Los Angeles Has Spoken: Here are the Winners of the $1,000,000 LA2050 Grants Challenge

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, LA2050 – together with the people of Los Angeles – awarded one million dollars to 10 innovative projects that will change Los Angeles for the better. In an effort to democratize philanthropy and engage the Los Angeles community, LA2050 enlisted the help of the Los Angeles community in deciding five of the ten winners.

In July, as part of its effort to drive progress toward a shared vision of success for Los Angeles, LA2050 invited both nonprofits and private companies to submit an idea that would positively impact the region and bring LA closer to its vision of success. 

The 267 submitted ideas were propelled by an exhaustive community engagement process that took place in Spring 2014, during which more than 30,000 Angelenos worked together to create the LA2050 Goals – a vision of success for the future of the region.

"This vision, shaped by Angelenos for Angelenos, is the backbone of the MyLA2050 Grants Challenge," said Tara Roth, President of the Goldhirsh Foundation, which is incubating the LA2050 initiative. "LA has every problem and every solution existing worldwide. And the My LA2050 Grants Challenge, with its collective input and inspiring ideas for change, belongs to LA; it's in our hands."

The public voted on the proposals over a two-week period in September, selecting their favorite submissions online at la2050.org/challenge.

The winners have projects that will take place all over Los Angeles County and tackle its major challenges – from transportation to homelessness– in innovative and exciting ways.

Top voted winners include:

• LEARN: City Year Los Angeles and Partnership for LA Schools will expand by offering one-on-one mentorship to Roosevelt High School and Jordan High School.
• LIVE: UCLA Grand Challenges will publish a work plan to transform the LA region to 100% sustainability by 2050.
• CONNECT: The Special Olympics will build capacity to recruit 30,000 volunteers for the World Games in LA in 2015.
• PLAY: EnrichLA will build 75 school gardens in Los Angeles.
• CREATE: StreetCraft LA will empower low income, at risk, and unemployed youth to improve their future through creative economy entrepreneurship.

Jury voted winners include:

• LEARN: The Incubator School and the NFTE Los Angeles will build an open source entrepreneurial education for the 21st century.
• LIVE: The Trust for Public Land will transform trash-filled alleys in South LA into walkable, bikeable, beautiful green alleys.
• CONNECT: MoveLA will seed a countywide public conversation around public transportation with a digital media platform.
• PLAY: The Pershing Square Park Advisory Council will re-establish Pershing Square as the "Living Room" of DTLA and install two playgrounds at the corner of 6th and Olive.
• CREATE: Downtown Women's Center will work toward ending homelessness for women in Los Angeles through job training and placement.

In total, the Goldhirsh Foundation has provided $1 million to support these local efforts. Each organization will receive $100,000 to implement their project.

View all of the winners at la2050.org/my-la2050 and connect with LA2050 on facebook.com/LA2050, twitter.com/LA2050, using #LA2050 and at www.la2050.org.

Goldhirsh Foundation
At the Goldhirsh Foundation, (www.goldhirshfoundation.org), we connect the dots between the best emerging innovations and the financial, social, and human capital to make them thrive.

LA2050
LA2050 (www.la2050.org) is an initiative to create a shared vision for the future of Los Angeles, and to drive and track progress toward that vision.

Contact: Shauna Nep
[email protected] 
310-490-3272

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SOURCE Goldhirsh Foundation