Santa Monica College (SMC) launched a Homeless Service Work Certificate Program in partnership with and funded by Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) — the first of its kind in California! The program — with curriculum cultivated by Housing Works' Executive Director Celina Alvarez — prepares students for entry-level positions in the homeless services sector and helps address [...more...]
In 1985, when Reagan-era homelessness had become a crisis in the country, Steve and Iris Lazarian, and friend John Perkins, devoted members of a Pasadena congregation, sat down to answer a not-so-simple question: what happens [...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…]
Every morning before breakfast at Brave Trails, the whole camp gathers at the flagpole. A different identity flag rises each […more…]
Sergio Carrillo was 10 years old the first time he was arrested; his brother bailed him out of jail because […more…]
Bright Futures
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…]
For 80 years, Pacific Oaks College has expanded access to high-quality education while preparing graduates for meaningful careers that strengthen […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
Peggy Callahan thought Abraham Lincoln had taken care of slavery. Then Callahan, a former television journalist and filmmaker, learned that […more…]
Kanthi Salgadu doesn’t want you to think of her as a victim. She is a survivor of human trafficking, certainly. […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
Connor was only eight months old when he had his first debilitating seizure. His mother rushed him to the emergency […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
When Pamela Hirsch’s daughter discovered she couldn’t carry a child after years of failed procedures, each ending in miscarriage, the […more…]
Every child who walks into Rifkin Raanan Cosmetic Dentistry on a clinic day gets what the Beverly Hills clientele gets […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…]
In 1985, when Reagan-era homelessness had become a crisis in the country, Steve and Iris Lazarian, and friend John Perkins, […more…]
In Los Angeles, nearly two out of every three people experiencing homelessness are living unsheltered on the street. DignityMoves offers […more…]
Critical Response & International Impact
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…]
Kerri Murray keeps a photograph that has stayed with her. It’s the face of Esther, a young Nigerian woman whose […more…]