L.A. Parent Magazine

Rooted in Renewal: How plants— and the spring equinox— can help your family begin again

Fifty-five Los Angeles-area nonprofit organizations have received grants totaling nearly $3 million through the 2025 LA2050 Grants Challenge, an annual demonstration in participatory grantmaking and open call for ideas to build a more vibrant, thriving, and equitable Los Angeles.

LA2050 is an initiative of the Goldhirsh Foundation. This year's LA2050 Grants Challenge theme, "LA, Together," proved especially resonant following the devastating wildfires that struck the region in January. The funded initiatives reflect the same spirit during and since of resilience, communal care, and collective action.

In the LA2050 Grants Challenge model, Angelenos drive funding decisions through a three-phase process. First, nearly 140,000 votes were cast by community members on the issues that mattered most to them. Then, a record-breaking 1,182 organizations submitted proposals addressing the 10 highest-priority issues identified by voters. (For the fourth consecutive year, “affordable housing and homelessness” was the top-voted issue.) Lastly, all of the proposals are evaluated in collaboration with SJPLA and Grants Challenge funding partners.

For a better LA!

The LA2050 Grants Challenge is an open call for ideas to make Los Angeles County the best place to connect, create, learn, live, and play. Since 2013, we have launched 11 cycles of the Grants Challenge, giving more than $11 million to 155 local social impact organizations with the help of hundreds of thousands of people casting votes in support, and additional grants from funding partners

So, how did the 2024 Grants Challenge work? First, almost 15,000 Angelenos cast 105,000 votes for the issues that matter most to them.. Then, we opened applications to organizations with ideas to address the top-voted issues. Now, in collaboration with our funding partners, we're announcing our 60 winners.

Twenty years ago, a few of Los Angeles’ West Adams residents and their friends had a novel idea: take a jackhammer to break up the asphalt and cement at their neighborhood’s 24th Street Elementary School to plant shade trees and a garden.

They created the Garden School Foundation to support the project, which school and foundation officials believe was a farsighted decision. Elizabeth Hall, the foundation’s head of outreach and development, says the 24th Street School gardens are critical to teaching climate literacy to 453 pre-kindergarten through fourth-grade students. About 90% of the students are classified as low-income at the Title I school.

Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability:

Undergraduate students intern with the Garden School Foundation to provide nature-based education to elementary schoolers

From @weareangelcity

Leading a garden revolution 🌻
Meet Rachel! As the Executive Director of @gardenschoolfoundation, one of ACFC's community partners, Rachel works at the intersection of food justice and environmental stewardship. She believes in one person or organization's impact, providing hope for larger communal change. When Rachel isn't busy cultivating gardens, reading, or playing flag football, she cheers on Angel City FC. Say hi the next time you see her in the stands!

#WeAreAngelCity | @birdies
Shoes designed to take you everywhere

We are celebrating planet Earth! We explain the meaning behind Earth Day and what you can do to help protect the planet. Including: composting! Meet the students who are turning garbage into garden gold in a win-win for the environment. Then, we talk about how a fourth grade class is attempting to bring a piece of history back home to Utah. Plus, three lion cubs just made their public debut. And meet the pups who are representing “Golden Strong.” Here’s how these adorable dogs are coming together to honor one of their own. Finally, we're celebrating a big milestone: three years of "Nightly News: Kids Edition." Thanks for watching!

LA Galaxy Foundation partnered with Garden School Foundation and Herbalife Nutrition to expand the garden at Annalee Avenue Elementary School on Thursday, August 8th.