The Young Lords Party Forms
It started as a Puerto Rican street gang. It grew into a movement to improve housing, health and education for boricuas and low income communities in the Midwest and Northeast of the United States. Started by Jose “Cha Cha” Jimenez in 1969 the Young Lords Party (YLP) organized Chicago’s Puerto Rican community. Who were then facing subpar housing, high unemployment and failing schools. The Young Lords helped themselves locally, but also fought for Puerto Rican independence. The group spread from Chicago to New York City to the island itself. The group took a page from the Black Panther Party and organized free breakfast programs, health clinics and cleanups. They brought attention to the living condition with regular protests and take overs of abandoned and vacant buildings then used to provide services the local government did not.