Eastside leaders are mourning Father Richard Estrada, a lifelong advocate of youth, immigrants and social justice, after the announcement of his death on Tuesday.
The 83-year-old pastor and founder of Jovenes Inc., a Boyle Heights nonprofit dedicated to providing housing and support for homeless and at-risk youth, passed away on March 31, 2025.
After opening Jovenes Inc. in 1989, Estrada worked for decades to ensure that youth experiencing homelessness around Los Angeles had access to safe and stable housing. Outside of youth advocacy, Estrada was also known to support immigrant communities, farmworkers and the undocumented.
For Raquel Roman, executive director of Proyecto Pastoral, seeing Estrada in action as a champion of immigrant rights “lit the fire” inside her to dedicate her life to activism in her community. She accompanied Estrada on several trips to the U.S.-Mexico Border to provide water to migrants crossing the desert.
“Over the years, I’ve learned not everybody has to open the doors like that for you. But he did. Those were some of the first times that I went to the border to do that type of aid. And it impacted me greatly,” Roman said.
Proyecto Pastoral, a longstanding Boyle Heights women’s shelter, provides sanctuary and services to people in need today, but Roman said emergency housing for young people is and has historically been a hard resource to come by.
“There’s very little housing or emergency housing for the youth population,” Roman said. “For him to have that vision over 30 years ago, he was really meeting folks where they were at.”
Hilda Solis, the L.A. County Supervisor of District 1, wrote in a social media post Tuesday she was heartbroken by Estrada’s passing and said Estrada’s legacy “will continue to inspire all who had the privilege of knowing him.”
“Father Estrada’s life was defined by his deep compassion, selfless service and unwavering commitment to some of our most vulnerable,” Solis wrote on social media. “His work transformed countless lives, providing safety, hope and opportunity to those who had nowhere else to turn.”
According to its website, Jovenes Inc. began in 1989 when Estrada, then a Catholic priest at La Placita Church at Olvera Street, noticed an influx of unaccompanied Central American youth travelling to Los Angeles in search of a better life. Estrada opened the doors to his East LA home to provide shelter and food to these youth, and through investment from Estrada’s network, was able to get a youth shelter off the ground.
The executive director of Jovenes Inc., Andrea Marchettie, called Estrada a visionary in a press release honoring the former board president of the group.
“His sense of humanity and his unconditional commitment and love for the most vulnerable were the guiding principles for all the actions he led, no matter the challenges he faced in his later years. Here at Jovenes, Inc., we will further his mission with more motivation than ever. Fr. Richard will continue to lead us and will always be among us.”
According to the press release, the group has grown to house more than 700 youth and college students each year across L.A. County.
Jovenes Inc. has a history of working alongside Los Angeles community colleges and CSUs to identify unhoused students and provide services to help keep them housed. In 2016, the group launched the College Success Initiative, a case management program to provide housing subsidies to students experiencing homelessness to better help them focus on academic achievement.
Outside of youth advocacy, Estrada played a significant role in the Chicano and farmworkers rights movements, marching alongside leaders like César Chávez and Dolores Huerta to fight for labor rights and dignity for farmworkers.
After leaving the Catholic church in 2014, he transitioned to the Epsicopal Church and continued his faith leadership at the Church of the Epiphany in Lincoln Heights.
Details regarding memorial services and ways to honor Fr. Richard’s legacy will be shared in the coming days by Jovenes Inc.
