Optimum Seismic Sponsors Southeast LA Collaborative to Discuss COVID-19 Impacts, Strengthening Area Non-Profits, Increasing Community's Voice on Facebook Live Aug. 31

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Southeast Los Angeles Collaborative, a non-profit group representing an area called the "epicenter" of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, will discuss results of a survey detailing the disease's impact on the region's residents and businesses during a Facebook Live digital online program at 1 p.m. Monday, Aug. 31 at https://www.facebook.com/jackycachotv

The Facebook Live program was arranged by a partnership of Cal State LA and Optimum Seismic, Inc., which is working to strengthen a number of non-profit organizations in the area. The partnership recently arranged a series of programs on food distribution for families by the LA Metropolitan YMCA during COVID-19.

"The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting business closures and unemployment have hit people living in the communities served by the Southeast LA Collaborative very hard," says SELA Executive Director Dr. Wilma Franco. "We will discuss the role of the SELA Collaborative in dealing with the economic and social impacts of the virus. The program will also feature other non-profits dealing with health care, digital services for education and employment, and how bridging the digital divide is critical to the area's economic recovery."

"I am proud to support the SELA Collaborative: a beacon of hope with a unified mission to uplift our most vulnerable residents," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis. "SELA Collaborative's insightful COVID-19 research findings have empowered stakeholders so they can make informed policy decisions that ensure resources are equitably distributed among high-need areas throughout Southeast Los Angeles County. It is only through collaboration that we will get through this crisis, and Los Angeles County has benefited from SELA Collaborative's critical information. I am thankful the SELA Collaborative, a community collective I helped to form along with philanthropic partners, is rising to the challenge."

Optimum Seismic, Inc., a leading California earthquake retrofit company with facilities in Vernon and Huntington Park, arranged for noted television anchor Jackeline Cacho to host the one-hour program focused on the Southeast LA Collaborative and its member organizations.

During the program, representatives of several organizations will be featured: Dr. Raphael Sonenshein, Executive Director of the Pat Brown Institute at Cal State LA; Berenice Nunez Constant, M.P.H., Vice President of Government Relations, AltaMed Health Services Corporation; Jose Martinez, Executive Director of Hub Cities Consortium; and Cesar Zaldivar-Motts, Director of Operations, Southeast Community Development Corporation.

"We are very pleased to sponsor this Facebook Live program to generate more community awareness of the challenges facing this area of Los Angeles County and the important role that SELA performs in strengthening local non-profit organizations," says Optimum Seismic Chief Operating Officer Ali Sahabi. "Optimum Seismic is committed to advancing educational and employment opportunities for people of all backgrounds, and the important programs offered by organizations in the Southeast La Collaborative,"

"The Southeast LA Collaborative appreciates the support of our business community from firms such as Optimum Seismic," says Franco. "Placing this spotlight on the SELA's programs will help us advance our mission of strengthening the SELA communities, building collective power, and encouraging innovation to drive regional systemic change." http://selacollab.org/aboutus/

"The hubs of community life in Southeast Los Angeles are our non-profit organizations that on a daily basis are providing community changing programs and services that positively impact our region. It is critical that we build the non-profit capacity in SELA so that we continue to put our region on a pathway of prosperity," said Victor Dominguez, SELA Collaborative Member.

About SELA

The Southeast Los Angeles (SELA) Collaborative is a network of organizations working together to strengthen the capacity of the nonprofit sector and increase civic engagement in Southeast LA. Founded in 2011 by 11 core organizations, the SELA Collaborative seeks to revitalize the communities of Bell, Bell Gardens, Cudahy, Florence-Firestone, Huntington Park, Lynwood, Maywood, South Gate, Vernon and Walnut Park.

The collaborative reignited in 2016, when Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis and the Weingart Foundation organized a bus tour to better understand this historically under-resourced yet vital area of Los Angeles County. Since then, the SELA Collaborative has completed a community-based strategic plan, engaged additional philanthropic partners like the California Community Foundation, the Weingart Foundation, and Ballmer Group, and resumed implementing the vision and strategic plan. The Collaborative focuses on three strategic areas: nonprofit capacity building, civic engagement, and data-driven research.

Today the SELA Collaborative is formed by Alliance for a Better Community, AltaMed, COFEM, East Los Angeles College, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, Families in Schools, First 5 LA, Hub Cities, Human Services Association, Pat Brown Institute at Cal State LA, Southeast Community Development Corporation and the Southeast Rio Vista YMCA.

About Optimum Seismic

The Optimum Seismic team has been making California cities safer since 1984 by providing full-service seismic retrofit and renovation engineering and construction services on multifamily residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Optimum experts have completed more than 3,500 projects. Optimum Seismic's earthquake retrofit services include work on soft-story multifamily apartment buildings, unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings and tilt-up, non-ductile concrete and steel moment frame commercial buildings. For information, contact Optimum Seismic at (323) 678-4686 or visit OptimumSeismic.com.


            
              Contact:
    Andrea Aguilar

            Optimum Seismic
    323.605.0312
    AAguilar@optimumseismic.com

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SOURCE Optimum Seismic, Inc.; SELA Collaborative