How Corazón got its name

Lisa Rhodes with the original lotería-inspired Corazón logo

From the heart, for the heart

Corazón Healdsburg officially opened its doors in 2016, but a small but mighty team of dreamers and doers had been raising money and building relationships for years before that. (You can read more about those early days here.) Founding board member Lisa Rhodes was one of those early believers, and it was Lisa who gave the organization its name.

In late 2015, Ari Rosen, Doug Provisor and Lisa were meeting on the back patio of Ari’s restaurant Campo Fina. The still-forming organization had been using the placeholder name Scopa Has a Dream (Scopa being the name of Ari’s first restaurant in Healdsburg), but Lisa suggested that Corazón, the Spanish word for heart, was right for the long-term. Lisa says she felt that the heart of the community, the people whose everyday work keeps Healdsburg running, deserved support, compassion and inclusion.

“When we serve others, our own hearts are uplifted,” she says. “After all, to be human is to have a heart.”

Lisa knew firsthand about the experience of the hardworking heart of the community. She grew up in Santa Ana, California, where she says she was living in two worlds in the suburbs of Orange County.

“One of eight Latinos in my school, I heard the slurs. I've seen the looks. I've seen the anger in my mother's eyes,” she says. “Things only brown people understand.”

Her parents, both raised in Texas, moved to California after they married. Her father served in the Navy during World War II, and was a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service for 27 years. Lisa’s father was also involved in the founding of the Gemini Club, a nonprofit organization providing scholarships for Latino youths. She believes this is where she was taught, by example, to give back to her community through her parents.

Lisa and her husband, Michael, have called Healdsburg home since 2012. They’re both deeply involved in the community, and after six years on the Corazón board, Lisa currently serves on the board of Healdsburg Forever and as board chair of True West Film Center.

Corazón owes its name, and so much more, to early champions like Lisa, who saw what this organization could be. Ten years on, the heart of our community is stronger than ever and there's so much more we can do together.

As the day progressed, dancing filled the streets, with Banda Pacifica playing from the back of a flatbed truck and bellies were filled with free pozole, generously donated by local restaurants and community members. It was a humble and heartfelt beginning, for the people by the people.

If, like Lisa, you want to be a part of building a more inclusive, connected community, we invite you to give from the heart today in honor of our tenth anniversary. Your support helps sustain and grow Corazón's programs and community-rooted work. You can learn more here.