The Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies

Individually and collectively, the five chapters that make up this report present a grim portrait of life in South-Central Los Angeles and other places like it, and they constitute a remarkable indictment of mainstream society for its indifference and neglect. The chapters lay out a detailed bill of specifics as to the nature and causes of the crisis in South-Central Los Angeles, together with various policy recommendations for dealing with some of the most troubling aspects. In Chapter 1, Ong describes the depth and range of economic deprivation in both South-Central Los Angeles and other parts of the wider metropolitan area. Leavitt and Heskin then take up the issue of the housing situation in South-Central. Brown, et al. describe a number of alarming failures of public health and health care delivery in Los Angeles. Darby, et al. point to the striking breakdown of education in Los Angeles in general and South-Central in particular. In Chapter 5, Estrada and Sensiper bring the proceedings to a conclusion with a discussion of the many different social cross-currents and the concomitant difficulties of political mobilization that mark South-Centra