About

SIPA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization serving Historic Filipinotown and other neighborhoods throughout Greater Los Angeles County. SIPA produces programs for youth and families including case management and counseling, after school programs, senior programs, small business development, cultural enrichment, and affordable housing.

Mission

SIPA enriches and empowers generations of Pilipino Americans and others by providing health and human services, community economic development, arts and culture, and a place where people of all backgrounds come together to strengthen community.

Values

In the late 1960s, a coalition of progressive and passionate individuals within the Filipino, Asian American & Pacific Islander, and progressive communities came together to organize the growing Filipino-American community through Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA). SIPA’s core values, which define us as an organization, are based on the following Indigenous Pilipino values:

Kawanggawa

From awa (compassion) and gawa (action), refers to charity, “a kind act” or “deed of mercy.” Based on notion of pakikipagkapwa, or shared humanity.

Damayan

From damay (to involve, implicate, draw in), refers to the involvement / engagement aspect of service and community development.

Pagtutulongan

From tulong (help), refers to peer to peer assistance and in an egalitarian spirit of mutual self-help.

History

Founded in 1972, the mission of Search To Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA) is to enhance the quality of life in Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown and for Pilipino Americans throughout Los Angeles County. As such, SIPA provides a wide range of health and human services and community economic development programs aimed at improving economic self-sufficiency, educational attainment, cultural awareness and civic engagement. Youth and family services (counseling and case management, afterschool programs, etc.) are the core of SIPA’s programs, but in the 1990’s housing, small business and consumer assistance and civic engagement and advocacy were added to more comprehensively address the needs of our clients. Additionally, SIPA has expanded its capacity to serve a diverse population and currently provides services in English, Tagalog (Filipino), and Spanish.

In the next few years, SIPA’s goals include expanding our existing services, while growing support for youth, families, seniors and vulnerable communities though expanded programs that are responsive to needs that have emerged from the pandemic and rapidly changing conditions. SIPA will open our new offices in mid-2022 as part of the HiFi Collective, a 63-unit permanent supportive housing development in the heart of Historic Filipinotown.