has earned the distinction of being ranked one of the Best Places to Work in SoCal! StrengthUnited was chosen based on […more…]

Close to Home (C2H) focuses on violence prevention work, stemming from the experts themselves, the people who live in these communities. […more…]

StrengthUnited’s Community Public Health Team (CPHT), Healthy Connections, Conexiones Saludables is a collaboration between StrengthUnited, Northeast Valley Health Corporation, and […more…]

Humbly nestled on Central Ave and 29th, in the epicenter of what was once the west coast jazz scene, blocks […more…]

Ricardo Ibarra’s story is one of perseverance, passion, and the pursuit of excellence. Born to Mexican parents who immigrated to […more…]

ACCESS U Foundation’s co-founders, Brad Rothenberg and Joaquín Escoto, ran a successful for-profit youth soccer company for nearly twenty years, […more…]

ACCESS U Foundation celebrated the end of 2023 with a special night of giving and gratitude at its first-ever public […more…]

People who love the arts understand what makes them so valuable. The arts don’t just entertain us; they challenge us, they spark our imagination, and present us with new points of view. No one is immune to the effecting power that exposure to the arts can give and the lifeblood of any community flows through the streets where arts are thriving. Music has the ability to bring people together in a way that nothing else can. Given the degree to which the arts enrich our lives, it would seem obvious to include them as an integral part of childhood education. [...more...]

The benefits of animal companionship are well-documented. According to a 2023 article on HelpGuide.org, by Lawrence Robinson and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D., the human-animal bond has powerful, lasting health benefits for humans. Companion animals/pets can lower blood pressure, elevate levels of serotonin and dopamine (which calm and relax), they can lower triglyceride and cholesterol levels (indicators of heart disease), and they can help reduce muscle tension and lower pulse rate. Plus, people with pets are less likely to suffer depression than those without pets.  For decades, research has also shown that child development is best supported by animal connection. For nonprofits [...more...]

“Did you know,” Rabbi Laura Geller asks, “that on average, 10,000 people turn 65 every day in the United States?” As one of the fastest-growing demographics in the country, people 65 and older will outnumber those under 18 for the first time in history by 2035. As one of the first female rabbis ordained in the United States in 1976, Rabbi Geller tackled gender inequality in the synagogues. Now, at 73, and with no signs of slowing down, Rabbi Geller is taking on another systemic foe: ageism. Even though many people are aging and living longer, older people remain, for [...more...]

Los Angeles is a city of creative dreams and cinematic productions. It’s a place where starry-eyed people flock, and which exports culture-defining stories to the world.  Stories, though, aren’t L.A.’s only export. When it comes to sheer volume and impact, food might be on equal footing. L.A. County is the second-biggest exporter of food in the United States, contributing 6.5 billion pounds to the country’s food system each year, with a crop value of more than $177.5 million. L.A. imports food, too: At seven billion pounds, it’s the third-largest importer in the U.S.  Urban farmer, Ryan, after Sunday Harvest. Yet, [...more...]

Miguel A. Santana, a lifelong Angeleno and self-described “generalist,” has dedicated decades of his life to addressing some of the most critical issues facing Southern California. His career has spanned across sectors – public and private, nonprofit and philanthropy – all in pursuit of advancing social justice, economic equity, and racial equality in Los Angeles.  From responding to the homeless crisis to overseeing financial matters at City Hall to championing infrastructure for arts and culture, Santana’s efforts have touched upon the many significant issues that define the social challenges of Southern California. After running the Weingart Foundation since 2021, Santana [...more...]

When it comes to preparing for college, many students already have an idea of what to expect. They’ve rooted for their parents’ alma maters in football games since childhood, visited their older siblings’ dorm rooms, and been told by peers what AP classes they need to take to get into their preferred school. But for many aspiring higher education learners in Los Angeles – those who are first-generation Americans or the first of their families to even consider the possibility of attending college – there is no knowledge pipeline to pull from. No memories from their families to use as [...more...]

