The Vera Davis McClendon Youth and Family Center is a designated Historical Cultural Monument that honors Vera Davis’s Legacy, a Beloved Community Activist who served to provide for the Low Income Black and Brown Families in Venice. 

However, the center is now at risk of losing its name and its mission.

Recently renamed to the "Oakwood Junior Arts Center" without community consent, this change represents an act of erasure of Vera Davis’s legacy, undermining the imperative social and cultural work this center has provided for decades. This renaming not only threatens to disconnect the center from its historical roots but also serves to further gentrification and displacement in Venice, silencing the voices of the Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities who have always relied on this space. Vera Davis Center is also Venice's last welcoming community space for people of color.

We, as a community, demand the following actions to protect the future of the Vera Davis Center:

• Restore the original name: The center must continue to honor Vera Davis's legacy by retaining its rightful name.

• Ensure a democratic, transparent decision-making process: The community deserves a fair and open process in determining how the space is used, ensuring accountability to the people it serves.

• Prioritize Black, Brown, and Indigenous organizations and cultural workers with historical roots: Spaces within the center should be designated for organizations and cultural workers with meaningful roots in the Venice (and Oakwood) area. And center the needs of Venice’s native families and lifelong residents who’ve been subject to, or at-risk of, displacement forces.

Let’s come together and make sure our voices be heard and keep the Vera Davis McClendon Youth and Family Center a place of empowerment for future generations.

Supported by:

The Venice Community Resource Center, Helpers Foundation, Knights of Columbus of Venice, Venice Kush, Band Count Entertainment LLC, Venice Mexican American Traquero Monument Committee. Venice Native, Defend Venice.