New cultural landmark rises in LA’s...

A mixed-use space, with permanent supportive housing, replaces SIPA’s headquarters in its 3200 W. Temple St. location for 30 years. SIPA entered into a partnership with nonprofit Linc Housing in June 2020 to develop the property into community center on the ground floor commercial space.

Local design firm Theoforma, was brought on to the project, incorporating natural elements like bamboo and rattan into the design. The aesthetic of the Philippine islands can be found throughout the space, from the fabrics and artisanal items, to furniture from Cebu, and Los Angeles based Filipinx American artists decorating the walls. Every detail was chosen to bring pride and heritage into the space.

The permanent supportive housing portion of HiFi Collective opened in fall 2022 with Linc Housing providing the supportive services to residents, thanks to funding from Los Angeles County.

Now at 100% occupancy, HiFi Collective is home to 63 formerly unhoused people, with SIPA and Linc working in close partnership to ensure the entire community thrives together in their new shared space.

“We are beyond excited to reopen our doors and physically root ourselves back in the very neighborhood that SIPA has served for decades,” stated SIPA Executive Director Kimmy Maniquis in a release.

Maniquis added: “SIPA will remain committed to serving youth and families, and are prepared to bring back our after school programs, cultural programming, mental health services and basic needs support to the community of Historic Filipinotown.”

SIPA was founded in 1972 by a group of young Filipino American activists including founders and early leaders –Royal Morales, Al Mendoza, Helen Brown, Paul Chikahisa,

Joe Abella and Jeanie Abella, who were inspired by the Civil Rights and Anti-War movements of the 1960s.

The founders wanted to address the lack of resources and opportunities for the Filipino American community in Los Angeles, particularly in the areas of education, employment, and social services.

In its early years, SIPA focused on organizing community events and cultural activities to promote Filipino heritage and identity. However, as the organization grew, it began to offer a wider range of services to the community, including job training, youth development programs, health education, and social services. Today, SIPA is one of the largest and most well-respected Filipino American organizations in the country, serving 3,800 people every year. SIPA’s legacy continues to be felt in Los Angeles and beyond, as it has inspired many other Filipino American organizations and businesses to emerge and thrive across the state of California, and beyond. (Inquirer.net) n

Asked about the role of the Racial Justice Bureau and its goal, Bonta said “we created Racial Justice Bureau to call out racial injustice in the state of California in all its forms and we plan of fighting the ground and say we are going to fight the racial injustice and fight against the forces of hate, and organizations that are organized around hate and violate other people’s rights or commit crimes.”

“We’re going to take on racial injustice in our schools where our children were submitted to unfair disciplinary process, suspensions, expulsion, unwillful defiance, and discipline. So from children, to hate groups, to hate crimes to any civil rights issues where race and ethnicity are being used as a way to target to hurt or harm people, we will be involved and that’s our racial bureau has done,” he elaborated.

Putting up a Racial Justice Bureau, he said, would enable them to have a dedicated set of personnel within his office to facilitate and focus on racial injustices.

“It has taken resources from across our office and brought them into a team with a common goal to take on racial injustice. We are largely focusing on hate crimes given the environment and the landscape and the pain and hurt and the harm that Californians are suffering when it comes to hate crimes and so but it is to fight for racial justice and all its forms and what’s happening in California will define the work that we prioritize and what we do but right now what we do are on hate crimes,” he added.

Aside from hate crimes, Bonta also wants to address other equally significant and socially-relevant issues, such as human trafficking, housing access, home care affordability, education, elder abuse, reproductive freedom, gun safety, the rights of LGBTQ communities, climate change, and among others.

2026 plans

During the virtual media roundtable, when asked about his apparent plan to run for governorship in 2026, Bonta said right now his priorities are set on addressing critical concerns of the state.

“Quite a number of people are reaching out to me asking me to run, encouraging me to run, and for that, I am honored and flattered and humbled. I will make a decision about running for governor for 2026 but the time for that decision is not now. I am focused on my work and role as an attorney general now and at an appropriate time in the future, I’ll make a decision and it will be known,” he said.

Bonta, whose parents Cynthia and Warren are both advocates of social justice, was also asked by reporters if he has plans to meet Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who will be in California in November this year.

“I would like to spend time with President Marcos at some point [and] have a dialogue. I am open to a son not being the father and trying a different course and being different and I know that if you share a name as he does, there are assumptions and presumptions,” Bonta explained.

The attorney general added, “I hope he’ll go in a completely different direction and free himself of the reputation of his father and be someone who can lift up the people of the Philippines who needed him so much, who are wrestling with so many challenges from poverty to inequality, to natural disasters and lack of necessary infrastructure, there are so much that can be done by a leader who loves their people and I hope he could be that leader.”

Bonta was also asked to comment on earlier reports about Marcos’ apparent plans to rewrite Philippine history.

“Part of being a good leader is building and working from the facts and the truth and not erasing the history. History is what it is — you can’t change it, you can’t go back and change it, but you can change where you go next,” he said.

“It is painful today when you erase the history of yesterday when people have been hurt, family members have been taken away, killed, tortured and then you say it didn’t happen, that is harmful today so that is not something any leader should be doing,” Bonta said. “Who knows when will I spend time with him, what our discussions will be but I hope I would have a productive discussion about how to move the Philippines forward and most importantly lift up every people of the Philippines.” n