Why Santa Ana? Why Laundry Love?

  • Those are some fantastic questions. I am glad you asked (Ok, so maybe you didn’t ask, uh, per say, but I am going to tell you anyway–so there).

    Why Santa Ana?

    The Los Angeles Times ranked Santa Ana as number one in the nation for “urban hardship” and “the nation’s toughest place to survive.”

    Santa Ana has the highest density of apartment dwellings in the United States, with over 50% of the inhabitants being minorities living at or below the poverty level.

    Fifty six percent of all gangs in Orange County are in the cities of Anaheim, Orange, Santa Ana and Tustin. Santa Ana alone has 91 gangs.

    17 percent of people live in poverty. 21 percent of related children under 18 live below the poverty level, compared with 13 percent of people 65 years old and over.

    Fourteen percent of all families and 31 percent of families with a female householder and no husband present had incomes below the poverty level (as compared to the 6 percent of all families living below the poverty level in all of Orange County)

    50 percent of people 25 years and over had at least graduated from high school and 11 percent had a bachelor’s degree or higher. Fifty percent were dropouts; they were not enrolled in school and had not graduated from high school (as compared to 18 percent were dropouts in all of Orange County- a huge gap!)

    Source: Santa Ana Unified School District

    Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2005-2007 American Community Survey

    Why Laundry Love?

    In light of everything I just told you, you still have to ask?!?!?  Well, ok, here goes.  Turning laundromats into community development centers just makes sense.  Everyone needs there laundry done.  The less resources available to someone, the more difficult this is.

    When kids go to school in dirty clothes they are teased.  This leads to lower performance in school.  Unemployed individuals have trouble job hunting with dirty clothes.  Dirty clothes can harbor bacteria and cause disease.

    By bringing these folks relief in the form of clean laundry the obvious should already be clear, but additionally other agencies can get involved that specialize in resourcing in these areas.  If you are interested in partnering for this project please see the Get Involved page.

    Above all the laundromat as community development center concept is a chance to do laundry and share life.

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    August 26th, 2009 | Scott Overpeck | 4 Comments | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

About The Author

Scott Overpeck is a creative leader with a heart for contextualizing movements of justice, advocacy and compassion to his surroundings. He is the founder of Intersection Creative Strategies, a consultancy advising social enterprises and non profits on communications as it relates to marketing, fund raising and commerce. Additionally he sits on the board of Renewing Hearts; helped found Laundry Love Santa Ana; and leads 511, a small creative community in Santa Ana. Scott lives in Orange County, California with his wife and two sons. He enjoys tacos, unicorns and American Idol.

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