Honoring Marva Smith Battle-Bey During Women’s History Month
“To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try.”
— Rosa Parks
“Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth.”
— Shirley Chisholm
“Get it done.”
— Marva Smith Battle-Bey
To the Dreamers, Builders, Entrepreneurs, and Families of South Los Angeles,
There are certain people whose lives do not simply pass through a community; they shape it, protect it, and leave behind something so deeply rooted that long after they are gone, their presence can still be felt. You feel it in the businesses that stand where there was once nothing. You feel it in the opportunities that exist where doors were once closed. You feel it in the quiet knowing that this community, against all odds, is still here, still building, still rising.
Marva Smith Battle-Bey was one of those people.
She was not simply the founder of the Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation. She was a force, a woman of vision and discipline, of strategy and conviction, who walked into rooms that were never built for her and carried South Los Angeles with her anyway. She did not wait to be invited, nor did she soften her voice to be accepted. She stood in the fullness of her responsibility, knowing that what was at stake was never about her; it was about us.
Marva understood something that many never fully grasp: that economic development is not about buildings alone. It is about dignity. It is about whether families can stay rooted, whether businesses can take hold, and whether a community can define its own future. Originally from Detroit, she came to Los Angeles to study urban planning and public administration at USC, learning the systems that shaped cities. But she did not stop at understanding those systems; she challenged them, bent them, and made them respond to a community that was too often overlooked.
VSEDC was founded in that spirit.
In 1979 Marva established a citizens’ advisory committee at the behest of Mayor Tom Bradley in response to the community’s concerns about the Sears store closing. Marva and the community knew that the loss of jobs, goods and services was going to leave a scar on South LA. Intent on healing the region, two years later she founded VSEDC and transformed a small grassroots neighborhood organization into a well-known and highly regarded community institution. VSEDC became the launch pad for Marva’s countless ambitious projects, programs and infrastructure initiatives that to this date no other CEO of VSEDC has surpassed.
When she was tasked with addressing the economic void along the Vermont and Slauson corridor, she did not see abandonment; she saw responsibility. In 1979, she helped create what would become the Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation, an institution built not out of convenience, but out of conviction. Just two years later, the Vermont-Slauson Shopping Center opened its doors, marking the first major retail investment in the area since 1965. It was more than a development; it was a declaration that South Los Angeles deserved to be invested in, resourced, and to thrive.
Over time, VSEDC became a place where opportunity was rebuilt, piece by piece, where entrepreneurs found guidance, where businesses found support, and where a community that had been overlooked found a path forward through structure, strategy, and care. The organization helped bring hundreds of millions of dollars in development and investment into South Los Angeles while supporting entrepreneurs and expanding opportunities for small businesses throughout the community.
But Marva’s true power was not only in what she built, but also in how she carried it. She was fearless, not because things were easy, but because she refused to be intimidated by what stood in her way. She could walk into any room and speak with a clarity that made people listen. She could challenge systems without hesitation and still sit beside someone in their most human moment with compassion. Her leadership was not performative; it was rooted in responsibility, discipline, and a deep love for her community.
She lived by a standard that was both simple and demanding: get it done. If you didn’t know something, you learned it. If there was a barrier, you found another way. If the community needed you, you showed up, fully, consistently, without excuse. “No” was never the end of the conversation; it was simply a signal to find another way forward. That kind of leadership requires sacrifice. It requires endurance. And it requires a level of devotion that few are willing to carry. And yet, Marva carried it.
Today, as I stand in the role of President and CEO of the organization she built, I do so with a deep awareness that this is more than a position; it is a responsibility. To be a young Black woman standing here, in this seat, in this moment, is to stand in the legacy of someone who fought battles that were not always visible, who carried weight that was not always acknowledged, and who built something that continues to hold this community up.
I am standing in the shoes of a giant.
There is something sacred about this transition, something that cannot be captured in titles or announcements. It is a passing of the torch, but more than that, it is a continuation of a promise: that South Los Angeles will not be forgotten, that opportunity will be built and not waited on, and that this community will continue to rise no matter the obstacles placed in its path. Marva carried that promise with her every single day, and now it rests in my hands.
As we honor Women’s History Month, we do not simply remember Marva Smith Battle-Bey; we acknowledge her, we honor her, and we continue her. Her legacy lives in every entrepreneur who walks through our doors, in every business that chooses to keep going, and in every family that finds stability where there was once uncertainty. It lives in the work – the business advising and workshops, our teen tech center teaching our youth the tech skills they need to compete in the workforce, the micro and small business loans we lend to our community – and in us.
So today, we do more than honor her legacy. We stand in it. We protect it. We build upon it. And with humility, with reverence, and with unwavering commitment, I accept the responsibility to carry this work forward, not alone, but with the strength of the community she loved and the foundation she fought to build.
This torch was never meant to rest; it was meant to be carried forward. Today, we take hold of it with reverence and a renewed commitment to the work ahead.
With deep honor,
Dr. Jazz Keyes
President & CEO
Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation
