The Institute for Popular Education of Southern California (IDESPSCA) traces back to 1984 when a group of students and parents met in Pasadena’s Central Park to confront racism, educational inequalities, and lack of affordable housing. Stories of joy, struggle, and hope galvanized educational and organizing processes and informed the development of the Institute’s tools and methods to work with low-income immigrant workers and others groups committed to solving problems in their own communities. The Institute’s mission is to contribute toward social transformation by creating a more humane and democratic world through the use of popular education. Specifically, the Institute organizes and educates low-income community members who want to resolve problems in their own communities. IDEPSCA practices what is called “popular education” in its daily activities of political organizing, a process of analysis, critical, and participative reflection through economic, political, and sociocultural realities that arise from impoverished organized groups.