WLCAC

Mar 21 2013

Continues to provide needed services

The Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC) continues to provide needed services to a changing demographic in South Los Angeles.

Founded by the late Ted Watkins shortly before the 1965 Watts Riots, the organization has focused on quality-of-life issues in the community which has, for more than 50 years, been mired in poverty, unemployment, inadequate housing and violent crime.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Feb 16 2012

Many residents resist proposed changes in district maps

A parade of residents from different parts of the city tried their best Saturday during a hearing at West Angeles Church of God in Christ to convince members of the L.A. City Redistricting Commission to redraw the council district boundary lines to suit their community needs.

Most talked about the need to keep communities of interest together, and those from Watts pointed out how the proposed draft map would deprive them of even the minimal potential resources they had to improve their community.

Lisa Olivia Fitch  |   OW Contributor
Sep 2 2010

CEO credits survival to economic thrust

In August 1965, Watts became known world-wide for being the site of the largest riots known to that date. Today, Watts is home to one of the largest and most successful community based organizations in the world, the WLCAC—Watts Labor Community Action Committee.
And it all began with labor.

In 1964, Ted Watkins was an employee of the Ford Motor Company, and a member of the United Auto Workers union. After successfully influencing Ford’s employment policy, his advocay efforts earned the attention of then-UAW President Walter Reuther.  

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Feb 11 2010

Veteran activist Angela Davis speaks at WLCAC

 Angela Davis, one of the seminal figures in the social and political revolutions that took place in America in the 1960s and 1970s, will spend the afternoon at the Watts Labor Community Action Center (WLCAC) in Phoenix Hall, Feb. 21 from 2 to 5 p.m.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
May 7 2009

Summer opportunities announced

Los Angeles, CA -- Summer youth employment was not just a way for Nicole Graves to earn a little spending money. Participating in the HIRE L.A.’s Youth program last year was “path-forming,” said the 2007 Dorsey High School graduate who had only held one other job previous to working as a student journalist in the city’s Community Development Department, and was struggling to buy books during her first year of college at El Camino Community College.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.