different constituencies and seeks to empower communities. Our efforts to improve fresh food access in public schools and under-served neighborhoods are one measure of our commitment to justice.

Livability. A livable society enhances the quality of life of its residents without diminishing the livelihoods of neighboring communities or regions. Los Angeles is blessed with an energetic and diverse population as well as a splendid climate and natural beauty. But pollution, endless traffic, lack of affordable housing, and other consequences of a poorly planned, sprawling built environment constantly chip away at the quality of life. UEPI has initiated several projects that point the way towards a more livable future. Our ArroyoFest project demonstrates the potential for the Arroyo Seco watershed between Los Angeles and Pasadena to become a model for livable neighborhoods with multi-modal transportation, increased parks and open space, smart growth, and an appreciation of the arts and cultural history. Our garment care program shows that pollution prevention can transform an industry that is located in nearly every strip mall in L.A.

Democracy. A democratic society provides people with a voice in decisions that impact their lives and a chance to contribute to plans and policies that will shape their communities into the future. The Los Angeles region, with its patchwork of jurisdictions; large City Council and Board of Supervisors districts; and history of politics dominated by elites, lacks a tradition of strong local democracy. To help deepen democracy, UEPI catalyzed the Progressive Los Angeles Network, a broad-based coalition of activists, researchers, and community leaders that created a community-based 21-point agenda for the City of Los Angeles. Region. While UEPI's interest and activities extend to the state, national, and international levels, the Los Angeles region is our primary focus. Working locally means that our campaigns are rooted in communities and in issues of daily life. These challenges are linked across jurisdictions by the region's shared air basin, watershed, transportation system, and economy. By finding regional solutions, we improve local conditions. With the rest of the nation (and world) becoming more like Los Angeles, we also hope that our efforts in L.A. will reverberate beyond our region.

Connections. UEPI strives to facilitate connections between issues and constituencies. Our own experience of pursuing one shared mission from a variety of project perspectives has convinced us that the justice, livability, and democracy goals we pursue do not stay within neat, single-issue categories. So we infuse our food systems projects and coalitions with a justice agenda. In crafting policy agendas for the City of L.A. and the jurisdictions of the Arroyo Seco, we purposefully cast a wide net. We have helped forge alliances between farmers and schools, between small businesses and environmentalists, between transit planners and artists. From our home at Occidental College, we create links between campus and community. And with the launch of a new Migrant Policy and Resource Center within UEPI, we anticipate even greater opportunity for crosscutting advocacy.