Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC) is a social service and community economic development organization based in an area known as Little Tokyo, serving those in need in the greater Los Angeles area. Our origins are in Little Tokyo, where we strive for a vibrant and healthy multi-ethnic neighborhood that preserves and celebrates its rich Japanese-American heritage. Our roots are also in the broader Japanese American community of Southern California, where we serve as the primary bilingual, bicultural social service provider in the region. As we gained experience over the years in social services and community economic development, we expanded our work to address the needs of disadvantaged groups of all ethnicities and backgrounds. We have done this by collaborating with community-based organizations that are addressing needs in low-income communities, with a historical foundation in Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

These have evolved to become our three areas of work that continue today.

1. Little Tokyo is a 125-year old community and is where we started as an organization over thirty years ago. We remain dedicated to preserving Little Tokyo as a place that recognizes the historical presence and contributions of Japanese Americans. We also strive to promote Little Tokyo as a vibrant home to low-income residents, workers, small business owners, and others in need from various ethnic backgrounds. We provide a range of social services to Little Tokyo's many diverse senior residents, and organize and empower them through supporting the Little Tokyo Resident Association which we initiated.
   LTSC has renovated and upgraded 3 buildings in Little Tokyo’s historic district, which serve the community with an arts/cultural event venue, retail space, community space and 58 units of affordable housing. In addition, LTSC built the first new family-oriented housing project in the area in over 70 years that provides affordable housing to 100 families and seniors. Currently, LTSC is in the process of bringing a multi-court sports facility for basketball, volleyball, martial arts, and other community uses to Little Tokyo. This facility will become a major center of activity in the neighborhood, and will draw families and young people from throughout Southern California into Little Tokyo, exposing and re-introducing this historic community to new generations.
2. In the broader Japanese American community, we remain the only regional bilingual and bicultural social service provider in Southern California. LTSC touches the lives of 18,000 people each year – a significant proportion of whom are clients from the broader Japanese American community who come to us from three counties across Southern California. These include many seniors who need help with government benefits, finding caregivers, need transportation to doctor appointments, need counseling or have health and disability issues, and many other needs. These are people who, because of language and cultural barriers, would not otherwise know where to go for assistance.
3. At the core of LTSC’s services in the broader Central/Downtown Los Angeles area are 4 affordable housing complexes with 240 units ranging from studios to 4 bedroom apartments, housing close to 1,000 people. Because we house those most in need, there is a tremendous ethnic diversity among our residents – the majority of residents being Latino, and also including many other Asian ethnicities. To serve these residents, and the surrounding low-income neighborhoods, LTSC provides an array of programs serving those as young as 3 months old to high school youths, to working adults, to seniors. We provide childcare for over 160 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in two centers and in family childcare homes; provide afterschool activities and tutoring to youth; provide computer and other employment skill training for adults; and case management and counseling for families and individuals – all provided in 6 languages.

LTSC has always tried to respond to needs beyond our immediate neighborhood – but in a manner which emphasizes collaboration with community groups indigenous to that area. As LTSC gained experience as an affordable housing developer, it became the premiere resource for such development in the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) and other low-income communities. As a result, many community-based organizations asked LTSC for assistance in addressing the housing needs of populations they served. Because of this demand, we developed the Affordable Housing Collaborative program through which LTSC partners with community based organizations that do not have the requisite real estate experience to develop affordable housing on their own.

To date, we have developed over 760 units, housing close to 2,500 people, with another 288 units currently in the pipeline. We are working with over 15 different organizations including Asian and Pacific Islander groups such as Chinatown Service Center, Koreatown Youth and Community Center, the Thai Community Development Center, as well as other low-income organizations such as the Coalition for Responsible Community Development in the predominantly African American and Latino South L.A. neighborhood. These are projects for seniors, for families, and for special needs populations such as emancipated foster youth, survivors of domestic violence, chronically mentally ill, formerly homeless, and many others. LTSC lends its real estate experience and capacity to build the housing, and once completed, our partner organization then provides the services to residents.

LTSC also works in several other collaboratives which provide services to multiple API communities such as the one we developed to provide assistance to small businesses in the Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Thai and Japanese communities. This program has helped to start-up or strengthen hundreds of small businesses and create and maintain thousands of jobs in those businesses.

Thank you for supporting Little Tokyo Service Center.

For more information check out our website at www.LTSC.org.