GiveBetter x Los Angeles

East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice

Community organizing, pollution accountability, tenant support and food-system work

Research time: 13 min on GPT-6 Astra Light
  • Research — reviewed programs, finances and impact evidence.

Updated: 2026-09-14

Summary

What do they do? East Yard organizes residents around pollution, transportation, housing stability, youth leadership and local food systems in eastern and southern Los Angeles County. Its community-academic lead study helped change cleanup oversight; current work also addresses port emissions and a proposed resilience hub. A conditional air-implementation estimate prices additional health at full recipient cost, with explicit subjective assumptions; it is not a complete portfolio return.

Why we’re interested in this organization:

  • Original research documents a specific cleanup failure and subsequent oversight changes.

  • Local membership and coalition participation offer access to implementation decisions that technical analysis alone may miss.

  • Its annual operating cost is relatively small compared with the public systems it seeks to improve.

Our main reservations:

  • Soil sampling and new oversight are not yet measured clinical health gains.

  • Already-adopted port commitments and public cleanup must remain in the counterfactual.

  • Large accumulated assets and a new capital campaign make next-dollar operating additionality particularly uncertain.

What do you get for your dollar? $183.9M per better life: ten additional quality-adjusted life years in Los Angeles. Judgment-based partial-health at full recipient cost; remaining portfolio health unpriced..

Conditional .1 ug/m3 reduction for100,000 older adults for5years equals50,000 person-ug/m3-years. This target-scale hypothesis is unobserved. Cohort survival gives53.673 conditional QALYs before success, attribution, funding and geography.

1. What do they do?

East Yard, EIN 46-5685097, is a community-based environmental justice organization. Its membership areas include East LA, Boyle Heights, Long Beach and Southeast LA cities, all within LA County. It also participates in statewide and regional coalitions, so its total health footprint is not automatically 100% within the LA+Orange boundary. Membership geography

The recipient includes tenant organizing, youth and leadership work, community research, composting, gardening and pollution advocacy. La Cosecha's garden builds and produce exchange may support well-being; its traditional-remedy workshops are cultural/educational activities, not assigned clinical efficacy or QALYs. Programs

The official donation page links a Raisely campaign, but the fetched payment page did not expose a verifiable legal payee, so no donation button is asserted here. Official route

2. Monitoring and information sharing

The 2026 Get the Lead Out paper reports 1,128 soil samples from 373 properties, including 143 previously remediated homes. Sampling found 105 of those homes had at least one sample above 80 ppm. Recruitment used meetings, social media and outreach, with selected downwind neighborhoods prioritized; it was not a representative randomized audit. The study did not compare directly with original samples because methods differed, and cannot distinguish inadequate initial removal from recontamination on every property. Original study and methods

Importantly, the authors describe concrete subsequent changes: verification sampling in new contracts, a state-funded third-party monitor and expanded blood-lead testing access. Verification results were still forthcoming. These are credible intermediate outcomes, not proof of health effect or sole EYCEJ causation. Already-established oversight cannot be credited afresh to new support. Study implementation discussion

The older campaign page still describes waiting for an I-710 final EIR and other historic statuses; it is used to identify scope, not to date current milestones. Current agency documents show the ports agreement is already effective. Campaign scope Current status

A July 2026 suit names East Yard as a plaintiff in the Barstow International Gateway challenge. This is concrete current litigation, but the rail facility is in San Bernardino County, outside this edition. Potential effects along the LA–Barstow route require geographically resolved net traffic and emissions, not assigning all alleged project emissions to LA residents. Counsel's case announcement

3. Qualitative assessment

Lead remediation is a plausible health mechanism, but a reduction in soil concentration is not itself a QALY. The Boston randomized trial found blood-lead improvement at high baseline soil contamination; the later HOME trial found no significant overall blood-lead effect or substantive neurobehavioral improvement. These do not invalidate cleanup, but they require local exposure, age and persistence inputs before assigning a per-house clinical yield. The original trials were first reviewed in the CBE research interval and reused here, with EYCEJ-specific interpretation separately timed. Boston trial HOME trial

