LA Conservation Corps Works With EMA to Build School Gardens

Over the last year, the LA Conservation Corps has partnered with EMA to build eight school gardens in the greater Los Angeles area as part of EMA’s School Garden Program. The latest garden was built in January in downtown LA at Metropolitan High School, the largest alternative high school in the district. Ten raised garden beds were installed to function as an outdoor laboratory for the school’s new horticulture class.

before 2
Before

 

The LA Corps is a 25 year-old nonprofit that provides job skills training, paid work experience and educational opportunities for under-served youth, ages 14 – 24 years old. Corps members in the Young Adult program are working towards their high school diploma while gaining marketable skills and providing valuable service to the community. In addition to building gardens, the corps members plant trees, remove graffiti, clean-up trash and debris from the community and the Los Angeles River, build hiking trails, remove invasive vegetation to restore habitats and mitigate fires, rescue sea life in Redondo Beach, and install water efficient landscaping and rainwater catchment systems. Continue reading

Comments (0)

Mehcad Brooks Digs in at Eliot Middle School Garden

EMA Young Hollywood Board Member and Necessary Roughness star, Mehcad Brooks, along with the LA Conservation Corps, principal Peter Pannell and PUSD Superintendent Jon Gundry helped dedicate a school garden at Eliot Middle School on this rainy Wednesday afternoon.

Eliot Middle School is EMA’s 17th school garden and our largest to date, with nine drip irrigated planter beds and surrounding fruit trees. The garden was funded with a contribution from Sony Pictures and actress Cameron Diaz, who’s Bad Teacher filmed at the school.

EMA President Debbie Levin spoke about how gardens teach students about sustainability as well as healthy eating – lessons that can last a lifetime. The garden will also be used to provide hands-on science lessons for Eliot students. Continue reading

Comments (1)

LA Conservation Corps & EMA Build Garden at the Largest Continuation High School in LAUSD

The School Garden at Metropolitan High School in Downtown LA Will Be a Learning Lab and an Example of How to Create a Sustainable Food Source

The LA Conservation Corps, in a role supporting the Environmental Media Association, has begun construction of a school garden at Metropolitan High School, the largest single-site continuation program in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The campus is located at 727 S. Wilson St. in an industrial area of downtown, adjacent to Skid Row. The project will consist of clearing and leveling the garden area, constructing and installing raised garden beds and filling and planting seeds and seedlings.

The garden is part of EMA’s School Gardens Program, in which the LA Conservation Corps is a partner. Together with EMA’s corporate sponsors and celebrity mentors, the program created six school gardens in 2011. EMA believes that students don’t
have to learn only within the confines of four walls, but that education
can take place in a dynamic atmosphere that engages students in a unique
and creative fashion. Continue reading

Comments (0)