Thank you, Linda!

As spring is coming to an end, we’re saying a heartfelt goodbye to Linda Reyes after 5 years at LA Más. Linda has shaped how LA Más has grown over its many seasons - and we are full of gratitude as we reflect on her contributions and impact she has left on our organization and community. Linda’s role has evolved over the years. 

She joined the team as Project Manager managing Backyard Homes, our affordable accessory dwelling unit program when we were an urban design non-profit working across the city. Bringing her own lived experience living in multi-generational housing with Chinese, Burmese, and Filipino cultural roots, Linda encouraged us to think about our housing systems differently and helped our homeowner and organizational partners create a new way of working together. 

Similarly, as LA Más transitioned the last two years into being a community based organization with working class residents of color shaping our program, Linda created space for ideas to emerge from residents directly. She uplifted existing housing practices, created popular education for housing alternatives, and worked with our neighbors to arrive at our current Community Housing program today.

Also a cultural organizer, Linda created space in all our programs for cultural practices, language justice, historic groundings, and personal connection. Linda oversaw the creation of our team of Languages Leads as part of Mercadito, which ensured our community members who spoke Cantonese, Khmei, Vietnamese, and Spanish felt heard and welcomed. This practice of language justice has been incorporated into how LA Más continues to hold space for meetings and gatherings. If you’ve attended our events and enjoyed the activity that encouraged you to connect with a different person, to learn about a new cultural practice, to be reminded about forgotten history - it was likely Linda who added the extra touch. 

In addition to all these gifts, Linda also brought over a decade of experience in fundraising and communications to our work and has been the voice and soul of LA Más in so many ways. She made sure all the words and visuals that describe our work and our community are always rooted in authenticity. Linda’s behind the scenes work has touched every one of our projects and programs over the years and has made our complex work accessible to everyone - including funders, allies, and community members alike. As such, through her incredible gifts in writing and narrative strategy, Linda has facilitated millions of dollars in grants and resources to support our work.

Internally, Linda always grounded our team and our work in our values. She helped make our implicit values more explicit by reminding us the systems that exist do not need to be the systems we accept. We thank her for being with us through so many transitions and being able to adapt to roles as needed, always showing up with quiet fortitude and fierce values.  

Linda has shaped where LA Más is today, as an organization that centers community with daily practices that reflect our values of solidarity and reciprocity. Linda’s title of Director of Narrative Strategy doesn’t reflect all her contributions in keeping our work, our relationships, and our team in an ecosystem of culturally grounded love and care. 

We are going to miss her so much and lucky for us, Linda will continue to be part of our solidarity ecosystem as she works in her own community as Finance & Operations Director at the Beverly Vermont Community Land Trust.

Linda, thank you for the ways you have encouraged us to share a more authentic narrative, to celebrate our cultural roots, to put our values into practice, and to be in solidarity with movements. Your impact at LA Más is a reflection of the integrity, authenticity, and rootedness you bring to all that you do!