Labor Community Services - 2022 Year In Review

YEAR IN REVIEW 2022

Letter From Our Executive Director

For Labor Community Services, 2022 presented both opportunities to embrace and challenges to overcome. Together, we have been able to get through this year knowing that we are truly a City of Angels who seek to find ways to help and assist one another as we are united more by our commonalities than divided by our differences. That has always been at the foundation of our resilience and 2022 proved that to be the case.

Together, we have taken a turn in the fight against the COVID-19 Pandemic that has seen most of our community members return to work and begin the long road ahead of economic recovery from the impacts that were felt through our communities. It is not lost on us that while COVID-19 impacted all communities, those worst hit were those who were already struggling to make ends meet and looked at life’s ordeals without a safety net in place.

Our essential frontline workers continue to be our unsung heroes, including our labor volunteers that joined us on the food distribution lines with little regards to their safe, keeping our communities moving and doing so at no easy task, but we continue to demonstrate how strong we are.

As we saw businesses reopen and community members return to work, we got a better glimpse into the impact that our work was having in aiding those who needed assistance during the Pandemic along with discovering new opportunities to help make a difference. While food insecurities were still impacting families throughout Southern California and union members were needing financial assistance to take care of essential needs at home, we saw that many sectors of our loved ones need our help - our veterans, our seniors and our youth.

Working closely with Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo and her staff, Labor Community Services was awarded a historic grant by the State of California in the amount of $15 million dollars, which will allow us to expand our programs and services to better serve those in need along with creating programs aimed to helping more community members and will provide us with the financial resources to purchase a building that will allow us to centralize our operations under one roof! Assemblymember Carrillo has always stood with us and supported our efforts to serve as an anchor to all families who need us and

her efforts to spearhead this grant have cemented her legacy as a Champion for working families. From the entire team at Labor Community Services, we thank you, Assemblymember Carrillo!

This year, 2022 allowed us to not only work with our sisters and brothers at the National Association of Letter Carriers to partner up on the largest one-day food drive in the country, but we were finally able to come together at the 2nd Annual Dolores Huerta Spirit Awards to celebrate our achievements but also honor the heroes who continue to inspire and motivate us - Labor Icon Dolores Huerta, United States Senator Alex Padilla, the strong union members who stood on strike for 113 days from the Bakers Union, LiUNA General Manager Sergio Rascon and IATSE 2nd Vice President Thom Davis.

We end 2022 with a reafirmed commitment to serving as an anchor of hope for all communities throughout Los Angeles County and beyond who seek our help. We do so in the spirit of unity and inclusiveness of any community member who needs our help [regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or political afiliation. That is what we stand for and will continue to do so.

Thank you to all who made 2022 a year about reminding us why we are always stronger united as one community and one labor family, in the House of Labor, because Los Angeles is Union Town.

Armando Olivas Executive Director Labor Community Services

Our Impact - By The Numbers

As 2022 provided our communities an opportunity to turn the page on the COVID-19 Pandemic, working families throughout Southern California continued to feel the economic hardships that were brought on by the pandemic or made worse by it. The visuals of mile-long car lines were still there, but we saw a concentration of community members make up those lines that showed us how the economic hardships varied by region, especially within low-income and communities of color. This need saw us return to various neighborhoods and work more extensively with local groups and organizations to ensure that our food resources were having the positive impact we were hoping for.

When all was said and done, LCS continued to serve as a pillar of hope, ensuring that no family who faced food insecurities was turned away.

Once again, LCS’ impact went beyond the food we distributed.

A continuing trend was the lack of access to PPE supplies, especially as the presence of new COVID-19 variants came about. The demand for supplies forced LCS to explore partnerships that would be able to provide those resources to us so that we can make them available to the familles who we served.

Also, the need to store these supplies stretched our warehouse’s capacity to its limits, as we had to work with the unanticipated increased need for the PPE supplies.

As we were able to do with our food supplies, we were able to work with our network of community groups and organizations to find new methods of distribution for these items that would ultimately help us address our storage limit issue, but also help ensure that these supplies could get out to the neighborhoods in a timely and a ective manner.

