Giving Compass' Take:

• CityLab's Laura Bliss details the "People's Budget," a movement in Los Angeles aimed at dramatically relocating police funds to public health and community services.

• How can movements like the People's Budget help topple underlying policies that replicate injustices? Are you prepared to join the effort in effectively relocating police funds?

• Learn about how excessive police technology perpetuates racial inequity.

Hundreds of protesters gathered peacefully outside the home of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Tuesday as part of a national wave of uprisings against the death of George Floyd and other incidents of police brutality.

On Wednesday, it appeared that the people were heard: Garcetti announced that he intended to cut $100 million to $150 million from the LAPD’s budget and reinvest those dollars — plus another $100 million from other departments — into the black community.

But while activists were encouraged, they weren’t satisfied. Officials “need to know that we’re fighting for truly transformative change here and won’t be bought off with just this minimal amount of money,” Melina Abdullah, a professor of Pan-African studies at California State University, Los Angeles, and a leading organizer of Black Lives Matter LA, told a Times reporter.

Last month, organizers with Black Lives Matter, K-Town for All, and other activist groups solicited online feedback from more than 2,000 LA residents about how they’d like to see the city spend its money. At that point, Garcetti’s 2021 fiscal year plan called for a $120 million increase to the LA police department’s $1.86 billion annual budget, which meant spending more than 53% of the city’s total discretionary funds on law enforcement. Other city services, including affordable housing, “Vision Zero” traffic safety, and gang prevention programs, were set for cuts, due to the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

In contrast, the proposal from the activists, which they dub the “People’s Budget,” would devote its largest share — 43% — to what it calls “universal aid and crisis management,” which would include affordable housing, homelessness services, and public health and emergency responders. “Law enforcement and policing” would be reduced to less than 6% of the total.

Read the full article about relocating police funds in LA by Laura Bliss at CityLab.