be well, boyle heights

“Be Well, Boyle Heights” is a collection of photo essays created by the Las Fotos Project teen photographers over the course of 12 weeks in the Spring of 2019. The Las Fotos Project Digital Promotoras program engages teenage girls in community advocacy through photography and storytelling and empowers them to use photojournalism as a tool for social change. 

With Boyle Heights residents showing a disproportionately larger percentage of diabetes and obesity-related illnesses than the greater Los Angeles area, the Digital Promotoras chose to focus “Be Well, Boyle Heights”  on highlighting the diverse ways residents are making positive changes in their lives and the lives of others. 

To tell these stories, Digital Promotoras partnered with a range of organizations offering critical services to Boyle Heights residents, including Legacy LA, Promesa Boyle Heights, Clinica Romero, Jovenes INC, Boyle Heights Bridge Runners, and St. John’s Well Child and Family Center.

“Be Well Boyle Heights” follows a budding youth leader advocating for environmental justice, a runner creating a safe space for new mothers, a young man overcoming houselessness, a health promotora and Zumba instructor, a wellness educator leading workshops in high schools, and the many community members taking care of themselves and their families for a better quality of life. 

The resulting narrative illustrates how diabetes, obesity and other chronic diseases disproportionately affect communities of color and raise awareness about everyday health challenges faced by people in our communities.