He moved to Los Angeles, California at the age of 13 after receiving a lynch threat, and soon began working for Ford Motor Company.
Through the WLCAC, Watkins initiated various programs aimed at alleviating poverty in Watts and generally improving the quality of life for members of the community.
During his lifetime, Watkins was involved in the construction of a financial institution and hospital in Watts, as well as the development of low-income housing and youth programs.
"[4] The War on Poverty failed to provide the funds and services it promised to areas such as Watts, which led to the creation of many local programs to aid their communities.
"[6] They saw the War on Poverty as an "opportunity in which long-standing policies and practices were open to question and change" and believed that the way to "create change…is by building community organizations.
It is alleged that those who participated in the Watts Rebellion "were prompted as much by unemployment, bad housing, and lack of decent education" as they were by the mistreatment of the "white-dominated LAPD.
At the age of fifteen he moved to the Los Angeles area in flight from a lynch mob that targeted him for allegedly disobeying a white resident.
In 1971, WLCAC utilized a $2 million loan from UAW-Chrysler to purchase property in order to expand on the initial "thirty homes built with funds from the state of California.
The money from the Ford Foundation grant went "to pay administrators and project staff and also to establish a Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment Corporation.
"[14] As a non-profit, 501 (c) 3 organization, WLCAC continues to compete for and administer awarded funds from various programs at the City, County, State and federal and local level.
Within a 1-mile radius are additional sites providing senior and child care services, permanent supportive housing, employment training and more.
According to the Watts Labor Community Action Committee's website, "Americana: The Hall of Shame" is meant to "expose the uses of these images as an extension of slavery."
There are also multiple murals displayed, including The Resurrection of Watts by Ras Ammar Nsoroma, Concrete Jungle by Richard Franco and Toni Love, Space Station by Richard Arturo, and Danny Franco, Mound Bayou by PeQue, BrowHands by Rondell, Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali by EnkOne, Central Avenue Jazz by an unknown artist and Community Heroes by Elliot Pinkney.
Apart from a multitude of permanent exhibits that can be viewed year-round, the WLCAC has built a number of facilities at the Center that cater to community members of Watts and the surrounding cities within South Los Angeles.
The Howard Bingham Multimedia Institute is open to people of all ages, and allows community members access to technology they can utilize for a variety of purposes.
The Universal Access Theatre provides a variety of resources for young people, including laundry machines, computers with internet, help with phone calls/mail to potential employers, snacks, games, books and magazines, an entertainment system, as well as tutoring, mentoring, and counseling.
The Watts International Marketplace houses studios for embroidery, silk-screening, ceramics, fine arts, glass blowing, wood working, and photography.
The website states that the project was developed in an effort to provide "much needed housing and on-site support services for single mothers re-entering the community after being incarcerated."
According to the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United States' website, The Dolores McCoy Villa provides various services to its residents, including case management, financial management, employment training and placement, academic counseling, access to health care, substance abuse services and other opportunities focused on families and independent living skills.