Esperanza Community Housing is excited to celebrate 35 years with the South LA community, working together to achieve health, equity, and justice.

Purchase tickets to Esperanza's 35th Anniversary Dancing Under the Stars Gala today!


Friday, September 20, 2024
Mercado La Paloma
5pm-10pm

Mark your calendars, gather your friends, and get ready to celebrate Esperanza's 35th anniversary, featuring an art workshop, an exquisite dinner from the restaurants of Mercado la Paloma, and of course, live music and dancing! 

Donate to the $35 for 35 campaign to add your name to the Dancing Under the Stars commemorative event book!

Program Event

Yesi Ortiz

Master of Ceremonies

Las Cafeteras

Chicano & Son Jarocho Band

9-member band standing together, some holding instruments.

Yesi Ortiz

Yesi Ortiz, currently with Latino Media Network, began her radio career in 2003 at Power 106. She produced the docu-series "Single w/7" about raising her sister's seven children, and co-hosted "The Collective Powered by Vevo," produced by Jennifer Lopez. Ortiz co-founded L.I.M.A. COALITION and remains active in community support and mental health advocacy.

Las Cafeteras

Las Cafeteras, a musical group formed in 2010 in East Los Angeles, evolved from playing Son Jarocho in street protests to blending Cumbia, Punk, Hip-Hop, and Afro-Mexican beats into a unique electro-folk sound. Known for their electrifying performances, they’ve gained national and international recognition for their innovative fusion of styles.

Son Mayor

Son Mayor

Cuban Salsa Band

For over 25 years, Son Mayor has performed a captivating blend of vintage and contemporary Cuban sound. Voted “Best Salsa Band” by LA Weekly, this veteran group led by the Ortiz brothers—Eddie, Julian, Alfred “El Niño,” and Georgie—offers a danceable mix of horns, brass, and percussion.

Our 2024 Honorees

Brian Eklund

Sister Diane Donoghue Fierce Hope Award

For fearless leadership in social justice, community development and advocacy for 35 years

Brian Eklund has dedicated his life to service, spending decades fostering multicultural unity and advocating for social justice in South Central Los Angeles. As a founding member of Esperanza Community Housing, he has been instrumental in advancing our mission, and currently serves as the Board Chair.

Gabriella Valdez

Cultural Activism Award

For creative contributions that educate and inspire people to action through art

Gabriella Valdez is a Mexican-American painter and illustrator. Her work plays with narrative and her experiences with poverty, domestic violence, and social injustice. She captures intimate moments in time, somewhere between joy and struggle, that aim to humanize marginalized communities and people of color.

ACT-LA

Social Justice Award

For radical leadership in promoting equitable development through transit and housing justice

UCLA CDLS

Community Building Award

For enriching communities through your authentic commitment to inclusive climate science and environmental justice

The Center for Diverse Leadership in Science works to transform culture and build community by facilitating collaboration between early-career fellows, community fellows, and faculty fellows. We are a reparative and grassroots organization that is guided by the curiosity, joy, and passion of our fellows and partners. We collectively work towards healthier communities by training, empowering, and support emerging leaders to work together to address issues that impact our lives – human and ecological health, climate change, environmental, water, land, and ocean stewardship, and racialized and gendered injustices – in ways that are inclusive of diverse cultural and individual identities.

Approx. 20 CDLS members, standing in a classroom smiling at the camera
Approx. 20 CDLS members, standing outside smiling at the camera

ACT-LA is a broad-based coalition made up of organizations with expertise engaging in transit justice, housing justice, environmental justice, and public health. ACT-LA was founded in 2011 after a series of community assemblies were organized to address displacement of low-income families from Los Angeles’s transit-rich neighborhoods. ACT-LA formed out of these assemblies so that the region would have a coalition of grassroots and “grasstops” organizations working together to organize city and county-wide campaigns around transit justice, housing justice, public health, and quality jobs.

Thank you to our 2024 sponsors!

35th Anniversary Hope Builder

Innovators

Champion of Change

Benefactors

Advocates

Campaigners

Grassroots Defenders

TRUST South LA