“WaSH and REC for Black and Latina Mothers and Children in South Los Angeles”

As days of extreme heat increase in Los Angeles, we urgently need to assess the efforts of Black and Latina mothers and children to gain access to WaSH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) and cool spaces of REC (recreation and cultural venues) on hot summer days. We know that bad and insecure housing limits WaSH, and we know that low-income, racialized neighborhoods tend to have fewer leafy plants and REC (e.g., public parks and pools) to cool their streets. Less is known about how intersectional identities (race/class/gender) interact with local contexts–including community institutions, cultural territories, and street violence–to influence access to WaSH and REC, and there is little research outside the global south on the burdens that mothers shoulder to obtain WaSH and REC for their families.

Alesia Montgomery, an assistant professor at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, is leading a study that focuses on daily efforts by Black and Latina mothers to get WaSH and REC for their families in three settings of South Los Angeles: (1) privately owned residences, (2) public and non-profit low-income housing, and (3) vehicular unhoused sites – cars, vans, and RVs that are used as living spaces. In addition to assessing child wellbeing, the study will explore how the burden (time, money, stress) of securing WaSH and REC influences mother wellbeing.