In 2008, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health awarded five Policies for Livable, Active Communities and Environments (P.L.A.C.E.) Grants, three to municipalities and two to non-profits working with local governments, to create programs and policies to encourage people to live healthier, more active, lifestyles through better transportation planning.  The grants ran from July 1, 2008 through June 30 of this year. For more on what to expect, please visit the announcement of this fellowship series.

The five grants were very different.  In Culver City, they used the grant to create their first-ever bicycle and pedestrian plan, while Long Beach used the funds to hire Charlie Gandy as mobility coordinator and he’s been painting the town green for three years.

We’ll go into a lot more details about the goings on in Culver City, El Monte, Glendale, Long Beach and Pacoima in the coming weeks, but to kick the series off, Streetsblog presents short videos with each of the five P.L.A.C.E Grant Coordinators – John Rivera in Culver City, Arpine Shakhbandaryan in El Monte, the LACBC’s Colin Bogart in Glendale, Charlie Gandy in Long Beach, and Pacoima Beautiful’s Max Podemsky in Pacoima – discussing the grants they oversaw after the jump.

One thing I can honestly say before we delve in to the series, the municipalities and non-profits that worked on these grants are immensely proud of them. I’ve never had an easier time setting up interviews in my career.

Damien Newton wrote this story while participating in The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships, a program of USC’s Annenberg School for Communcation & Journalism.