Today, the Metro Board voted to extend our Exclusive Negotiation Agreement (ENA) for Lucha Reyes Apartments by six months, giving us more time to meet with community members to discuss its design and features. This is a big win for our organization and community. The ENA will allow us to continue to work closely with Metro and the Office of […]
Category: News
Promoting financial empowerment in our community
We introduced our Community Wealth Department in 2001 to help create pathways to homeownership for low-income families on the Eastside. ELACC created foreclosure prevention classes and resident capacity building as a strategy to help families preserve the assets and wealth they worked hard to build. Nearly two decades later, our slate of financial and homeownership education and counseling programming still […]
ELACC Announces New President and CEO
On behalf of ELACC staff and our Board of Directors, I am thrilled to announce that, after an intense search, we have hired Monica Mejia to be ELACC’s next President & CEO. Monica comes to ELACC with over 20 years of experience working in affordable housing, including developing both ownership and rental housing models. Currently, she is Senior Director of […]
Our 25th Anniversary Newsletter
Dear Friends, Earlier this year, amidst a global pandemic and civil unrest, the organization I co-founded quietly turned 25 years old. Since 1995, East LA Community Corporation has been dedicated to serving the residents of Los Angeles’ Eastside. It doesn’t feel like too long ago that we – an urban planner, attorney, community organizer, and real estate developer – decided it […]
Reflections On ELACC’s 25th Anniversary
By Maria Cabildo and Joaquin Bernal Has it been 25 years? Wow, it feels like last week that we signed our incorporation documents and prepared our first funding application. A lot has changed in Boyle Heights since 1995. Many of it positive and with ELACC playing an essential role. When I left ELACC in 2015, after serving as its leader […]
Celebrating 25 years of impact
By Manuel Bernal and Joaquin Bernal Dear ELACC staff, the board of directors and community, As the newly-appointed president of ELACC as well as the co-chair of the board of directors, I’d like to give an update on the current status of ELACC and give readers an introduction to who I am. My involvement with ELACC stretches back to its […]
Declaración oficial sobre los apartamentos de Lucha Reyes
Mariachi Plaza es un querido centro de capital social y cultural en Boyle Heights. Ha sufrido muchos cambios a lo largo de los años, algunos que dificultaron el trabajo de los mariachis y los vendedores y provocaron su desplazamiento. Con cada nuevo proyecto en o alrededor de la plaza, existe el temor de que la integridad y la especialidad del […]
Official Statement on Mariachi Plaza Development
I want to assure everyone who cares about the future of the plaza that our objective is to give community members more reasons to visit and offer more opportunities for performers, small businesses, and street vendors to showcase their talents and share their work.
Devastating Loss at Nuevo Amanecer
We were devastated to learn that our new affordable housing development for veterans and families, Nuevo Amanecer, was destroyed by a fire early this morning in East LA. Nuevo Amanecer was in the final construction phase and was scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. We are cooperating with the local authorities and the Red Cross, and […]
Statement Regarding Verizon Wireless Tower at Casa del Mexicano
In 2015, ELACC was approached with a proposal from Verizon Wireless to install a cellular tower in the parking area of the historic Casa del Mexicano, which we had recently purchased and began to steward on behalf of the Boyle Heights community. At the time, we were looking for opportunities to build an operating reserve for the property. Verizon’s offer […]
