The community primarily served by our program is the Metropolitan East Los
Angeles, and incorporated area of Los Angeles County. The total population for
the area is 68.686. Of this number 96.3% are defined as Latino. Forty-six percent are foreign born. The median age of the
population is 26.8. The population of the area is therefore relatively young. Educational deficits are apparent with only 36.1 of the population reporting high
school graduation or higher.
Fifty-one percent of the men and women are in the labor force and constitute
an important source of work in the services sector. Almost 4% of the population
has service in the US military.
In spite of the community’s strengths, twenty seven percent of individuals
and 24.6% of the families have an income below poverty level.
The proportion of household population is 99.6% suggesting some stability in
the availability of housing. Fifty-one percent of the households have children
less than 18 years of age.
East Los Angeles is therefore a working class community with a relatively high proportion of young people. Criminality indices are relatively high. Narcotics violation
is high with 1216 arrests reported in 2005. Crimes of violence follow with 388
persons charged with aggravated assault and 14 criminal homicides during the same period of time. Property crimes are less common with 208 burglary and 100 vandalism arrests.
