Four young people - Sarah Pillsbury, Win McCormack, Anne Mendel, Larry Janss - had the guts and vision to launch this experiment. They invented an organization that would underwrite the delicate and difficult work of long-term social change by investing in grassroots community organizing and leadership. Liberty Hill raised expectations and eyebrows.
Since then organizing and advocacy powered by Liberty Hill has changed national policies, launched movements, transformed neighborhoods, and nurtured hundreds of outstanding local leaders.
In 1980, we were first to fund dockworkers suffering from White Lung disease. Our support sparked the national movement to regulate asbestos and win compensation for millions of exposed workers.
In 1994, we were first to fund a movement for living wages. Our early investment sparked new laws that raised wages for 25,000 poverty-wage workers and moved them across the poverty line. Our continued investments have won wage increases for hotel workers, taxi drivers, grocery workers, garment workers and other hardworking men and women.
In 1996, Liberty Hill was first to fund L.A.'s new environmental justice movement. Every Californian breathes easier as a result. We've won millions in pollution reduction programs, as well as new regulations to protect the health of Californians most exposed to pollution's deadly consequences.
In 2001, our long-term investments in student-led school reform resulted in an L.A. Unified School District commitment to overhaul course offerings at L.A.’s lowest-performing schools. Without Liberty Hill, thousands of students would continue to graduate from high school without the courses required for college admission.