Providing PPE to our local partners allowed us to help ensure that low-income and working families who most needed the PPE received it, free of charge.

Making A Difference By Region

Our ability to help families in need relies on working with labor unions, community-based organizations and elected oficials so that we can identify and target areas that are in need of support and assistance.

In 2022, we expanded into new cities and revisited many locations where there continues to be a significant need to help families dealing with food insecurities. These events were a huge undertaking, which was only made possible through our collaborative efforts with labor unions, community groups and organizations and community leaders who stepped up to the plate and take on organizing roles within their communities to help bring relief to the families in need. As we begin 2023, we will be implementing new procedures that will allow us to further maximize our regional impact and best use our food resources to expand our support services throughout Southern California and beyond.

Here are just a few photos from our 2022 food distributions

The Gift of Love During The Holidays

Throughout the year, we see a greater need for help in our communities during the holiday season. Beyond the need for food assistance, we see working families seeking for more than just another meal - we see them seek hope.

It is a greater need that helps empower our team and our volunteers to go the extra mile and be able to assist in more ways than one. During the 2022 Holiday Season throughout our food distributions and coordinated efforts, LCS distributed over 1,300 turkeys and over 5,000 toys.

For our turkey distribution, our key event took place on November 20, 2022 in the City of Commerce at the IBEW Electrical Training Center. Thanks to the help of over 100 volunteers, LCS was able to help families that stretched over 2 miles long with turkeys and other food goods.

While we coordinated toy distributions with local labor unions in Southern California from our warehouse in the City of Bell, our main Holiday Food and Toy Distribution event took place on December 17, 2022 at the LA Fed.

Our work during the Holidays is labor intensive and takes a heavy toll on us, but it also carries special meaning to our staff and volunteers, which is what makes those moments even more important - for us and for the families who we support who we are blessed to be able to bring a smile to their faces.

Stamping Out Hunger in Los Angeles

The LA County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, Labor Community Services (LCS) and The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) came together to help fight hunger within our communities through the largest one-day food drive in our country – the “Stamp Out Hunger” campaign. The even took place on May 14th, 2022. First held in 1983, the “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive has helped feed millions of Americans by providing residents with an easy way to donate food to those in need.

To participate in the food drive, participants would simply leave their donation of nonperishable food items next to their mailbox before the delivery of the mail on that Saturday. Letter carriers would collect these food donations as they delivered mail along their postal routes, and distribute them to local food banks, pantries, shelters and churches.

This year in Southern California, the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 24 partnered up with The LA Fed and LCS to help coordinate the food drive campaign by helping mobilize volunteers who will adopted local post ofices where the letters carriers dropped off the food and volunteers would help collect it and prepare it into large bins. Those bins were collected and brought back to LCS’ warehouse where the food was sorted and stored away for distribution to participating community organizations. In total, hundreds of thousands of pounds of food were collected, making for a successful return to a yearly tradition of hope that is delivered to family’s doorsteps

of those in need of food assistance. We have begun planning the 2023 Stamp Out Hunger campaign aiming for greater success.

This effort was only made possible through the leadership efforts of LCS and the hardworking volunteers who played critical roles every step of the way. in overseeing the effort and coordinating with key volunteers throughout Los Angeles at every step of the way.

the striking workers, bringing them food and toys for the holidays along with gift cards and turkeys. LCS is committed, along The LA Fed, to support the workers until they reach a contract agreement with their employer.

