About Us
The mission of Quien Es Tu Vecindario is to uplift and empower under-served communities in Los Angeles, most of all immigrants, elders, youth, LGBTQUIA+ people, and more. Quien Es Tu Vecindario became a certified nonprofit in 2020, and played a major role in the storytelling series known as Making Our Neighborhood: Redlining, Gentrification and Housing in East Hollywood, which won an Award of Merit from the APA chapter in Los Angeles in 2021. In 2023, our team was awarded grants from both the L.A. County Department of Arts and Culture as well as the Core Contributors Group. We’re also proud to note that Quien Es Tu Vecindario was founded by and continues to be led by members born and raised in East Hollywood, Virgil Village, Los Feliz, and Silver Lake. Thus, during this time of unconstitutional arrests of immigrants across Los Angeles, we are organizing daily to defend our community. Learn more about our board officers and representatives below.
Wendy Gomez –
Community Representative
Wendy was born and raised in East Hollywood, in a Salvadoran immigrant household. Growing up in Los Angeles, she became passionate about investing in communities that have systemically been disinvested in but have enormous amounts of strength, beauty and resilience. Wendy has several years working on programs and policies for criminal justice reform, youth development, mental health, and housing throughout the nonprofit and public sector. She has led city wide research on youth development and stewarded millions of dollars in funding to grassroots organizations. She earned her master’s degree in Public Affairs from Princeton University and a BA from Dickinson College as a Posse Scholar.
Ninoska “Nina” Suarez –
Programs Strategist
Nina is a daughter of Colombian and Nicaraguan immigrants, born and raised in East Hollywood. She developed a passion for service while attending Spanish-American SDA church in Boyle Heights in her youth, where she volunteered in tax preparation workshops, food kitchens, and immigration rights workshops. Nina has been an administrator in the non-profit sector for the last seven years, supporting programs that focus on arts and culture, mental health, and social justice. As President of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council, she founded the Produce Box Program, which provides hundreds of East Hollywood residents access to organic fresh produce. Nina is currently working on her master’s degree in Public Administration from California State University, Northridge (CSUN), and earned her BS in Business Administration from CSUN. She enjoys spending time with family, walking her miniature schnauzer Poe, and exploring new and familiar destinations.
Edwin Monroy –
Family Advocate
Edwin is an East Hollywood “original,” along with his sisters, primos and primas. He attended Lockwood Elementary, King Middle School, and Marshall High School, where diversity and love from his peers motivated him to go the distance with his education and sense of duty to our community. For two summers in a row– just before Quien Es Tu Vecindario‘s certification as a nonprofit, Edwin was instrumental in putting together our organization’s “Back 2 School” parties for families in East Hollywood. Each summer from 2019 – 2021, he was also an Athletic Trainer with the Las Vegas Raiders. Today, he is an Injury Prevention Specialist by day and the rest of the time: the bonafide Family Advocate for Quien Es Tu Vecindario.
Anthony Abraham –
Chief Financial Officer
Anthony is passionate about serving local communities and has five years of experience working in administrative roles in local nonprofits serving marginalized communities, including in Oakland and Los Angeles. Raised in India as well as the Bay Area, Anthony has a broad and unique perspective on struggles of working class and poor communities in rural and urban environments. Anthony holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics from University of California, Davis and is currently enrolled in the Public Administration graduate degree program at California State University, Los Angeles. Anthony also enjoys traveling, movies and sports.
Jimmy Recinos –
Executive Director
Jimmy—also known as J.T.—is the founder of Quien Es Tu Vecindario. In 2014, after earning his B.A. in Literature from U.C. Davis, he decided the best way to return to L.A. would be with a platform to dissect the city’s future based on his upbringing through it; since then, jimbotimes.com has published more than 300,000 words on issues relating to gentrification, housing and homelessness, L.A. City and County elections, California history, and more. By 2021, this work prepared Jimmy to lead and host the first-ever of its kind discussion series, an educational program known as Redlining, Gentrification and Housing in East Hollywood. Now, when not reviewing the Brown Act with fellow board members, he writes for Making a Neighborhood; Jimmy also hosts and produces J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast, which publishes episodes every other Friday.