In the urban landscape of Compton is Alma Backyard Farms, where Dennis Meman tends vegetables and flowers and thinks about how the seeds he plants grow into food which feed families. It’s how he can use his hands to heal rather than harm.
Kevin Pobjoy and Megan Ramos never knew each other. Now they are bound together by a gift.
Sunshine Limbo arrived in Los Angeles via the Philippines and Saudi Arabia, and was grateful to find a job caring for elderly residents at a six-bed facility. She had no idea that earning a total $53 a day for her 24-hour shift was illegal.
Immigrant entrepreneurs, from street vendors to furniture retailers, suffered devastating business losses after the ICE raids drove people to stay off the streets and cut back spending. But Inclusive Action for the City, a nonprofit supported by CCF, helped them turn things around with emergency aid, business loans and retraining into more safe catering services.
Carmen Guatzozon has always loved art – doodling as a child, painting her mother’s favorite orchids in middle school. But as a self-described “antisocial” youth, she never imagined she would grow into a leader equipped with confidence, public speaking skills, community connections and enhanced artistic techniques to help paint a significant public mural in Los Angeles.
They grew up in low-income communities of color and powered their way through college. Now Josh Divas, Sierra Payne and Sharon Vivian are pursuing master’s degrees in nursing at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science so they can return to their communities and help neglected neighbors.