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Los Angeles, CA_ Parents Organized for Westside Renewal (POWER) sprang into action early this year when the two top mayoral candidates in Los Angeles agreed to POWER's community agenda.

"The city of Los Angeles should work for us, not against our communities. We organized to demand a seat at the decision-making table and to get elected officials to keep their commitments to our communities," said Esperanza Santiago, a POWER leader.

The Los Angeles mayor's race was wide open this year as current Mayor Richard Riordan termed out, bringing six new candidates into the race, including: former State Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa; Congressman Xavier Becerra; City Attorney James Hahn and State Controller Kathleen Connell.

POWER, in partnership with Coalition LA, hosted an accountability summit with several mayoral candidates and over 300 leaders on Feb. 17.

Leaders asked each candidate to commit to specific policy proposals regarding affordable housing, public transportation, parks and open space, and economic justice. Two of the major candidates, Villaraigosa and Becerra, committed to POWER's entire agenda while Connell made partial commitments. Villaraigosa committed to allocating a minimum of $100 million in funding to the Los Angeles Affordable Housing Trust Fund (currently the fund gets $4 million annually).

Following the summit, 150 POWER leaders took action against Hahn's campaign office after he refused to attend the summit. POWER leaders stormed Hahn's campaign office demanding to see either Hahn himself or his campaign manager immediately. After a 30-minute negotiation, POWER leaders won an hour long meeting where Hahn then made several commitments to the POWER agenda.

Neighborhood residents received POWER's mayoral agenda through distribution at member institutions and an area wide precinct walk targeted over 5000 voters in 18 precincts in West Los Angeles.

On April 10, POWER's mayoral strategy paid off when Hahn and Villaraigosa secured the two run-off spots for the June 5 general election. Villaraigosa, the frontrunner in the primary with 30% of the vote, has committed to POWER's entire agenda and Hahn, who secured 25% of the primary vote, committed to more than half the agenda items. Both candidates committed to meet with POWER twice a year, giving leaders an excellent ongoing forum to move on the issues vital to Los Angeles neighborhoods.