 This organization, composed of neighborhood residents of Vernon in East Los Angeles, have worked together to ensure that their community obtains safe conditions to live in.According to the National Women's History Project, MELASI also helped with the problems of "crime, unemployment, failing schools, dangerous working conditions, and pesticide-filled foods".They established a scholarship fund, giving more than $300,000 to local students, and a water conservation program that employed 22 people and built a community garden.