Actor Tommy Dewey played John Emerson in the 2018 political drama The Front Runner. The film stars Hugh Jackman in a highly dramatized rendering of the undoing of one of the most enigmatic, and influential, figures in post-Reagan-era politics: Gary Hart. Emerson became the Hart campaign’s California chair in 1984, and then deputy national campaign manager in 1986, after being inspired by Hart’s Kennedy-esque bearing and forward-facing reimagination of the Democratic Party as a Gen X-friendly coalition of socially progressives, environmentally conscious, college-educated professionals.  Hart’s campaign famously imploded when the enviably maned Colorado Senator got caught in an extramarital affair [...more...]

There’s not just one reason people become unhoused, and there’s not just one way to solve the homelessness issue. What we do know is that it’s a problem that is growing, in Los Angeles and other major cities, especially among certain members of the population. It’s a complex issue that no one seems to have an answer for, and new programs are not making a dent in solving the problem.  According to data from the 2022 Department of Housing and Urban Development, Los Angeles had the largest homeless population in the country with 65,111 people experiencing homelessness. Thirty percent of [...more...]

Under the leadership of David Bolton for the last 12 years, the California Missions Foundation has raised millions of dollars to preserve the state’s collection of historic Spanish missions and made their priceless collection of colonial and native art and artifacts an education destination for hundreds of thousands of visitors each year including tens of thousands of elementary school students. Beginning in the mid-1700s, the Spanish built 21 missions from San Diego to Sonoma that today provide a unique trail of history across California or what was then called Alta California. Bolton, who grew up in Santa Barbara – which [...more...]

Julie López played soccer for as long as she can remember. Growing up in a family of seven in Sylmar […more…]

Kimberly Emerson am 17. Juni 2022 in Berlin. Foto: Markus C. Hurek // Verwendung auf Instagram frei bei Nennung des Fotografen @menschundlicht. // Jede weitere, vor allem kommerzielle Verwendung nur mit schriftlicher Genehmigung von Markus C. Hurek When The Giving List caught up with Kimberly Marteau Emerson in mid-September, she was far from home, but on familiar terrain, nonetheless, in Berlin awaiting the imminent arrival of her husband, John Emerson, the former ambassador to Germany from 2013-2017. Six weeks of international travel lay ahead for the politically and philanthropically minded power couple. In past lives, both had been high-level campaign [...more...]

Before Yasmin and Greg Delahoussaye started securing scholarships for youth of color through their nonprofit Educating Students Together (EST) in Los Angeles, they had been focused for 30 years on delivering tours for students interested in historically Black colleges and universities. Both Yasmin and Greg knew that higher education was the ticket to climbing the socioeconomic ladder and building generational wealth. But then right before the pandemic descended on the world, the growing gap between students’ interest and their ability to afford to attend school became too glaring to ignore. “More and more young people were telling us they loved [...more...]

The children of Los Angeles, growing parallel to the city’s sprawling landscape of ecological, cultural, and racial diversity, represent not only the city’s future but also the embodiments of generational neglect to protect those left most vulnerable by crime. Within Los Angeles County, increasing disparities in wealth have starkly colored the city’s social fabric. Some regions of the city contain child poverty levels as high as 68 percent. In 2011, Barbara Davidson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photo series of victims of gang violence in Los Angeles captured largely young subjects, grappling with the lingering effects of crime in dimly-lit funeral homes, locker [...more...]

According to researchers at USC, Los Angeles is currently home to 3.6 million immigrants – making one in three of its ‘residents’ immigrants. While Hispanics largely dominate the immigrant population, Los Angeles is home to a diverse range of ethnic groups and cultures. In the U.S. education system, many immigrant and first-generation children are often overlooked. Without the proper funding and attention, it’s common for the needs of immigrant children to be neglected. Fortunately, with the help of nonprofits, some of these gaps can close as they provide multifaceted support for those with the most need. Gabrielle Oliveira, who studies [...more...]