Grupo Nuevo

The Westlake-based Camino Nuevo school group strives to create a safe, welcoming atmosphere for students and educators. However, faced with a challenging socio-spatial context and limited connection to neighbors, the Camino Nuevo Dalzell-Lance High School (Dalzell-Lance) has struggled to extend this supportive atmosphere beyond school walls.

Grupo Nuevo challenged UCLA coLAB to chart a path forward for equitable public safety interventions that would benefit students and educators while involving the broader community. Addressing complex socio-spatial dynamics ranging from high-speed traffic throughways to stigmatization of the area's extensive long-term encampments and unhoused neighbors, coLAB employed the framework of "Compassionate Community" to consider new ways to navigate and negotiate contested public spaces. The result is this Community Engagement Plan (the Plan), which emphasizes and expands Camino Nuevo’s existing commitment to empowering the Westlake community by reimagining approaches to safety. Rather than stripping back amenities, the Community Engagement Plan and Hoover Juntos intervention framework flood the public space around Dalzell-Lance High school with values of equity, innovation, and joy.

For more information visit: https://colabgrupo.cargo.site