Anahuak Youth Sports Association “ANAHUAK” is a non-for-profit children’s sports organization.  It was founded 10 years ago (1997) when fifteen children from the Glassell Park, Highland Park, Lincoln Heights, and Cypress Park neighborhoods asked Raul Macias to volunteer as their soccer coach.  They have dedicated themselves to provide underserved youth with active recreational opportunities to keep our youth healthy, engaged and away from gangs.  Along the way ANAHUAK has also expanded their programs to engage the parents of the youth served to become involved in community improvement projects and influencing the city in important decision-making processes. 

What began as a small sports group has now grown into the most significant community-based organization in the area.  Today, ANAHUAK serves over 2,000 boys and girls ages 5-17 and counts with a constituency of about 8,000 family members (older siblings, parents, uncles, aunts and cousins).

ANAHUAK provides services that the Los Angeles Unified School District, the Department of Recreation and Parks and the City of Los Angeles are unable to provide.  North East Los Angeles is park poor and there are unfair disparities in access to parks and recreation space based on income, race, ethnicity and access to a car.  They currently work with the families they serve to provide these with recreational and environmental educational opportunities.

The potential to further reach-into Latino communities through ANAHUAK is so evident, that one wonders why an organization with such great connections to the Latino community has been overlooked for much needed funding.  One reason could be that ANAHUAK is seen by environmental entities, conservancies and foundations as only a “soccer association” and not for what they really are: a stakeholder capacity-building, river parkway and open space advocacy, community-based, watershed-driven organization.  Urban Semillas is working under the leadership of Raul Macias, Executive Director and Founder of ANAHUAK, to “re-brand” the organization to reflect their real role in the community.  ANAHUAK is a Social Justice organization.

The re-branding of ANAHUAK includes the further development of environmental educational programs/products: “Agua (water) University” and “La Universidad del Rio” (River University); the creation of a Community Newspaper that would incorporate real community issues unfiltered by mass media; the nourishment of existing community partnerships; and the development of the two-year and five-year strategic plan for the organization.

The work that is taking place at ANAHUAK will leave a long-lasting imprint in the City of Los Angeles.  Moreover, it will yield substantive data that can provide us with an insight view on how Latino communities are socially structured and best ways to reach them.