A community-rooted response to multigenerational harm.
Embrace Change Now / EMBR88C Change Now is rooted in Watts — a community of deep culture, legacy, and resilience — and serves justice-impacted multigenerational families across South Los Angeles and surrounding Los Angeles County communities.
About page feature image
Image representing community, family, and Watts roots.
Our mission
Embrace Change Now / EMBR88C Change Now is rooted in Watts and serves justice-impacted multigenerational families across South Los Angeles and surrounding Los Angeles County communities through resource navigation, housing stability support, wellness-centered services, and systems advocacy — building sustainable pathways to long-term stability.
Our story
Watts is our foundational hub — a community shaped by deep culture, intergenerational legacy, and enduring resilience. From this rooted place, we walk alongside families across South LA who are moving through housing, court, school, and benefits systems at the same time. Embrace Change Now was built to meet them with steadiness, dignity, and trauma-informed care, and to extend that same support to surrounding Los Angeles County communities.
Meet the Founder
Demetria Scott, MSW, ACSW, CWC II — Founder & Executive Director
Founder's Story
Demetria Scott, MSW, ACSW, CWC II, is the Founder and Executive Director of EMBR88C Change Now, a South Los Angeles–based nonprofit rooted in healing, equity, resilience, and community transformation. A native of Watts, where she was born and raised, Demetria survived neighborhood obstacles and systemic challenges while also being grounded by a strong foundation that shaped her growth, strength, values, and resilience.
She reflects on her childhood as her own "wonder years" — because despite the barriers, that strong foundation taught her awareness, love, survival, and possibility. A USC-trained social worker, her leadership is shaped by professional expertise and lived experience, including navigating domestic violence, homelessness, and the lasting impact of brief justice-system contact.
EMBR88C Change Now was started because Demetria's lived experience, education, and observations of family, friends, and community members showed her the need for real support, advocacy, resources, healing, housing stability, re-entry support, and pathways to transformation. The "88" represents infinity and the butterfly represents growth after struggle — together reflecting her belief that the past does not have to define the future.
Our values
- Dignity firstEvery family is met with respect, not judgment.
- Community-rootedWe are of and accountable to South LA.
- Trauma-informedHealing shapes how we show up and how we work.
- Whole-familyWe support generations together, not in isolation.