By PETER YOON, Rafu Digital Editor

The UCLA Alumni Changemakers Series highlighted the Little Tokyo Service Center on Saturday, March 16 as part of their 2024 program: Advancing Social Change and Preserving Culture in an Evolving Landscape. 

“[The Changemakers Series] is about acknowledging Bruins who are engaging in this work, who have committed to social change for a lifetime, who are transforming the lived conditions of the communities that they’re serving; and centralizing and honoring the legacies and histories of immigrant communities of color,” said Denise Pacheco, Senior Director, Alumni Diversity Programs & Initiatives, who emceed the event with Erich Nakano, M.A. ‘93 – Executive Director, Little Tokyo Service Center.

Festivities began with a tour of Little Tokyo led by Bill Watanabe and Grant Sunoo of LTSC.  Participants were shown the location of various Little Tokyo landmarks including the location of the future Go For Broke Plaza and First Street North Residences.  

Following the tour, a panel took place in the Terasaki Budokan Community Room, focusing on housing rights and public services for underserved communities. Each UCLA alum and LTSC leader shared insights into their experiences serving the community. LTSC is the second community organization to be part of the UCLA Changemakers Series.

Panelists included: Bill Watanabe, M.S.W. ’72 – Founding Executive Director, Little Tokyo Service Center, Caroline Calderon, M.A. ’19 – Project Manager, Little Tokyo Service Center, Grant Sunoo, M.A. ’06 – Director of Community Building & Engagement, Little Tokyo Service Center, and Vivian Lee, M.S.W. ’06 – Co-Director of Counseling Programs, Little Tokyo Service Center.

Bill Watanabe shared how he helped create LTSC in 1979 along with the core values of LTSC that endure today.  Watanabe described his path from mechanical engineer to founding Executive Director of Little Tokyo Service Center. 

“After I started working at Lockheed, I realized that I had made a terrible mistake,” said Watanabe to raucous laughter.  He recalled hearing about the social work that his friends were doing supporting the community, and he decided to apply to UCLA.  The rest is history.

Vivian Lee, Co-Director of Counseling Programs, joined LTSC to fulfill a need for Chinese-speaking providers.  She recounted her first case helping a young man who was discharged from the National Guard due to a schizophrenia diagnosis.  Her service helped his family to qualify for Medi-Cal and Medicare benefits and allowed him to receive the services of a licensed psychiatrist.  When his benefits were later terminated, Lee fought to have his services reinstated.

Grant Sunoo, Director of Community Building and Engagement, spoke about the ethical development of communities, gentrification, and the eviction of Suehiro.  “[Suehiro] has become emblematic of the struggle of small businesses to stay in neighborhoods”, said Sunoo.  “How do we apply policy to help prevent this from happening in the future?”

Suehiro, which was evicted from its location on First Street North earlier this year, opened a new location on 4th and Main. Suehiro will reportedly be returning to Little Tokyo as one of the small businesses at the First Street North property.

LTSC recently broke ground on the First Street North Property along with the Go For Broke Plaza in February.  The project is one of many that LTSC is currently a part of and will add 200 low-income housing units along with new affordable commercial spaces for small businesses.

Caroline Calderon, Project Manager, started as an intern at the Little Tokyo Historical Society, learning about historic preservation work and the community investment model that was organized by Bill Watanabe.  During the pandemic, she was inducted into LTSC as an assistant project manager. 

Calderon highlighted the impact that LTSC has had since their first housing project on San Pedro, “Since then, LTSC has constructed and rehabilitated close to 1,000 units of affordable housing.  Each of our buildings services different populations: seniors, transitional-aged youth, survivors of domestic violence, and low-income families.”  

After more than 40 years, LTSC continues to work towards improving and preserving Little Tokyo.

“We are proud to highlight Bruin changemakers at Little Tokyo Service Center who are providing culturally relevant social welfare and community development services to people in need,” said Cory Rosas, Director of UCLA Alumni Diversity Programs & Initiatives.

This publication was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

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