LUCHA
Changing the Conditions of Home
LaunchPad's origins are connected to the LUCHA documentary — a film that explores the lives of young people in the South Bronx navigating a community shaped by decades of disinvestment, displacement, and constrained opportunity.
The stories in LUCHA helped crystallize a question that LaunchPad is trying to answer: What would it look like to change the conditions of a community — rather than asking its residents to leave in search of opportunity?
The South Bronx and San Bernardino
The South Bronx and San Bernardino are different places with different histories. But they share patterns that are common across many American communities: decades of disinvestment, health disparities linked to poverty and environment, constrained economic opportunity, and young people who grow up being told that success means leaving.
They also share something else: deep community strength, resilience, cultural richness, and people who love where they are from and want to build something there.
LaunchPad does not claim to solve what decades of policy failure created. But it is designed to demonstrate that a different approach is possible — one that brings opportunity to communities, rather than asking communities to leave for opportunity.
"We are not asking young people to leave their communities to find opportunity. We are changing the conditions of their communities so opportunity can exist at home."