Mike Bravo

5th-Generation Venice Civic Leader, Community Advocate & Indigenous Spiritual Activist

Who Is Mike Bravo?

Mike Bravo is a 5th-generation Chicano activist and Indigenous civic leader born and raised in Venice, California. A two-time elected member of the Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC), Bravo has dedicated over 25 years to cultural preservation, anti-displacement advocacy, and Indigenous visibility across the Westside of Los Angeles.

Bravo is the lead coordinator of the Four Corners Spirit Run — an annual Indigenous spiritual run in West Los Angeles that has been active since 2004 — and the founder of Defend Venice, a community platform challenging gentrification, institutional racism, and the erasure of Black, Brown, and Indigenous histories in Venice and greater West Los Angeles area. As a Chicano activist he was the lead organizer in the historic fight to save the First Baptist Church of Venice, a landmark central to the history of Oakwood’s Black and Brown community.

His Indigenous education and cultural work extends across multiple platforms, including West Los Stories — a project documenting Indigenous narratives on LA’s Westside — and Keepers of the West (formerly Sixth Sun Ridaz), a network dedicated to Indigenous cultural preservation and visibility across the Westside region.

Bravo is a digital designer and marketing strategist with over 25 years of professional experience serving nonprofits, law firms, and community organizations across Los Angeles.

Mike Bravo’s Civic Record

Venice Neighborhood Council — Two Terms (2014–2016, 2022–2024)

• Authored and passed a successful motion to release the Brendan Glenn police shooting video — covered by CityWatch LA
• Led the motion for Venice to adopt and celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day — a move that prompted the LA City Council’s citywide adoption in August 2017
• Served as one of the only active people of color on the VNC during both terms, consistently advocating for authentic inclusivity, racial equity, and accountability in Venice’s decision-making processes

First Baptist Church of Venice — Cultural Preservation Defense

• Lead organizer for the preservation of the historic First Baptist Church of Venice, a landmark central to the Black and Brown history of the Oakwood community
• Challenged efforts to diminish community voice in the church’s future, despite targeted opposition from local media outlets seeking to discredit preservation advocates

Four Corners Spirit Run — Lead Coordinator (Since 2004)

• Founded and continues to coordinate an annual Indigenous spiritual run serving West LA’s Native American and Native Mexican youth
• Provides culturally relevant programming that promotes positive Indigenous identity, spiritual wellness, and intergenerational connection

Tongva/Gabrielino Advocacy

• For over two decades, and with permission, has advocated alongside the Tongva Gabrielino peoples — the original caretakers of the Los Angeles basin
• Active defender of endangered Sacred Sites in Los Angeles and throughout the country, protecting them from development, displacement, and modern expressions of colonialism

Defend Venice / Save Venice — Founder

• Created and maintains DefendVenice.org as a community information hub for anti-gentrification organizing, policy accountability, and grassroots journalism in Venice
• Provides counter-narrative coverage challenging displacement-friendly media and documenting the lived experiences of legacy Venice families
  

My Story

I was born and raised in Venice, California — a 5th-generation Venetian with Indigenous Mesoamerican roots. I’ve spent 51 years living, learning, working, and organizing in Venice, Santa Monica, and the Mar Vista/Del Rey areas.

As a child of Venice’s Oakwood community, I am deeply aware of the social and historical dynamics that have displaced most Black, Brown, and working-class families from this neighborhood. Gentrification, houselessness, gang violence, police brutality, and institutional racism are not abstract issues to me — they are the conditions my family has navigated for more than five generations.

In 1983, at the age of seven, I lost my father to the intense drug and gang violence that devastated West Los Angeles at that time. After years of confusion, wrong turns, and a lack of culturally relevant guidance, I was eventually empowered and transformed by Hip Hop culture, my Indigenous Mesoamerican identity, and Indigenous Spiritual Traditions.

That transformation became my life’s work. For over 25 years, I have focused on bringing Native-Indigenous traditions to the forefront of youth education, community healing, and civic engagement — through ceremony, community events, educational projects, and digital media.

The current plague of gentrification and displacement in Venice is only the latest expression of a centuries-old colonial pattern: removing Native peoples from their land in the name of “progress” and profit. My work seeks to disrupt that pattern — with truth, history, and digital creativity.

Connect

• DefendVenice.org — Community organizing and anti-displacement advocacy in Venice, CA
• OGBravo1.com — Art, culture, and creative work
• WestLosStories.com — Documenting the histories and voices of West Los Angeles communities
• KeepersOfTheWest.com — Indigenous education
• Four Corners Spirit Run — annual Indigenous Spiritual Community Run