*(Los Angeles, CA) – When Connie Watson passed on September 29, 2016, the County of Los Angeles lost one of its most dedicated frontline warriors.
Having dedicated more than 25 years of her professional career to serving as the executive director of the South Los Angeles-based nonprofit, People Who Care Youth Center (PWC), Connie positively impacted the lives of thousands of youth over the years by providing them services they needed to lead them toward lives of self –sufficiency and empowerment. It was her life’s work.
A Nashville, TN native Connie relocated to Los Angeles more than 30 years ago. After a short stint as an entertainment public relations practitioner she “…couldn’t resist returning to a full-time commitment to the mental, social, economic, educational and physical well-being of children and families.”
Armed with both a bachelor and master’s degree in Social Work from California State University, Los Angeles, in the early 1990s she assumed the helm of People Who Care, which was founded in 1974 by South Central Los Angeles community residents who were concerned about the lack of positive outlets for youth in the community.
Despite the trials and tribulations of running an underfunded community-based organization, including working from a dilapidated, inner-city building with little furniture and even fewer resources, in 1991, then 40-year old Connie Watson was quoted in a Detroit News article, “Women Lead the Battle on Grass Roots Front,” that she had “…no desire to be anywhere else. This is where the battle is. This is where statistics are born and buried every day.”
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