Homies Unidos 20th Anniversary
Dear Friends of Homies Unidos,
In 2020, the Los Angeles chapter of Homies Unidos will be celebrating our twentieth-year anniversary as a non-profit organization. Over the last twenty years, there have been many times when we have rejoiced in the accomplishments of our members and community leaders, and there have been times when we have felt vulnerable and helpless. Our work was never meant to be easy, but the courage and resilience of our team members deserves recognition.
Through the years, over 1,200 youth, parents, and community members have graduated from our Epiphany Project program, gaining life skills to become self-sufficient and make a positive impact on our community. We walked alongside individuals seeking personal transformation, supporting over 250 community members in the process of completely removing their tattoos through our collaboration with Sunrise Outreach Center. We have advocated tirelessly for the rights of immigrant youth and families, supported the community integration of over 200 unaccompanied and/or immigrant youth fleeing violence in their countries of origin, and worked with youth and families impacted by the nation’s incarceration-to-deportation pipelines.
We have organized over 7,000 youth, parents, educators, policy makers, formerly-incarcerated and currently-incarcerated individuals, and individuals directly impacted by the criminal (in)ustice and immigration systems, by providing political and legislative education workshops to promote civic engagement and community advocacy. We have demonstrated our civic engagement at local public and charter schools, college and university campuses, Los Angeles City Hall, and the California State Capitol, advocating for alternatives to incarceration, community violence intervention and prevention work, and denouncing the human rights abuses inflicted upon arriving immigrants at the Southern Border and deported Central American immigrants in their countries of origin.
The past twenty years have been challenging, but we will continue our efforts as long as youth, parents, and educators continue to seek support from our team. We must continue to advocate for, and with, the youth and families impacted by gang violence, socio-economic violence, gender-based violence, and state violence. We must remember those we have lost to the penal system, walking alongside them in their search for healing and redemption.
As we enter a new decade, we envision creating more programs to provide job training and employment opportunities for youth to develop the skills needed for long-term success. We envision reigniting and expanding our art program as an avenue to healing trauma created by cycles of violence in our community. We envision ongoing development of our transnational partnerships to support individuals impacted by criminalization, incarceration, and deportation. We have much more work to accomplish and know that you will all be there to support our mission.
We are deeply grateful for all of you. We could not have reached this milestone without the generosity and support that was provided by each donation of time, funds, and creative resources that was gracefully and continuously offered to us during the last twenty years. We especially extend our heartfelt gratitude to all our funders who have continued to believe in our mission, during good times and bad.
We hope you can join us for our celebration and benefit on February 20, 2020.
With Much Love,
Alex Sanchez
Homies Unidos
Executive Director
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Tags: Central American Gangs, el salvador, gangs, Homies Unidos, peace, violence intervention
