Housing, Education, and Opportunity Are Possible, One Step at a Time

By Ducien Allen

Recently, I had the honor of speaking at WalkUnitedLA, an annual fundraising walk hosted by United Way of Greater Los Angeles in partnership with the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium. The event brought Angelenos together in a powerful way, but what stayed with me most was this: WalkUnitedLA is about more than walking. It is about where we start, who helps us keep going, and what becomes possible when a community moves together.

I want to honor the Los Angeles Rams for using their platform to bring people together around housing, education, recovery, and opportunity. When organizations with that kind of influence stand with the community, it reminds people their stories matter.

For me, this was personal.

As someone connected to both the Pasadena and Altadena communities, I know how much housing, education, recovery, and opportunity matter. I know what it feels like when stability is shaken, and I also know recovery does not happen overnight. For many students, families, and neighbors, recovery is ongoing.

I grew up between Louisiana and Texas, where opportunities like this did not always feel within reach. My parents did not go to college. So being in Los Angeles now as a first-generation African American college student at Pasadena City College, working toward transferring to UCLA, means doors that were not always open before are opening now.

When I first arrived at Pasadena City College, I was unhoused. Some nights, I slept on a bench outside campus, unsure of where I would go next. I did not have a roadmap, but I had one decision I could make every day: keep showing up.

So I did. I went to class. I pushed forward. I held on to the belief that my story would not end on that bench.

At Pasadena City College, I learned that support is not just a word. It is a network of professors, mentors, staff, and campus programs that step in when life gets heavy. They connected me to resources I urgently needed and reminded me that I mattered, I belonged, and a better future was still possible.

Eventually, I found housing. For the first time in a while, I had stability. Then everything changed again.

After getting housed, the Eaton Fire impacted Pasadena and Altadena and displaced me from the apartment I had just found. Smoke exposure also affected my lungs and health. Some days, I would go to class, leave between lectures for breathing treatments, and then come back trying to focus.

I was tired. I was discouraged. Even now, recovery is still ongoing. But I did not quit, because my education is connected to my future.

Through College Corps and my fellowship experience with the Tournament of Roses, I learned that leadership is service, compassion, listening, and showing up for your community while you are still growing yourself.

Why WalkUnitedLA Matters

Across Los Angeles, there are students and families carrying stories we may never see: students traveling across the city just to make it to class, facing housing insecurity, working multiple jobs, caring for family, managing health challenges, or recovering from loss. Families are still rebuilding after disaster. Neighbors are still searching for stability. Communities are still healing.

Sometimes, they just need someone to say, “You are not alone.”

That is what WalkUnitedLA represents.

Every step taken at SoFi Stadium sent a message to students, families, and communities across Los Angeles: your story matters. Your beginning does not define your ending. Your future is worth investing in.

But WalkUnitedLA is not where the work ends.

The event may have happened, but the mission continues. United Way of Greater Los Angeles is not only active on one day or through one walk. Through partnerships, donors, sponsors, volunteers, schools, organizations, and local leaders, United Way continues helping build a stronger Los Angeles through housing, education, opportunity, recovery, and long-term support.

That ongoing commitment matters deeply to Pasadena and Altadena. When a community is still recovering, people need partners who keep showing up after the event ends, while families, students, and neighbors are still rebuilding.

To every sponsor, volunteer, donor, partner, and community member who has already shown up through United Way of Greater Los Angeles, thank you. Thank you to Elise Buik, United Way of Greater LA President & CEO, Los Angeles Rams President, Kevin Demoff, Executive Vice President of Community Impact and Engagement for the Los Angeles Rams, Molly Higgins, and the entire Los Angeles Rams organization for your heartfelt commitment to supporting Angelenos in need and for reaching out to me to show your support. Your support is not just seen. It is felt in the lives of students, families, and neighbors across Los Angeles.

And to anyone reading this who wants to be part of the work moving forward, there is still room to join in.

When you partner with United Way of Greater Los Angeles, you are not just supporting an event. You are becoming part of someone’s story, someone’s future, and someone’s reason to keep going.

Your gift can help open doors. Your volunteer service can remind someone they are seen. Your sponsorship can strengthen programs and partnerships across Los Angeles. To learn more, volunteer, or give, click here.

At WalkUnitedLA, we do not just walk. We walk for the student who almost gave up, the family trying to rebuild, the neighbor who needs support, and the future of Los Angeles.

We walk united because when we walk together, we help each other go further.

WalkUnitedLA 2026

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