We were lucky to catch up with Lou Calanche recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lou, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

Not all children and youth in Los Angeles County have access to high–quality out of school enrichment programs such as after–school, weekend and summer programs and camps. Research shows that youth that have access to these programs have better academic success, healthier relationships and are exposed to mentors and opportunities that help to shape their future healthy development. Unfortunately, in low income communities parents rely on access to free enrichment programs and in many cases these programs are limited or not accessible. Therefore, in underserved communities where kids need more programs and support services, students face more obstacles and challenges for future success. ExpandLA’s goal is to work with after–school and out of school time providers to support their efforts as well as advocate for increased funding in order to ensure that all youth in Los Angeles have access to enrichment programs, mentors, and programs to support their well being. If all youth have access to high-quality programs, it would be a game changer for Los Angeles! It will lead to increased academic success and supportive and safer environments for youth in underserved communities and will ultimately lead to the future success of all youth. These services are also good for the LA region because it will also reduce crime and create safer communities for all.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

Maria “Lou” Calanche, is the inaugural Executive Director of ExpandLA bringing extensive professional experience leading youth development, community, and systems change efforts in Los Angeles. As the founder and former Executive Director of Legacy LA a youth development organization providing at-risk youth living in the Ramona Gardens community of Boyle Heights, Lou built an organization focused on equipping young people with the tools and resources needed to help them reach their full potential.

Raised in the Ramona Gardens Community, Lou’s first-hand knowledge of the issues and dynamics plaguing the community helps to inform an authentic approach to youth development programs. Lou’s long-term vision for engaging youth and residents contributed to Legacy LA’s rapid trajectory as a model of comprehensive service provision in Boyle Heights that facilitated the successful development and implementation of programs and projects for youth.

Lou has been a community leader in East Los Angeles for more than 20 years and leverages her background, experience, and extensive connections to ensure she is advocating for improved systems of care for LA’s youth. As part of the Invest in Youth campaign, Lou has been instrumental in leading a citywide effort to increase funding for youth development and chaired the City’s Youth Development Task Force that led to creation of the City of Los Angeles’ first Youth Development Department. Lou has also led important efforts to improve relationships between the city’s youth and law enforcement, implementing a youth-developed and youth-led workshop for youth and police. Prior to Legacy LA, she was a Political Science professor at East Los Angeles Community College.

Lou was appointed by Mayor Garcetti to the Board of Commissioners for the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles in 2013 and to the Board of Police Commissioners in 2020. She has also served as a commissioner for the LA’s historic El Pueblo de Los Angeles Monument, Bold Vision Community Council, and helped to lead The California Endowment’s 10-year Building Healthy Communities initiative in Boyle Heights.

Lou has a Master of Public Administration Degree and is a Doctoral Candidate in Public Administration at USC, focusing her research on land-use policy and citizen participation.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

As the founder of Legacy LA, I started a youth development nonprofit organization from scratch which meant not having a full time income. I left my tenure track teaching job at East Los Angeles College to return to the community where I grew up to help youth have access to opportunities and alternatives to drugs and gangs. I was committed to developing the organization and had to figure out how to engage the community and utilize all my networks to help to build the organization. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever taken on because, as I was building the organization, I was responsible for employing staff and making sure I could make payroll every other week. I never gave up! I had to be the Executive Director, program director, administrative person, fundraiser, janitor, driver, etc. I worked 24/7 and never stopped believing in the ultimate goal to create a successful organization. 10 years later, I grew the organization from nothing to a $1.5 million dollar organization, renovated an abandoned former military building by raising $4 million in capital improvement funds, and by 2021 Legacy LA had a budget of $3 million and employed 75 people. Being clear about my goal and mission, and leveraging networks and my connection to government organizations to ensure that everyone shared my vision for the community served.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

As the Executive Director of Legacy LA, we provided youth with opportunities to help them reach their potential. But my goal was not just to provide services for youth but to figure out how to change systems so that youth would be better served. As a result of my work at Legacy LA I was able to lead the campaign to create the City of Los Angeles’ first department solely focused on youth. In 2020 Mayor Garcetti created the City’s first Youth Development Department due to our organizing and advocacy efforts. This work led me to want to create bigger systemic change. I decided to leave Legacy LA, the organization I founded, to lead ExpandLA. ExpandLA is focused on increasing funding and access to out of school time programs so that all youth in LA County have the resources they need to succeed in school and life. This new role will allow me the opportunity to advocate for countywide systems changes on behalf of youth and to elevate the need to invest in young people.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.expandla.org
• Instagram: expand_la
• Linkedin: expandla
• Twitter: expandla
• Facebook: expandla

Image Credits
Owned by ExpandLA.