Grab your tickets now! Renascent/Renaciente in East Hollywood Is on August 27, 2026

100 people, 100 plates of food and drinks. Live music, and at least four special honorees. The goal?? To raise no less than $10,000 through our program. It’s fair to ask if this can even be done, because it’s actually never been done in East Hollywood specifically for immigrant communities here in such a way. Then again, neither had a handful of volunteers– or children of immigrants–organized quite like our team has in nearly a decade of planning through the backyards our families raised us in. If you or your small business would like to donate an item for our raffle, please don’t hesitate to reach out, and all the more so since Quién Es Tu Vecindario’s nonprofit status ensures your donation is tax-deductible.

Consigue tus boletos ahora! 100 personas, 100 platos de comida y bebidas. Música en vivo y al menos cuatro personas que recibirán un reconocimiento especial. ¿El objetivo? Recaudar no menos de 10.000 dólares a través de nuestro programa. Es lógico preguntarse si esto es siquiera posible, ya que, de hecho, nunca se ha hecho algo así en East Hollywood específicamente para las comunidades inmigrantes de la zona. Por otro lado, tampoco se había visto antes a un grupo de voluntarios —hijos de inmigrantes— organizarse de la manera en que lo ha hecho nuestro equipo tras casi una década de planificación en los patios donde crecimos. Si usted o su pequeña empresa desean donar un artículo para nuestra rifa, no duden en ponerse en contacto con nosotros; más aún teniendo en cuenta que el estatus de organización sin fines de lucro de Quién Es Tu Vecindario garantiza que su donación sea deducible de impuestos.

J.T.

Our “Back 2 School” Party Returns to East Hollywood this summer

Last summer when the First Ever Back to School Party made its way to East Hollywood in Los Angeles, it was following in the steps of an earlier precedent set in the neighborhood by the First Ever Open Mic at Cahuenga Library in Spring 2018.

Each event was designed from scratch, essentially made up of ‘thin air’, and would go on to create reverberations in and around the neighborhood for days. Now, with a 2nd Annual Open Mic Night at Cahuenga Library officially done and documented, and with the official start of summer just over a week away, it’s my pleasure to announce a 2nd Annual Back to School Party (BTS II), once again at El Gran Burrito in Los Angeles on Saturday, August 24, 2019. BTS II will coalesce with several other projects by yours truly, including the East Hollywood Neighborhood Survey, an upcoming Summer Writing Challenge for Students in L.A., and more Los Cuentos Merch, among other goodies.

In other words, it’s an exciting time to prepare for summer heat in The City, where our marks under the sun wait once again to be remade. In celebration and anticipation of the next ‘BTS’ Party, it’s also my pleasure to publish the gallery in this blog, each picture courtesy of Samanta Helou, of This Side of Hoover. Samanta’s pictures are proof of the power that emanates so boldly when communities come together unapologetically seeking something new for themselves. My world changed magnetically in the flicker of time that was the event–just as it would in the time following it–and I know I’m not the only one for whom that’s true.

I look to create the same opportunity and more for The City alongside my team this next Summer 2019. Expect nothing less than the world!

J.T.