Skid Row Cooling Center

In the summer of 2021, along with a global pandemic, mass job loss, discrimination and harassment from police and city workers like LA Sanitation, and with an average of five unhoused people dying everyday in los Angeles, Los Angeles experiences a heatwave.

In the urban core, the unhoused community endured and suffered with no place to be and with temperatures averaging 100˚, a blatant demonstration of structural violence and interconnectedness of global warming (Ie: environmental racism), medical apartheid (Ie: access to culturally competent healthcare, vaccines, information) and food apartheid (hunger and malnutrition).

We partnered with homeless health care, urban alchemy and skid row coffee in creating five community led cooling centers around skid row neighborhood offering shade, hydration and nourishment and 24 hour safe site for respite. With skid row coffee, we supplied XX,XXX pounds of cold fresh cut watermelon, honey lemon ginger tea, ice and nutritional snacks and basic supplies for the entire duration of the Skid Row Cooling Center. We are thankful for this opportunity to partner with Homeless Health Care.