Los Angeles Parks Foundation

This grant will expand RAP’s proven STEAM Summer Day Camp model by funding a mobile team to deliver robotics, coding, & media arts workshops across 28 parks citywide. The team will bring equipment, structured curriculum, and staff training to ensure consistent, high-quality STEAM learning—while also engaging teen mentors from prior STEAM initiatives to foster leadership and continuity. Campers will explore innovations like STEAM Sports using Meta Glasses to blend physical activity with media creation, building technical and creative skills.

Community School Parks (CSP) is a citywide initiative that transforms LAUSD schoolyards into public parks during non-school hours in partnership with the Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP). Through events and programming at ten existing sites, CSP increases access to green spaces, promotes play, and builds public support for long-term funding and expansion—bringing more Angelenos within a half mile of a safe, welcoming park.

The Los Angeles Parks Foundation operates a small native plant nursery that grows and distributes drought-tolerant plants to restore parks and green spaces. This grant will help us scale up in preparation for expanding into the historic Commonwealth Nursery, turning it into a citywide hub for native plant propagation and environmental education to support and engage communities across 500+ parks.

The Robotics 4All Teen Robotics Program is an innovative initiative aimed at fostering STEM education and empowering at-promise teens in robotics. The program is designed to unite talented teens, encouraging them to work together as a team and unleash their creativity and problem solving skills using Lego Mindstorms robotic kits. This emphasis on collaboration not only promotes interest in science and technology, but also instills confidence in their abilities making them feel part of a supportive community.

Technology can be integrated into learning programs to expose children of preschool age to foundational literacy, mathematics, science, and social concepts. For many children, interacting with the games on a technology platform improves their ability to retain these skills. This grant will allow the purchase of iPads and accompanying software to enhance preschool children’s learning.

In response to the surprising growth of our experimental Miyawaki Forest in Griffith Park, LAPF is seeking to expand this model into additional Los Angeles city parks. This method was developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki during the 1970s to reforest areas that had been over-developed. Our project, which we believe is the first Miyawaki-style forest in Los Angeles, grew from tiny seedlings to 15- to 18-foot tall trees with dense understory plantings in less than two years with little watering. We are seeking to expand this initiative.

Los Angeles has more park acreage than any other city in the US, but our parks are threatened by climate change and ongoing drought conditions. The Los Angeles Parks Foundation will use an LA2050 grant to expand its Native Species Nursery, located in Griffith Park, to supply diverse, resilient native plant species for free to parks across the city for free. The project will also provide education to city park staff and the community at large to care for these plants and support the installation of a model Miyawaki Forest.