INTRODUCTION

Rodrigo –

Our first assignment as a class was to research community based organizations (CBOs), in the city, that we had personal interest in. After presenting the organizations I had originally leaned towards I was advised by Andrea to find the area or community that I feared the most. This seemed like a legitimate way of embarking on a community project so I immediately looked to my classmate Felicia’s list of organizations and her commitment to causes dealing with issues within the Chican@/Raza community of Los Angeles and understood that this area, as a non-visual minority born in Mexico and raised in Canada was the space that held the most personal weight from which to embark on a work.


Felicia—

My own interest in choosing Homies Unidos as an organization to work with for this project comes from a few passions of mine. First, working with vulnerable youth populations, including those involved with youth and gang culture. Second, their work on immigration reform issues and third, the “We Are Alex” campaign working to free the director of Homies Unidos, Alex Sanchez who I believe is a political prisoner of sorts in the new L.A.