Hollenbeck’s annual Miracle on First Street includes distributing thousands of Thanksgiving food baskets for local families in need.
The Hollenbeck Youth / Inner City Games and their founding organization, the Hollenbeck Police Business Council have created one of the most consequential grassroots, community-based organizations of the last 50 years coming out of the neighborhoods of East Los Angeles.
There are many critical components to successful non-profit organizations and although consistent funding is essential, so too are volunteers with a wide range of skills and experience. Whether neighborhood kids, athletes, their parents, police officers, veterans, media professionals, Hollywood stars, athletes, politicians, fundraisers, or sponsors, the common cause for supporting the HYC and Inner City Games unites people from all across the region, for the benefit of our children.
Without volunteers from the community and corporate supporters, our large-scale public events could never happen.
Volunteerism is the lifeblood of the Hollenbeck Youth Center year in and year out. It’s also the core of the community values we teach, to not only our kids but to everyone who participates with the organization. Many young people who started out volunteering, have returned years later as professionals, to further enrich the community and the Hollenbeck Youth Center.
For more information on how you can volunteer in support of our work
Hollenbeck Youth Center has sponsored hundreds of LAPD Explorers, many of whom have entered into law enforcement careers across Southern California.
Homegrown police officers are critical to improving Community/Police relations, especially in times of crisis is a key component of our long-term solutions to these critical issues of our time.
The Hollenbeck Youth Center/Inner City Games model and its relationship with LAPD’s Hollenbeck Division, business communities, local government, and the communities they serve, began in the early 1970s. The organization established itself as one of the first examples of community-based policing long before the term was coined. The model worked then and continues to this day under the leadership of CEO Danny Hernandez and President Priscilla Hernandez.
Former Los Angeles City Councilman and LAPD Chief Bernard Parks, has been a friend of Hollenbeck’s for his entire career.
Danny Hernandez continues to serve his personal mission in service of community and country. He encourages Veterans from all branches of the military to play a key role in Hollenbeck’s operations throughout the year. This relationship provides crucial opportunities for exposing young people to community service aspects of civic, law enforcement, and military service.
