The Sociedad Organizada de Latinas Activas (SODLA) is a group of immigrant women in South Central Los Angeles determined to play a central role in the economic, social and political development of our community.
The group, whose name means Organized Society of Active Latinas, was born out of the Immigrant Latina Leaders project that was launched in April 2016 after a report was released regarding Latinas and local identities.
The study, “Roots|Raíces: Latino Engagement, Place Identities, and Shared Futures in South Los Angeles,” published by the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration at the University of Southern California California (USC), distinguished the historic integration of immigrant Latinos in East Los Angeles from Latinos born in the U.S. and immigrants in South Los Angeles.
One of the descriptors included in the report is a new phenomenon called “ethnic sedimentation,” which describes how a community builds upon itself based on interconnectedness and traditions.
The report also touches on the legacy of social justice spearheaded by the Black community of South Los Angeles in the past, when they represented 80% of the population.
Recruiting and hiring
CDTech began recruiting soon after the report was published, contacting 300 Latina residents who, in the past, had voiced their desire to participate in change-effecting initiatives.
Sixty women signed up for this project and 40 remain active.
CDTech then reached out to a group of Latina immigrant leaders certified in Community Planning and Economic Development from Los Angeles Trade-Technical College. These leaders have become agents of change in their neighborhoods — eight of them are on the advisory committee of the current project, which oversees academic development, training and advisement of SODLA leaders, and are involved in civic actions.
CDTech has delivered leadership development training in Spanish through credit-bearing classes at community colleges in the Community Planning and Economic Development Program.
Forty leaders have taken one or more classes, while 19 have taken three or more. In total, the leaders have earned more than 120 college credits. We are also proud to say that 13 colleagues graduated in the summer of 2024, and this year two more will earn their certificates.
Storytelling is the central methodology that drives the learning process, connecting leaders' lived experiences to broader systemic and collective issues.
Ten of our leaders received training to provide secondhand and thirdhand smoke education as part of the UCLA-Smokefree Air for Everyone (UCLA-S.A.F.E) project, funded by the CDC.
More than 100 residents came together and gained knowledge about incentivizing property owners to get them to implement smoke-free policies. They presented the conditions of impacted families before the Rent Adjustment Commission. They also received training to become CDC spokespersons through a distance learning opportunity offered by Midwest Academy Strategy Charter and contributed information on issues affecting women and girls in South Los Angeles to the LA County Women and Girls Initiative provided by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Administration, and participated in the focus group for the USC ERI rent burden study. Additionally, they provided voter education in their communities about the YES on 10 ballot measure.
In 2019, the leaders developed the mission, vision and values statement, as well as an organizational structure for the autonomous organization SODLA. They elected their leaders, formed the five-chair leadership committee and established four subcommittees: Advocacy, Education and Training, Finance and Communications.
Mission and vision
Every year, each committee develops a working plan based on the mission, which dictates they should play a central role in our community, integrating personal lived experiences, community wisdom and formal education as students of the LATTC development program.
Our vision is that all residents prosper and participate in the economic and social development and are able to exercise their civic rights.
Today, we are a total of 42 women who have a firm belief in our mission and vision, and we will not stop until we see all of our objectives made reality in our communities.
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