Mission
Garden School Foundation provides in-depth garden-based education to youth at Title I schools in Los Angeles, strengthening connections between food justice, environmental stewardship, and community health. By using the full transformative potential of school gardens as teaching sites, we nurture a healthy and mindful generation of children who care for their bodies, their communities, and the earth.
We currently serve eleven Title I elementary schools, reaching over 3,800 students and their families each year.
2005 — Planting the First Seeds
In 2005, when a large expanse of blacktop at 24th Street Elementary was about to be resurfaced, a coalition of educators, neighbors, community organizations, and concerned citizens seized on the opportunity to transform the paved lot into a 1.5-acre garden classroom. Their goal was to use the garden to address the links between poverty, lack of access to fresh food, and academic performance. The nonprofit Garden School Foundation was formed to support these efforts.
Today, as one of the largest such gardens in LAUSD, 24th Street continues to thrive and have a profound effect on students. The garden has become a treasured resource, deeply embedded in the lives of students’ families, neighbors, and like-minded people from across the city. Our unique Seed to Table curriculum of gardenin