At the end of 2001, a college student named Steve Carter returned from a missions trip to Santiago, Chile with a multitude of stories that demonstrated the hospitality and genuine relationship-building of the pastor and church in Chile. While he was there, the pastor showed him around the town, introducing him to every local—talking about one woman’s laundry shop on that corner, a man’s meat shop down the street, a family he sees every Sunday. It became clear to Steve that the pastor not only knew his congregation, but knew his local community even more. When Steve shared these stories with fellow college students, they were each struck by the intentionality of this pastor because 1990s Western Church culture seemed to be more interested in making the building more beautiful than engaging with the community.

Steve’s stories began the conversation about a new way to do local missions. At that time, Kevin Mo-Wong, present-day Executive Director of Solidarity, felt that God had put 1 John on his heart. The passage focuses on the idea that God is love. With this in mind, the eight college students determined that they wanted to love people in a way that enabled them to experience God, not just be motivated to come to church. A lot of excitement grew from this conversation and the group of eight were determined to bring more people in. The next day, Steve and Kevin knocked on every door in the dorms and invited people to join their movement.

In the months that followed, this group of college students met at local banks, rented rooms in apartment complexes, and various dorm rooms at Hope. They spoke about Kingdom theology, God’s love, and how they can make a difference in the local community in a way that sets them apart from regular church services. At that time, this meant random acts of kindness and service projects. At the end of each project, the team would leave, feeling good about what they “accomplished for Jesus,” totally unaware of the awkwardness or weird social implications these projects may have perpetuated for the people they were helping. Although it began as revolutionary, project after project began to feel hollow and self-serving because there were no long lasting relationships with the people they were helping. The group wanted to do more.

Remembering how the pastor in Chile maintained a number of relationships within the community, the group determined that what they were missing were meaningful relationships. After a bit of exploring, the group came across the Garnet community in Fullerton. At that time, there was a city-run center that provided direct services like paperwork or food distribution. One of the members of the team, Tommy Nixon began to step up in leadership, offering to give some vision and direction. Tommy, met with the Garnet community director at the time who expressed the community’s need for an after-school program. So, Kevin and Tommy walked through the community and began inviting kids to the community center for the first rendition of Solidarity’s After-School Program.

Although the first days of the after-school program lacked structure and academic focus (preferring massive dodgeball games over homework) God blessed it—the number of kids multiplied and the team began to get to know the parents. Shortly after, Tim and Matt Anderson, two more college students, moved into the neighborhood and opened up their apartment to the teenagers on the block, creating the Solid House—the first iteration of the TILT program. Although they were still getting to know the adults in the community, Tim and Matt built deep friendships with the high-risk youth in Garnet and hosted the teens every Saturday.

Another academic program that began during this time was called “Gente Inteligente” and shortly after, the first Teen Center was born in the garage of the community center.

At this point, the Solidarity team was still technically a small group running three programs, so Tommy Nixon proposed the idea of becoming a nonprofit. As the founding Executive Director, Tommy began the paperwork but they needed a lawyer and an accountant so they began praying for that. Only a few days later, a long-time partner approached the team and introduced a lawyer who had been wanting to expand his services to nonprofit law and an accountant. At the beginning of 2003, the paperwork was filled out and sent in and by 2004, Solidarity had become an official nonprofit.

When Solidarity gained recognition of their 5013c in 2003, they were able to take donations which gave Solidarity greater organizational structure and allowed for employees to begin getting paid.

From there, Tommy set the vision to make relationships the foundational factor in any good the organization was attempting to do. The team sat down with people in the community and heard from them. While it took some time to really develop a posture of listening, this is what really led the team into the nonprofit stages of Solidarity.

In September 2008, Solidarity added the Maple community and began running programs in both Garnet and Maple. In 2011, Meg Choe, another member of the Solidarity team, opened up the after-school program in the Maple community.

During this time, there was also a major shift in the organization where the community of believers running Solidarity became very strong. It was a beautiful season of deep spiritual friendships and relationships being established amongst staff, volunteers, and neighbors. There was also a general desire to see every opportunity in the community and go for it, which opened up a bunch of new programs and opportunities for the neighborhood. At times, Solidarity had so many things going on, it was difficult to explain the overall mission in a way that the general public could easily grasp and find simple ways to get more deeply involved in.

But in 2014, the focus shifted away from merely doing things for God’s Kingdom to being in God’s presence. Tommy lead the organization into an era of deep spiritual growth and significance. Being on mission together became a really fun way of life and Solidarity encouraged spiritual disciplines and the act of slowing down.

In June of 2014, the first Mamas group was created in the Maple community as a way to engage women in the neighborhood and create a more united community.

Shortly after, Solidarity expanded their interests to address the legal needs and issues of our neighbors. Bethany Anderson launched the Camino Immigration Services initiative in October of 2015 to give opportunity and voice to our immigrant neighbors.

Although COVID-19 hindered the progression of a few of Solidarity’s programs, the next few years launched a couple more initiatives and brought the community together in unexpected ways. In March 2020, the Food Distribution in the Maple community began in partnership with JOYA Scholars. Soon after, the distribution grew to partner with 11 different churches and organizations. In November of 2021, the second Mamas group was established in the Garnet community with both men and women gathering to play basketball together during the week.

As Solidarity continues to grow in relationship with families and local members of the community, the organization has shifted from being an empowering organization to becoming an “amplifying” organization. With initiatives like the advocacy and education initiatives, and programs like Mamas de Maple/Garnet and Teen Center, Solidarity aims to amplify the voices of people within the community and build their networks.