Farm LA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing underutilized lots in Los Angeles communities for solar and agricultural farms. With your help, we can acquire vacant properties and turn them into farms that grow food for community distribution, or solar farms to help Los Angeles generate its water and energy from renewable sources. We want to create a cultural awareness and appreciation for community gardening, healthy eating and sustainable energy.
LA Green Grounds →
LA Green Grounds is a grassroots organization of volunteers dedicated to working with residents of South Los Angeles, California to convert their front lawns and parkways into edible landscapes and urban farms.
Residents host a garden "Dig-in" when this work happens. Inviting family, friends, neighbors, and volunteers to participate, creates a sense of community. Everyone learns how to convert lawns into edible landscapes that encourage and inspire neighborhoods to" grow their own".
We work closely with our garden recipients to guide them through each growing season and provide ongoing support through teaching sustainable practices and offering wellness activities.
We like to think of LA Green Grounds as a way of life. Our mission is to empower South LA's communities and beyond, one garden at a time.
Started in 2010 by Florence Nishida, Vanessa Voblis and Ron Finley who has since moved to pursue the Ron Finley Project.
As of the end of 2013, 27 edible gardens have been installed.
Farmscape →
Farmscape is the largest urban farming venture in California. Our mission is to connect city dwellers with fresh, organic produce through a network of urban farms, while creating living wage jobs for the new generation of farmers.
To date, we have installed over 700 urban farms and currently maintain more than 300 of those plots.
Interested in joining the team? You can apply here.
HoneyLove →
HoneyLove is a Los Angeles based 501(c)3 non-profit conservation organization with a mission to protect the honeybees by educating our communities and inspiring new urban beekeepers.
Why “Urban” Beekeeping?
We at HoneyLove believe that the city is the last refuge of the honeybee. Our home gardens are free of pesticides, and in cities like Los Angeles, there is year-round availability of pollen and nectar.
GrowGood | Bell, CA →
Founded in 2011, GrowGood, Inc., is a Los Angeles-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, creating urban agricultural programs to empower people and transform communities. GrowGood provides fresh produce and opportunities through our 1.5-acre farm in Bell, Calif., just a few miles from downtown Los Angeles. We grow thousands of pounds of vegetables and fruit that become part of more than 6,000 meals served each week at the Salvation Army's Bell Shelter. Working with the shelter's staff, we operate a paid job training program for residents and a "Food for Life" skills series of classes. Shelter clients also have access to the peace and healing aspects of being in the garden and among our hundreds of California native plants.
LA Food Policy Council →
MISSION
The Los Angeles Food Policy Council (LAFPC) is a collective impact initiative, working to make Southern California a Good Food region for everyone—where food is healthy, affordable, fair and sustainable.
Through policy creation and cooperative relationships, our goals are to reduce hunger, improve public health, increase equity in our communities, create good jobs, stimulate local economic activity, and foster environmental stewardship. In particular, the LAFPC aims to connect environmental sustainability and local agriculture with efforts to expand access to healthy food in historically disenfranchised communities.
The Los Angeles Food Policy Council, a project of Community Partners, was created in January 2011 by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to advance the mission of building a Good Food system for all of Los Angeles. We bring together leaders and experts from across sectors, geographies, and socio-economic communities to strengthen connections throughout the food system, and to facilitate and coordinate systemic change.
LAFPC leverages its unique structure and placement as an independent multi-stakeholder initiative to advance innovative food policies. The 40-member Food Policy Council and its staff serve as the “backbone” organization for the initiative. Additionally, 1,000 individual stakeholders and over 300 organizations from the public, private, nonprofit and academic sectors extend the reach of LAFPC in the greater Los Angeles community.
Catalyze, Coordinate, Connect
LAFPC operates as a network to build connections, catalyze opportunities, and coordinate activities toward building a sustainable and equitable regional food system for all Angelenos.
Our Role:
- Identify and develop best practices through research and policy analysis;
- Provide a forum for discussing food-related problems and opportunities;
- Engage key stakeholders through working groups and other civic engagement strategies;
- Serve as an information resource;
- Provide recommendations to policy makers and key food system stakeholders;
- Provide support for the ongoing work of its members and partners;
- Facilitate collaboration in the development of more coherent, systemic change;
- Incubate projects and programs, which are strategically identified through our stakeholder process as needed;
- Build individual and collective food systems’ leadership capacity.
OUR STRUCTURE
Leadership Board
The Los Angeles Food Policy Council is guided by a 40-member Leadership Board. Comprised of a diversity of seasoned experts representing every sector of the food system, the Leadership Board determines the priorities of the LAFPC, provides leadership in our network and works collaboratively to create systemic change.
Working Groups
The Los Angeles Food Policy Council facilitates six to eight Working Groups which act as participatory policy collaboratives. The Working Groups meet at least every other month to discuss current issues and develop new projects, events and policy recommendations. Each Working Group elects a chair to facilitate the process, and Leadership Board members also participate in the Working Groups.
To learn more about the LAFPC Working Groups, please click here.
Network
The LA Food Policy Council hosts “Network” meetings on a quarterly basis to convene change makers for networking, leadership development and movement building. Combining dynamic presentations, collaborative activities and networking, the Network connects the larger community of advocates, entrepreneurs, community members, and policy makers to help coordinate the activities and policy initiatives of LA’s Good Food movement.
Cottonwood Urban Farm | Panorama City →
In the winter of 2012, educator and LA native Elliott Kuhn began converting a dusty, vacant plot in Panorama City into a highly productive urban farm. Nestled in the basin of the Tujunga Wash, Cottonwood Urban Farm (CUF) uses creative growing techniques (season extension, intercropping, succession planting) to cultivate a variety of vegetables, fruits and herbs without the use of any large scale commercial farming equipment.
CUF is currently in a transformational phase of becoming a boutique agricultural enterprise that provides a reliable source of locally grown produce to serve the needs of restaurants, chefs and community members concerned with sustainability. With a deep connection to community, education, and ecology, CUF places social responsibility first and has an ongoing contract with a local substance abuse program for youth. The program provides participants with a 10-week ecology course and horticulture therapy through work at the farm.
LA Community Garden Council →
Mission
Our mission is to strengthen communities by building and supporting community gardens where every person in Los Angeles County can grow healthy food in their neighborhood.
Vision
We envision a garden network for Los Angeles where people of all ages and backgrounds live healthy, active lives in a clean environment by growing fresh food.
This network fosters the meeting of people from diverse backgrounds to share experience and knowledge, promote urban agriculture and economic justice, provide leadership and job training, and grow more beautiful and sustainable communities.
Programs
The Los Angeles Community Garden Council manages 40 community gardens and offers advice, workshops, and community organizing assistance to more than 125 community gardens in Los Angeles County, serving more than 6,000 families.