PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 22, 2026

Community and Human Rights Advocates Welcome LA28 Human Rights Grants Program Announcement While Calling for Greater Transparency, Accountability, and Community Partnership

Los Angeles - A coalition of human rights, anti-trafficking, labor, housing, and community organizations welcomed LA28's recent announcement of a Human Rights Grants Program while calling on LA28 to provide the additional information that advocates and City leaders expected would be released by the end of summer. Although LA28 publicly announced the existence of the program last week, it has yet to disclose key information regarding the total funding commitment, implementation plan, oversight mechanisms, and opportunities for community participation, despite its commitment that further details would be provided by the end of summer, which concluded today.

According to LA28's website, the new Human Rights Grants Program will provide grants ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 to organizations working in five priority areas identified in its Human Rights Strategy: human trafficking, labor rights, accessibility, unhoused communities, and civil rights. Advocates recognize the announcement as an important and positive step toward supporting community-based efforts to address human rights risks associated with hosting the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, including preventing human trafficking. The announcement represents the first publicly identified human rights grants program established by an Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee and has the potential to demonstrate global leadership by LA28, Los Angeles, and the Olympic Movement in using community-based and public health approaches to prevent and address human rights harms associated with major sporting events.

Human rights experts have long documented risks associated with mega-sporting events, including labor exploitation, trafficking, displacement, and harms affecting vulnerable populations. The announcement follows advocacy by community organizations, labor groups, lived-experience experts, researchers, and human rights advocates who have called for dedicated funding and a meaningful detailed human rights plan to address these risks. It also follows discussions before the Los Angeles City Council's Ad Hoc Committee on the Olympic and Paralympic Games in June 2026, during which LA28 indicated that additional information regarding the proposed community fund would be forthcoming by the end of summer and committed to the human rights plan implementation.

While welcoming the grant program announcement, advocates note that several key questions raised by Los Angeles City Council members and community stakeholders remain unanswered, including the total amount of funding dedicated to the program, the anticipated number of grants to be awarded, how funding will be distributed across issue areas, what accountability measures

will be used to evaluate effectiveness, and how impacted communities will be involved in shaping and implementing the initiative.

"We appreciate LA28's decision to publish it commitment to a Human Rights Grants Program on its website and view this announcement as an important step forward," said Professor Stephanie Richard, Director of the Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Initiative at Loyola Law School. "However, meaningful commitment requires letting the community know the overall level of investment, how funding decisions will be made, what outcomes will be measured, and whether the resources being committed are proportionate to the scale of need facing communities impacted by the Games."

"At the June hearing, LA28 asked the city council and the public to trust that details would be forthcoming by the end of summer," Said Fatima Murrieta, Jobs to Move America, Campaign Organizing Manager. " The community deserves answers, and the City deserves accountability. Every month of delay is a month lost in preparing Los Angeles to host Games that respect and protect the rights of all residents, including its most vulnerable."

Advocates further expressed concern that no additional information has been provided on the deadline for a final human rights plan, which they believe must be released no later than early 2027 to allow for sufficient time for implementation, resource allocation, interagency coordination, and community engagement before the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Without a finalized plan, stakeholders lack the roadmap necessary to assess needs, identify resource gaps, and measure whether commitments are being translated into meaningful action.

“We know that the Olympics will bring billions of dollars to LA and into the pockets of LA 28. We also know that the Games will bring human trafficking, labor exploitation and displacement of vulnerable residents and small businesses. If LA 28 is serious about partnering with community organizations to address this reality, it should follow through on its promise to release details about the community fund and seek meaningful input from advocates on the amount and administration of that fund and its final human rights plan. Time is running out. We stand ready to collaborate on solutions that provide meaningful protection and opportunities for Angelenos” Said Julia Figueira-Mcdonough, Bet Tzedek, Associate Vice President, Economic Justice

The coalition notes that dedicated investment is particularly important because public agencies, nonprofit service providers, and community organizations will bear much of the responsibility for preventing and responding to potential human rights harms associated with the Games.

Advocates are therefore calling on LA28 to publicly release additional information regarding:

· The total amount of funding allocated to the Human Rights Grants Program;

· The anticipated number of grants to be awarded;

· Eligibility requirements and application timelines;

· Funding priorities and allocations across issue areas;

· Program oversight, accountability, and evaluation frameworks;

· The timeline for grant distribution and implementation;

· Opportunities for meaningful community participation in program development, implementation, and evaluation; and

· A timeline for finalizing and publicly releasing LA28's Human Rights Strategy.

Coalition members emphasized that transparency regarding these questions is necessary to determine whether the initiative can effectively address the human rights commitments outlined in LA28's Draft Human Rights Strategy and whether the proposed investment is sufficient to mitigate well-documented harms.

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