After almost three years of planning and permitting through city bureaucracy, the Memories of El Monte Community Arts Space and Peoples’ Café is set to open 6/26 weekend. Throughout this time, we have sustained our work through grants, online fundraisers, and food sales. Any and all contributions will help sustain our work in cultivating the arts and addressing food insecurity in El Monte and the Greater San Gabriel Valley.
Funds will go towards purchasing some last remaining items such as:
chairs from Central Seating Inc. ($3500)
security door from Den Defenders ($3000)
security gate from a local welder ($5500)
Indoor and outdoor mural paintings ($2000)
coffee supply from Zapatista territory (xxx amount)
This will be our last online fundraiser as adopt a more sustainable model transitioning from a volunteer arts space to a workers' cooperative. We are all about transparency and will be hosting an open house so you can meet our team and learn about the inner workings of our cafe.
Since the pandemic, we have been providing support for families in need. Building upon the work of the El Monte Tenants Union, we expanded our food distributions to a biweekly basis in the Klingerman Apartments in which over 150 families receive at least 10 pounds of fruits, vegetables, breads, and meat. Our goal is to expand our food services to include a soup kitchen and provide warm meals for children, the elderly, and houseless populations. We are inspired by the survival programs of the Black Panther Party and the autonomous cooperatives of the Zapatistas. With the threats of cutting school lunch programs and mass deportations, our communities need support now more than ever.
What is the Peoples’ Café?
Peoples’ Café is a project working to address food insecurity through our biweekly food distributions. We also look to reintroduce Native foods through our food truck. Menu items will include the bison, venison, turkey as well as the three sisters: corn, beans and squash. In reflecting our local community, we will include fusion items bringing together Asian and Mesoamerican cultures. The food truck will be hosted at the Memories of El Monte Community Arts Space as well as offering catering and pop-ups throughout Los Angeles County and Southern California.
What is Memories of El Monte?
The Memories of El Monte Community Arts Space is a multifaced community hub serving as a creative outlet providing educational resources to the local community. Over the years, we have provided free art classes, music lessons, creative writing workshops and more. Our work is culturally relevant and trauma-informed as all of our volunteers and practitioners understand the conditions of our communities and live within proximity of our location.
