Honoring our ancestors

We honor the life and legacy of Wilfred “Bill” Coggins, a visionary social worker whose name is synonymous with healing, trust, and transformation in South Los Angeles.

After the Watts unrest in 1965, Bill was recruited by Kaiser Permanente to help address the trauma left behind. Rather than rushing in with assumptions, Bill spent months listening — meeting with residents, faith leaders, and local organizers — all from the front seat of his van. What he built from those conversations would change generations: the Watts Counseling and Learning Center.

Founded in 1967 and led by Bill for over three decades, the Center became a place of refuge and renewal. What started as a single room grew into a full-service hub offering free and low-cost mental health, educational, and family support services. Bill didn’t just run a center — he nurtured a vision rooted in community care and dignity.

He held a Master’s in Social Work from UCLA and spent his career working in psychiatric social work, the Veterans Administration, and suicide prevention. But it was his work in South LA that became his life’s heartbeat. He was known for seeing the potential in people others had overlooked. As many said of him, “Where others saw rocks, Bill saw diamonds in the rough.”

Over the years, Bill was recognized for his extraordinary contributions, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from UCLA and Kaiser Permanente’s highest community leadership honor. Even in his final year, he reunited with former clients and staff at a community gathering that reminded us all: healing is generational, and legacy lives on.

Bill passed away peacefully in 2025 at the age of 98. We remember him not only as a founder, leader, and therapist — but as a deeply humble, brilliant, and loving man whose presence shaped the soul of a community.

“Your best is yet to come.” — Bill Coggins