Deborah Leigh Stevens, 68, was living on the streets of West Hollywood in 2014, within blocks of her former apartment. She had lived most of her life in the area, much of it with her elderly mother, and worked as a paralegal. But then her mother died, their apartment building was sold, rents soared, and [...more...]
Ana, a mother of two from Mexico, answered a job posting to be a childcare provider in the United States. She arrived with the hopes of providing a better life for her and her children. [...more...]
For the Children
Ten years before the World Cup came to Los Angeles, the Play Equity Fund was already asking a question most […more…]
For Jorgette, foster care was a generational cycle. “My grandmother and mother were in foster care, my sisters were in […more…]
Every morning before breakfast at Brave Trails, the whole camp gathers at the flagpole. A different identity flag rises each […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…]
When Thierno’s eyeglasses broke in college, he faced the sort of decision that never appears in a course catalog. Replace […more…]
Every community has a place people instinctively turn to when the ground shifts beneath them. In Boyle Heights, that place […more…]
Advocacy
Currently gun violence is the #1 cause of death for children in the United States. Read that again if you […more…]
Ask Shane Murphy Goldsmith what Liberty Hill Foundation is, and she does not begin with its programs. “Liberty Hill Foundation […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
Twelve-year-old Celeste walked into the Neighborhood Music School in Boyle Heights in 2019 wanting to belt out Broadway tunes. Seven […more…]
The loneliness epidemic. Toxic social media. Teen depression and worse. These are modern problems. But the unmet needs that drive […more…]
Based at UC Berkeley, the Greater Good Science Center (GGSC) explores the roots of happy and compassionate individuals, strong social […more…]
Health & Wellness
Every child who walks into Rifkin Raanan Cosmetic Dentistry on a clinic day gets what the Beverly Hills clientele gets […more…]
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…]
Housing & Homelessness
Tianna Williams was living in a two-bedroom apartment in Georgia. When her five-year-old daughter needed specialized autism therapies that weren’t […more…]
Adoris, U.S. Army Veteran and former Lockheed Martin welder, struggled with the lasting effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and turned […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…]
When a recent earthquake devastated Venezuela, the Los Angeles County Fire Department sent six teams to help sift through the […more…]
Direct Relief began during a time of war, geopolitical tension, political division, and global economic instability. More than 80 years […more…]