Training & Empowering Our Community

Living in Southern California, we know that we need to be ready for whenever an emergency hits our region. If we needed any reminder of that, an earthquake actually hit Southern California while this section was being written! So for Labor Community Services, it is not only important for our team to be ready to be called into action, but to help others in our communities be ready

In 2022, LCS hosted a class at Los Angeles Trade Tech, teaching the fundamentals of emergency response - whether a natural disaster hits or a labor dispute leads to a labor strike, placing members without employment for extended periods of times. Enrollment in the class grew this last year, with students driving from as far as San Diego for 2 weekends in a row to get the information provided and take the lessons learned back to their respective communities and share that knowledge with others.

ic to labor strikes, the reality of not having a paycheck can impact the livelihood of any household overnight. The insecurity of not knowing how long one will be without work can cause tremendous stress for workers and their loved ones. Our

regionally and explore new ways where we can provide these trainings to community and labor partners so that we can all be better prepared to help any family in need when the time arises for any of us to step in to help.

A Legacy Of Service For Others

On Saturday, September 10th, 2022, Labor Community Services hosted the Second Annual Dolores Huerta Spirit Awards. Last year to ensure the safety of all attendees, we held our event virtual, which allowed us to come together to celebrate the achievements made by LCS in helping those families in need around us.

This year, the drop in positive COVID-19 cases along with the mass distribution of vaccines throughout Los Angeles, we felt that it was safe enough for all of us to come together under one roof and be able to celebrate the event as one Labor family.

But as is the nature of any major event, this year’s Dolores Huerta Spirit Awards did not come without its own challenges that almost prevented us from hosting the event in person once again. Weather reports were declaring a major monsoon rain storm would hit the Los Angeles area on the day of our event, which would have been disastrous had our event taken place at its originally planned location. So 48 hours before the event, our brothers and sisters at Laborers 300 opened its doors to us and allowed LCS to host the event at its headquarters.

The last minute change in venue created an endless list of logistical issues that had to be addressed quickly and e ff orts to be executed without room for error. Thankfully, we came together and held a successful event that allowed us to rejoice in the victories achieved by LCS in 2022 and gave us the opportunity to honor and say thank you to our heroes who served as our inspiration and hope throughout the year.

Our 2022 honorees included:

IATSE 2nd International Vice President and LA County Fed Chairperson Thom Davis, who was awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his lifelong dedication to working men and women in Organized Labor.

The members of Bakers Local 37 from Jon Donaire Foods, who were awarded the Workers Champions Awards for their perseverance in fighting for a successful contract that provided them with the wages, benefits and better work conditions which they deserved.

LiUNA Local 300 Business Manager Sergio Rascon, who was awarded with the Inspiration Leadership Award for his role as a champion for all workers in Los Angeles County when it would come to secure the benefits that provide workers with the dignity and respect they have earned.

Food Forward with our Community Partner Award, for their commitment to assist families facing food insecurities throughout Southern California through their innovative approach towards reducing food waste and preventing healthy food from not being enjoyed by families in our neighborhoods.

In addition to our honorees, we were joined by United State Senator Alex Padilla who served as the event’s keynote speaker, along with our Labor Champion Dolores Huerta, who reminded us all of our duty to always stand up and fight for those who need their voices heard, regardless of how dificult the challenges may appear. It was a day that many will never forget as it reminded us that Los Angeles is truly a Union town.

Thank You To Our Sponsors

Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo presenting LCS Board President Lawrence Brown and LCS Executive Director Armando Olivas a check for $15,000,000 from the State of California to support LCS’ Basic Needs Programs!

LCS Board of Directors & Staff

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President

Lawrence Brown, Jr. National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 24

Secretary Nancy Oshima LA County Fed (Retired)

Dooner Art Directors Guild IATSE 800

David Greene SEIU 721

Tom Csekey SEIU 2015

Deliana Speights UFWC 1428

Vice President

Kathleen Yasuda Los Angeles College Faculty Guild

Treasurer Justin Wesson LA County Fed

Colin Lavin IBEW Local 47

Chanchanit Martorell Thai Community Development Center

Hector Delgado Teamsters Loca 986

Rex Pritchard Long Beach Fire Fighters IAFF Local 372

STAFF

Sandra Hernandez CSEA 477

Chris Griswald Teamsters Local 986

Marcos Juan Program Manager

Armando Olivas Executive Director

Taro O’Sullivan Assistant Director

Ulisses Sanchez Communications Consultant