The Learning Rights Law Center exists for a singular purpose: To ensure that no child will suffer from the tragic yet avoidable consequences of having an undiagnosed disability or being discriminated against in an educational setting. The organization is the brainchild of Janeen Steel, a lawyer, who herself suffered from an undiagnosed learning disability that [...more...]
Twenty-six years ago, Nikki Ferraro found herself in a parking lot outside a Santa Monica surf shop, holding handmade posters, trying to find a home for a stray dog. “We just really didn’t know what [...more...]
For the Children
For Jorgette, foster care was a generational cycle. “My grandmother and mother were in foster care, my sisters were in […more…]
Sergio Carrillo was 10 years old the first time he was arrested; his brother bailed him out of jail because […more…]
Ten years before the World Cup came to Los Angeles, the Play Equity Fund was already asking a question most […more…]
Bright Futures
For 80 years, Pacific Oaks College has expanded access to high-quality education while preparing graduates for meaningful careers that strengthen […more…]
Every community has a place people instinctively turn to when the ground shifts beneath them. In Boyle Heights, that place […more…]
At a First Star gathering of 30 Los Angeles women this past February, alumna Amy Duarte spotted First Star CEO […more…]
Advocacy
Ask Shane Murphy Goldsmith what Liberty Hill Foundation is, and she does not begin with its programs. “Liberty Hill Foundation […more…]
Currently gun violence is the #1 cause of death for children in the United States. Read that again if you […more…]
Human Rights
Kanthi Salgadu doesn’t want you to think of her as a victim. She is a survivor of human trafficking, certainly. […more…]
Peggy Callahan thought Abraham Lincoln had taken care of slavery. Then Callahan, a former television journalist and filmmaker, learned that […more…]
Creative Endeavors
The American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA) is the largest ceramics museum in the country, but its reach extends well […more…]
On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights in downtown Los Angeles, there is a free live concert in the lobby of […more…]
Earth First
When the Eaton Fire tore through the Altadena foothills in January 2025, it melted two of the three wildlife cameras […more…]
Education
The loneliness epidemic. Toxic social media. Teen depression and worse. These are modern problems. But the unmet needs that drive […more…]
Connor was only eight months old when he had his first debilitating seizure. His mother rushed him to the emergency […more…]
Twelve-year-old Celeste walked into the Neighborhood Music School in Boyle Heights in 2019 wanting to belt out Broadway tunes. Seven […more…]
Health & Wellness
When Pamela Hirsch’s daughter discovered she couldn’t carry a child after years of failed procedures, each ending in miscarriage, the […more…]
In 2012, Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller Rogen launched a fundraiser that they called Hilarity for Charity (HFC). The memorable […more…]
“None of us have to do everything,” says Gerald Garth, “if all of us do something.” The AMAAD Institute, which […more…]
Housing & Homelessness
Adoris, U.S. Army Veteran and former Lockheed Martin welder, struggled with the lasting effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and turned […more…]
For most incoming freshmen, moving into their first dorm means parents, a packed car, and hours spent on Target runs […more…]
In 1985, when Reagan-era homelessness had become a crisis in the country, Steve and Iris Lazarian, and friend John Perkins, […more…]
Critical Response & International Impact
Kerri Murray keeps a photograph that has stayed with her. It’s the face of Esther, a young Nigerian woman whose […more…]
Direct Relief began during a time of war, geopolitical tension, political division, and global economic instability. More than 80 years […more…]
When a recent earthquake devastated Venezuela, the Los Angeles County Fire Department sent six teams to help sift through the […more…]