Air pollution has a better-established mortality bridge: a large Medicare study found broadly consistent PM2.5 effects across several causal-inference approaches, subject to confounding and exposure-measurement assumptions. The missing link here is not whether polluted air can harm people, but the additional emissions and exposure changes that EYCEJ's marginal work would produce. Original PM study

The September 10, 2026 port addendum adds ship and zero-emission truck incentives plus $40 million total off-port charging/fueling funding. Truck-program approval is due February 28, 2027, with possible extensions. Participation goals and quantified benefits remain to be developed; the agreement explicitly acknowledges uptake is beyond the ports' control. The off-port fund covers the South Coast basin, not just LA+Orange. Actual addendum

East Yard was part of the coalition contesting the earlier port proposal and joined the May 2026 demand for refinery monitoring during decommissioning. These establish active roles; neither a letter nor a monitor establishes avoided exposure without an ensuing action. Coalition credit must not be duplicated across EYCEJ, CBE, CCA, Earthjustice and others. Port coalition Monitoring coalition

The new central scenario assumes a three-year organizing effort has a 20% chance of improving implementation beyond adopted commitments enough to reduce PM2.5 by 0.1 microgram per cubic meter for 100,000 older adults for five years. Neither that exposure footprint nor the success probability is measured or source-calibrated. EYCEJ receives 10% of coalition contribution and a 25% marginal funding response. This is a transparent judgment scenario, not an agency forecast. A closed-cohort survival integral follows the cohort for ten years, with mortality hazard returning to baseline after year five and no benefit after year ten. This avoids repeated lifetime credits for the same people. Lead cleanup, housing, gardens and the proposed hub remain unpriced.

4. What do you get for your dollar?

Full 2024 recipient cost is $1,562,510: reported functional expense of $1,539,414 plus $23,096 of event costs netted against revenue. The functional split is $1,256,380 program, $195,000 administration and $88,034 fundraising. Comparable 2023 and amended 2022 totals are $1,118,780 and $1,030,737, with no reported netted event/inventory adjustments; the three-year mean is $1,237,342. These are original accrual returns; an independent audit is indicated in the latest return but was not recovered. 2024 2023 2022

At the latest annual cost, $100,000 per 10 LA QALYs requires 156.251 net additional QALYs; $1 million per 10 requires 15.6251. For an air-mortality pathway, an illustrative 5 discounted QALYs per death would require 31.25 or 3.13 expected additional LA deaths avoided, after all coalition and funding adjustments. This is a decision threshold, not a claim that East Yard achieves those totals.

The conditional air component uses three annual full recipient budgets, $4,687,530. It yields 0.254947 LA QALY, about $183.86 million per 10. A favorable joint case is about $451,475 per 10; a weak case exceeds $13 trillion per 10. These are judgment stress cases, not confidence limits.

The scenario assumes better use of already-committed implementation resources. Any additional vehicles, chargers, monitoring or operating resources must be added for a social-cost price; the $40 million already committed is not created by a new gift. Hub capital and benefits are excluded.

Model, assumptions and sensitivity

Three years of full recorded recipient gross cost; selected air health component. Additional external implementation resources unknown.

g=.95 judgment for modeled cohort health in LA/Orange; not a headquarters allocation.

C=3*1562510=4687530; beta=ln(1.07)/10; h1=h0*exp(-beta*delta). S0(t)=exp(-h0*t); S1(t)=exp(-h1*min(t,T)-h0*max(0,t-T)). Qconditional=N*u*integral(0..L)[(S1-S0)*exp(-.03*t)]dt. QLA=Qconditional*p*a*b*g. Central Qconditional=53.6731444198, QLA=.254947435994. Price10=10*C/QLA.

Cannual
1562510 USD annual gross cost (observed). Original accepted return plus netted event cost. [eycej-99024]
Ycost
3 years of organizing cost (judgment). Bounded prospective effort.
N
100000 older adults (judgment). Unverified affected population; test10,000–500,000. [eycej-port-addendum]
delta
0.1 ug/m3 extra annual PM2.5 reduction (judgment). Beyond baseline; not agency forecast; test .01–.3. [eycej-port-addendum]
beta
0.006765864847381486 log hazard per ug/m3 (judgment). Representative source anchor within reported full-cohort HR1.06–1.08 per10. [eycej-pm-causal]
h0
0.04 annual mortality hazard (judgment). Older-adult prior, not local observed rate; test .02–.06.
T
5 years of lower hazard (judgment). Hazard effect then stops.
L
10 years of survival follow-up (judgment). No benefit thereafter; test5–15.
u
0.8 survival quality weight (judgment). Not measured utility; test .6–.9.
p
0.2 specified implementation success probability (judgment). Not empirically calibrated; test .05–.5. [eycej-port-letter]
a
0.1 EYCEJ coalition contribution (judgment). No full credit across partners; test .03–.25. [eycej-port-letter]
b
0.25 ordinary-support funding response (judgment). Assets/capital priorities create substitution; test .05–.5. [eycej-99024] [eycej-transition]
g
0.95 LA/Orange benefit share (judgment). Outcome geography not measured; test .8–1. [eycej-members]
d
0.03 annual continuous discount (judgment). Applied in finite integral.
Qother
null other portfolio health (unknown). Lead, tenant, food and hub pathways unpriced. [eycej-campaigns]

central: Cost: $4.7M; Los Angeles QALYs: 0.25494743599414343; all-population QALYs: 0.26836572209909837. N=100000 older adult cohort; delta=0.1 ug/m3 conditional extra PM2.5 reduction; hazard=0.04; exposure years=5; horizon=10; utility=0.8; success p=0.2; EYCEJ coalition share a=0.1; funding b=0.25; local g=0.95; beta=ln(1.07)/10; discount=.03. All except source-anchored beta and observed annual cost are explicit judgments, not confidence bounds.

low: Cost: $4.7M; Los Angeles QALYs: 0.000003367505496199454; all-population QALYs: 0.000004209381870249317. N=10000 older adult cohort; delta=0.01 ug/m3 conditional extra PM2.5 reduction; hazard=0.02; exposure years=2; horizon=5; utility=0.6; success p=0.05; EYCEJ coalition share a=0.03; funding b=0.05; local g=0.8; beta=ln(1.07)/10; discount=.03. All except source-anchored beta and observed annual cost are explicit judgments, not confidence bounds.

high: Cost: $4.7M; Los Angeles QALYs: 103.82684628421127; all-population QALYs: 103.82684628421127. N=500000 older adult cohort; delta=0.3 ug/m3 conditional extra PM2.5 reduction; hazard=0.06; exposure years=5; horizon=15; utility=0.9; success p=0.5; EYCEJ coalition share a=0.25; funding b=0.5; local g=1; beta=ln(1.07)/10; discount=.03. All except source-anchored beta and observed annual cost are explicit judgments, not confidence bounds.

No additional implementation: Cost: $4.7M; Los Angeles QALYs: 0; all-population QALYs: 0. p,b or delta=0.

Illustrative net harm: Cost: $4.7M; Los Angeles QALYs: -1; all-population QALYs: -1. One LA QALY net harm from displacement/delay; not observed.

Whole portfolio unestimated: Cost: $4.7M; Los Angeles QALYs: unknown; all-population QALYs: unknown. Omitted pathways not assumed zero.

Counterfactual: Adopted port commitments, public cleanup and partner work continue. delta represents only a further implementation improvement conditional on success, not all pollution removed. p precedes coalition a and gift-response b. The central assumes exposure improvement begins during the three-year spending effort, without an extra implementation lag. A three-year delay alone raises the price by exp(0.09), about 9.4%.

Attribution: One air-implementation scenario; no duplicate campaign credit. Closed-cohort survival prevents repeated lifetime gains. No hub, lead or housing benefits added.

Explicit subjective conditional central, not empirical success rates or complete portfolio expected value. Positive joint cases are not confidence bounds. Zero and harm remain possible.

