A council of neighbors for our community

The Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Development Council (ECWA) is one of 99 neighborhood councils certified by the City of Los Angeles. We are a vehicle for stakeholders to shape the policies and decisions that affect their lives.

A bronze bust of civil rights leader Celes King III on a concrete pedestal, flanked by two bronze plaques, one reading Celes King III, 1923 to 2003, with palm trees and a glass building behind
Certified by the City of Los Angeles
2002
Neighborhoods: Arlington Park, Baldwin Hills, Baldwin Vista, Baldwin Village, Cameo Plaza, Crenshaw Manor, Leimert Park and Village Green
8
Volunteer board seats, two-year terms
15
Geographic areas, each with two elected seats
3

What we are here to do

The mission of a neighborhood council is to continuously improve the quality of life for its stakeholders and ensure a safe, healthy and economically sustainable community. ECWA is dedicated to five things.

  1. Speak up for the community

    Work with stakeholders and city officials to identify community concerns, develop solutions and advocate for the resources and public policies needed to meet the needs of the community.

  2. Open the door to civic life

    Promote and increase civic engagement and participation in government through timely access to information, decision-making and opportunities for leadership.

  3. Make city hall responsive

    Make government more responsive to the needs of the community and help deliver city services and city responses to ECWA’s issues and requests for assistance.

  4. Bring neighbors together

    Foster a sense of community and support dialogue, interaction and cooperation among the diverse socio-economic and ethnic stakeholders who make up the community.

  5. Work alongside other councils

    Collaborate with other communities and neighborhood councils on common issues and concerns.

Who are our stakeholders?

If you live, work or own property here, or take part in community life here, you are a stakeholder.

Membership is open to all stakeholders. A stakeholder is anyone who lives, works or owns real property within our boundaries, and anyone who declares a stake in the neighborhood as a community interest stakeholder: a person with substantial and ongoing participation within the boundaries who may be part of a community organization such as an educational, nonprofit or religious organization.

Members of the council are referred to as community stakeholders. There is no fee and no sign-up.

Ways to get involved Come to a meeting

Our history

Neighborhood councils receive an annual budget from the city. Their board members are volunteers: residents, workers, property owners and business owners elected or appointed from the community.

  1. 1992

    The Empowerment Congress begins

    Launched on January 23, 1992 as the "Campaign for a New Eighth District" by then-Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas.

  2. 1999

    Neighborhood councils are created

    The Los Angeles City Charter establishes neighborhood councils to make city government more responsive to its communities.

  3. 2002

    ECWA is certified

    Certified on March 23, 2002, the eighteenth neighborhood council in the city.

  4. Today

    Four councils, one movement

    ECWA is one of four Empowerment Congress councils (West, Central, Southwest and Southeast) serving South Los Angeles.

Our boundaries

Our district is divided into three areas. Each area elects two representatives to the board, and a stakeholder may hold an area seat only for the area in which they have stakeholder status.

Area 1 ZIP 90016

La Brea Avenue on the west, Crenshaw Boulevard on the east, Coliseum Street on the north to Chesapeake Avenue and Obama Boulevard, and Santo Tomas Drive to the south.

Meet your Area 1 representatives
Area 2 ZIP 90008

Jefferson Boulevard at the Culver City line on the west, La Brea Avenue and Santo Tomas Drive on the east, and Stocker Street to the south.

Meet your Area 2 representatives
Area 3 ZIP 90018

Crenshaw Boulevard (from Stocker Street to Obama Boulevard) and the city border (from Stocker Street to Vernon Avenue) on the west, Arlington Avenue on the east, Obama Boulevard on the north and Vernon Avenue on the south.

Meet your Area 3 representatives

Boundary descriptions are from Article III of the council bylaws (PDF).

Map of the council boundaries with Area 1 shaded purple in the center, Area 2 shaded green to the west in the Baldwin Hills, and Area 3 shaded orange to the east around Leimert Park
Boundary map from the Los Angeles City Clerk.

The communities we serve

Historic planned communities, hillside enclaves and one of the great cultural districts of Black America, all within a few square miles.

Area 3

Leimert Park

Laid out in 1928 by developer Walter H. Leimert with the Olmsted Brothers landscape firm, Leimert Park is one of the earliest planned communities in Southern California, with Spanish Colonial Revival homes on tree-canopied streets. Leimert Park Village, around Degnan Boulevard and 43rd Place, has been called the cultural heartbeat of Black Los Angeles: home of the Sunday drum circle at Leimert Plaza Park, the monthly Art Walk, the World Stage, and the restored 1931 Vision Theatre.

  • Leimert Plaza is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument
  • Served by the Metro K Line at Leimert Park station
Area 2

Baldwin Hills

Known locally as "The Dons" because nearly every street name begins with Don, this hillside neighborhood looks out over the Los Angeles Basin from the Baldwin Hills. Its postwar homes and hillside views earned it the nickname "the Black Beverly Hills."

Area 1

Village Green

Completed in 1942 as Baldwin Hills Village, this 64-acre garden-city community by architect Reginald D. Johnson and planner Clarence S. Stein keeps cars to the edges and opens every home onto shared greens. It is a National Historic Landmark and one of the American Institute of Architects’ most significant works of American architecture.

  • National Historic Landmark since 2001
  • 627 homes on a central greensward
Area 1

Baldwin Village

Recognized as its own community in 1988, Baldwin Village sits east of Village Green and is one of the most densely populated parts of the district, with mid-century apartment courts and a strong network of tenant and block organizations.

Area 2

Baldwin Vista

Hillside homes on the north face of the Baldwin Hills between La Cienega and La Brea, bordered by Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, whose trails and overlooks offer views from the Hollywood Hills to the ocean.

Area 2

Cameo Plaza

A quiet residential enclave in the Baldwin Hills area, represented on the council through Area 2.

Area 1

Crenshaw Manor

Homes and businesses along the Crenshaw corridor near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, at the doorstep of Destination Crenshaw, the 1.3-mile open-air celebration of Black Los Angeles art and history.

Area 3

Arlington Park

Tree-lined residential streets on the eastern edge of the district, between Crenshaw Boulevard and Arlington Avenue, south of Obama Boulevard and north of Vernon Avenue.

Fare gates inside Metro Leimert Park station, with the station name overhead and a colorful mosaic mural beyond
Leimert Park station on the Metro K Line, opened in 2022.
The palm-lined plaza at Metro's Martin Luther King Jr. station, with the station pylon, white sculpted benches and a bronze bust
The plaza at Martin Luther King Jr. station on Crenshaw Boulevard.
The glass front of Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza with the center's name in red letters above
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza at Crenshaw and King.

Photographs by the ECWA Neighborhood Council. See photo credits.

Come as you are. Bring a neighbor.

Every meeting is open to the public. Help decide what happens next in your part of the city.

See upcoming meetings Meet the board