.png?mask=1)
The Promise
of Tomorrow
Our commitment to advocating for social justice by creating a place of enrichment, peace, and safety for the children and community of South LA.
Keep Our South LA Community Safe
Since 2015, KIPP SoCal has worked tirelessly to address concerns stemming from the Palms Motel located between KIPP Empower Academy and KIPP Academy of Opportunity off S. Figueroa in South LA—including pervasive prostitution, trafficking, drugs, and violence. We collaborated with multiple community partners to raise awareness about the dangers caused by the motel and advocated for its removal. KIPP SoCal was able to purchase the property, closing and demolishing the motel, and we are developing a long-term plan to repurpose the space for the mutual benefit of our schools and the South LA community.
Where We've Been
Enough Was Enough.
Situated between a KIPP SoCal Elementary and Middle School on South Figueroa, The Palms Motel for decades was one of a number of dangerous hubs of sex trafficking and crime, disrupting safety and quality of life in the surrounding community. Early in 2022, a group of KIPP SoCal families decided they’d had enough. Working together with community stakeholders, they formed the Keep Our South LA Community Safe coalition to raise awareness, engage elected officials and work to shut down the motel.
Where We Are
Collective Action Brings Change.
After months of organizing, advocacy and protests, in September 2022, the coalition of families, educators, electeds and community groups achieved what for years had seemed impossible: the Palms Motel was declared a nuisance property, and the intransigent owners finally agreed to sell the motel to KIPP and shut it down. The motel was demolished in November 2022 as we begin the next leg of this restorative journey to reimagine this space for the betterment of the local community.
Where We're Headed
Shared Vision for Community Space.
Now that the motel has been demolished, we are building a coalition to help shape the long-term plan to repurpose this space, and raise awareness and the necessary funding to transform the space previously occupied by the Palms Motel and realize the Promise of Tomorrow for our families and the community of South LA.
Act Now
Help Us Achieve the Promise
In The News
Los Angeles Times
Lockdowns, shootings, prostitution. How a school fought a ‘crime magnet’ motel and won
ABC7 News
Keeping the South LA Community Safe
CBS News
South LA community celebrates demolition of motel known for criminal activity
NBC News
Community Reclaims Troubled Area
Our Community Partners
.png?mask=1)
.png?mask=1)
- Cool Ass Black Woman
- The City Attorney’s Office (Deputy City Attorneys Maria Aguillon & Michelle West)
- LAPD’s 77th Precinct (Vice Detective Dana Harris & SLO Ruben Cardenas)
A Safer South LA: Briefing & Recommendations
We are committed to continuing to raise our voices alongside all of you to shut down nuisance properties, speak out against sex trafficking, and increase green space opportunities in South LA. This report shares data around these challenges and offers policy recommendations and solutions.
This site provides information using PDF, visit this link to download the Adobe Acrobat Reader DC software.