Sensitivity

  • Exposure footprint and p/a/b dominate; none follows from signing a letter.
  • Additional implementation resources E change price to10*(4687530+E)/QLA.
  • No hub benefits without capital/operation costs.
  • Closed-cohort survival and finite horizon prevent repeat life-expectancy credit.

Unresolved inputs

  • Specific extra implementation exposure footprint.
  • Success and coalition counterfactual.
  • Marginal ordinary-gift allocation.
  • External implementation costs.
  • Other portfolio health.

5. Funding and previous grants

The 2024 return reports $4,238,201 cash, $3,651,369 other investments and $7,318,249 unrestricted net assets, compared with about $1.56 million annual full cost. These assets may be designated or intended for long-term commitments; unrestricted accounting is not evidence of immediate availability. Nevertheless, assuming every additional dollar expands current operations would be weak. Original balance sheet

The June 2026 transition announcement specifically seeks capital-campaign support to replace a freight-focused warehouse with a community resilience hub. It provides no acquisition price, funding gap, operating plan or number of protected heat/smoke-exposure hours. The July update identifies Laura Cortez as current executive director as Taylor Thomas transitions out; old co-director listings are not used as current governance evidence. Current transition and capital plan

East Yard has concrete local accountability evidence, but this highly assumption-sensitive component does not establish a whole-portfolio health-cost-effectiveness recommendation. The decisive diligence is a marginal operating/capital plan tied to verified extra exposure protection, with public funding and partner substitution explicitly separated. Clean Energy Group's historical 2021 award supported microgrid/community-solar capacity and advocacy; it does not establish that the proposed 2026 hub is operating or that its capital gap is known. Original funder record

Annual expenses

Organization-level spending, including programs, administration and fundraising. The research list averages three comparable, consecutive full fiscal years when available.

  • FY 2022: $1.0M; East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, EIN46-5685097, 12-month period, Accrual Form 990 full recipient expense plus direct event costs netted against revenue; amended 2022 return used. Source
  • FY 2023: $1.1M; East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, EIN46-5685097, 12-month period, Accrual Form 990 full recipient expense plus direct event costs netted against revenue; amended 2022 return used. Source
  • FY 2024: $1.6M; East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, EIN46-5685097, 12-month period, Accrual Form 990 full recipient expense plus direct event costs netted against revenue; amended 2022 return used. Source

6. Sources

  1. 2024 original Form990. East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice / IRS. Published: 2025-10-03; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  2. 2023 original Form990. East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice / IRS. Published: 2024-11-12; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  3. 2022 amended original Form 990. East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice / IRS. Published: 2024-07-10; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  4. Membership and operating geography. East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  5. Campaign portfolio, including historical status text. East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  6. La Cosecha Colectiva programs. East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  7. Official donation routing. East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  8. 2026 leadership transition and capital campaign. East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  9. Get the Lead Out: community-driven soil lead study. Johnston et al. / Environmental Science & Technology. Published: 2026-03-30; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  10. Current ports agreement status. South Coast AQMD. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  11. Final addendum to ports cooperative agreement. South Coast AQMD / Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Published: 2026-09-10; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  12. Coalition concerns about draft ports agreement. East Yard, CCA, Earthjustice and other signatories. Published: 2025-10-01; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  13. Refinery decommissioning monitoring comments. CBE, East Yard, APEN, CCA and Earthjustice. Published: 2026-05-11; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  14. Randomized soil lead abatement trial. Weitzman et al. / JAMA. Published: 1993-04-07; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  15. Residential lead-hazard randomized trial. Braun et al. / JAMA Pediatrics. Published: 2018-08-06; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  16. Evaluating long-term PM2.5 exposure and mortality with causal inference. Wu et al. / Science Advances. Published: 2020-07-17; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  17. Current Barstow International Gateway challenge and coalition. Earthjustice, counsel for East Yard and other plaintiffs. Published: 2026-07-02; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  18. Resilient Power Leadership Initiative awards, 2021 East Yard entry. Clean Energy Group. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.