Dear John,

I want to take a moment to introduce myself, or perhaps re-introduce myself: my name is Víctor Sánchez, and I am the executive director of LAANE. 

It’s still a little surreal to write that sentence, but ever since Roxana Tynan approached me two years ago to discuss this moment, more and more I have come to feel only one thing.

Resolve.

Resolve to continue LAANE’s critical work, and to double down on our organizing efforts.

Resolve to strengthen and grow our capacity to design, build and execute transformative campaigns that expand union density, increase worker power, and realize concrete change in the lives of working families.

Resolve to build a multiracial progressive movement in my hometown of Los Angeles.

And resolve, most personally, to honor the hard work of my immigrant parents and the futures of my two young kids.

I came to political consciousness watching families like mine fight for access to a social contract that should have been theirs. As a kid trying to translate for my mom while she navigated a healthcare system almost as daunting as the cancer she was fighting, as a youth galvanized by the mass mobilizations against HR4437, as a college student who returned his second year only to discover many of his friends couldn’t afford to come back, I was learning that transactional changes wouldn’t get us to where we needed to be. What we needed was transformation.

And so it was probably inevitable that I would find my way to LAANE, first as the director of the Long Beach campaign, then Quality Care and Climate. 

Certifying signatures for Long Beach Ballot Measure WW

My second day on the job, we lost a Long Beach City Council vote to protect women hospitality workers from abuse on the job. The señoras who had shown up to give deeply personal public comments were in tears. It was a baptism in loss, but of course the story doesn’t end there. Forty thousand signatures later, we took the policy past Council and directly to the people of Long Beach, and ballot measure WW was overwhelmingly approved. This campaign held an important lesson for me about where our collective power lies, and where that power needs to be developed, that still motivates me today.

I’m a natural – some might say relentless – optimist, but I also don’t kid myself about the enormity of the challenges we face. Climate change, a housing crisis, poverty, greed, racism all enshroud the road we’re making by walking. But I still believe – and my belief is bolstered by our shared victories – that when we fight, together, we win. I look forward to working alongside you to realize a better, kinder, more just future for all.

Adelante,

Víctor Sánchez
LAANE Executive Director

To learn more about Víctor's story and what's next for LAANE, check out his conversation with Professor Manuel Pastor, Director of the Equity Research Institute.