History
After two years of meeting in living rooms, CADRE co-founders Rosalinda Hill and Maisie Chin opened an office and began organizing a South Los Angeles (South LA) parent base in August 2001, canvassing in several South LA neighborhoods. CADRE works specifically in the South LA area served by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), and we are focused on Local District 7, comprising the schools that feed into and include Fremont, Locke, Jordan, and Manual Arts High Schools.
Driven and led by African American and Latino South LA parents, CADRE has used grassroots, door-to-door community canvassing to speak with over 4,000 parents since 2001. We have a solid core parent leadership that has become the organization’s central planning and decision-making body.
Vision
South LA schools that:
- Include and respect the cultures of their families and communities
- Genuinely engage parents in decision-making regardless of race, income, language, immigration status, or age
- Actively maintain equal power with parents who effectively hold them accountable
A South LA community-based, independent, parent-led organization that makes parent power a strong, organized, and permanent force to be reckoned with:
- Changing the perception and treatment of South LA parents
- Countering racism towards South LA parents
- Protecting the civil and human rights of South LA parents and their families, especially their right to dignity, education, and participation