LETTER FROM
Antonia Hernández
It’s hard to believe that I have been at the California Community Foundation (CCF) for two decades! What an amazing experience and privilege of a lifetime it has been to work at an organization devoted to making Los Angeles a better community. Yes, LA is messy, and we confront many challenges, but it is a place where dreams come true. LA is my imperfect paradise.I have always been a dreamer but practical. Almost 70 years have passed since I arrived in LA in 1956 as a poor immigrant child. I instantly fell in love with LA. Growing up in East Los Angeles I slowly ventured out and discovered this bewildering ever changing place. And although I had no idea what I could achieve in LA, it was a place where dreams could come true. My goals were humble. Becoming a teacher felt like a dream, but LA allowed me to go far beyond what I could imagine.
A product of East LA and a public education, I strived and became a civil rights lawyer, one of the few Chicanas to graduate, in 1974 from my beloved UCLA. But my efforts to break barriers were just beginning. I became the first Latina/o to serve as Counsel to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee under Senator Ted Kennedy and later to head the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the nation’s premier Latino legal civil rights organization. And little did I ever dream that, in 2003, I would be asked to lead CCF, an organization that has given me the unbelievable opportunity to lift up the lives of all Angelenos.
From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank the Board, staff, our generous donors, community partners and many others who have enabled us to fulfill our commitment to improve the lives of those in need and strengthen our social fabric. Through our work, we have funded the construction of thousands of homes, assisted educators to improve our educational system, improved medical care for the vulnerable, fought to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, promoted the arts and embraced our diverse immigrant communities throughout Los Angeles County and beyond.
We did not do this alone. We worked with the public sector, our selfless grantees and donors. Together we have built a stronger and better Los Angeles.
As I leave and begin my next chapter, I want to thank everyone who had the confidence in me to lead CCF into the new millennium. Los Angeles has many challenges ahead, but I believe that CCF has forged a foundation to meet the future.
Mil Gracias.
Antonia Hernández
President & Chief Executive Officer