We need a few good volunteers to help clean up our neighborhood and our organization!
As our school year is about to start, we want to have a clean and welcoming environment for our families to come and feel safe in. 

Opportunities on this day will include:
– a walk-around community clean up, where volunteers will pick up trash off the street and in local parks to make sure our surrounding streets are clean!
– a thorough clean up of our organization, to help prepare us for a great school year (may include cleaning windows, tables, chairs, shredding papers, etc)
– preparing materials for preschool classroom projects 
– clearing an area for a new garden on site

If you are interested in making a difference in your community and ensuring a preschool that serves low-income families has the strong support of our neighbors and friends, please consider dropping by for an hour or two to help set us up for a year of success!

ALL AGES ARE WELCOME!  

RSVP to sarah@familiesforwardlc.org

On the first Saturday of each month, join CMA Educators and volunteers in a beach cleanup, clearing the shore of marine debris. Meet at the steps in front of the auditorium.

Groups are required to make reservations by the Thursday before the event: Call Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm, 310-548-7562.

FREE; open to all ages 3+

The Aquarium of the Pacific is working together with the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority to help restore a local wetland in Long Beach.

The Aquarium hosts a monthly habitat restoration event at the Los Cerritos Wetlands. This is your opportunity to visit and learn about our local wetlands, help the environment, and support the Aquarium of the Pacific.

The Los Cerritos Wetlands Stewardship Program is working to restore 66 acres of wetlands owned by the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority. These wetlands occupy habitat in two cities, Long Beach and Seal Beach, and two counties, Los Angeles and Orange. The program’s ongoing restorative activities have included removing non-native plants, collecting seeds from rare plants for later use, and collecting trash.

Restoration will focus on non-native weed removal and rare native plant conservation. These events will be led by trained naturalists and local educators, offering a great opportunity for local citizens to learn more about the Los Cerritos Wetlands, while getting hands-on involvement with the restoration.

Age: The entire family is welcome to participate. Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult.

Cost: Free. No registration required.

Meeting Place: Participants will be met and greeted by Los Cerritos Wetlands staff at the corner of Pacific Coast Hwy and 1st. Street in Seal Beach. Arriving around 10:15 a.m. is recommended.

Length: 2 hours, 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Please Bring: The wetlands are wildlands, so please dress accordingly. Closed-toe shoes are required. Hat and sunscreen are recommended. Drinking water will be provided, but this is a plastic water bottle-free event. Please bring a reusable water bottle.

Participants eligible to win a free ticket to the Aquarium and other prizes!

For more information, please visit the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority.

Our monthly all-ages beach cleanup bonanza, 10 a.m. to noon on the third Saturday of every month except December.

Beach cleanups are a great experience for you and your family, friends and co-workers to get involved in the community and environment. All you need to do is show up…and bring reusable supplies, if possible! We provide the supplies, all you need to do is register, sign a waiver, and show up! Visit Heal the Bay’s Eventbrite page for details about the location for this month’s Nothin’ But Sand beach cleanup.

This is a rain or shine event. Cleanups are only cancelled for lightning or thunderstorms. We will still hold the cleanup in light and steady rain. In this case, please come prepared with a rain jacket, appropriate shoes, and an umbrella.

Celebrate month's Bdays with Open Mic night at 5:30 pm on Friday, Sept. 27th!

The Aquarium of the Pacific is working together with the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority to help restore a local wetland in Long Beach.

The Aquarium hosts a monthly habitat restoration event at the Los Cerritos Wetlands. This is your opportunity to visit and learn about our local wetlands, help the environment, and support the Aquarium of the Pacific.

The Los Cerritos Wetlands Stewardship Program is working to restore 66 acres of wetlands owned by the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority. These wetlands occupy habitat in two cities, Long Beach and Seal Beach, and two counties, Los Angeles and Orange. The program’s ongoing restorative activities have included removing non-native plants, collecting seeds from rare plants for later use, and collecting trash.

Restoration will focus on non-native weed removal and rare native plant conservation. These events will be led by trained naturalists and local educators, offering a great opportunity for local citizens to learn more about the Los Cerritos Wetlands, while getting hands-on involvement with the restoration.

Age: The entire family is welcome to participate. Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult.

Cost: Free. No registration required.

Meeting Place: Participants will be met and greeted by Los Cerritos Wetlands staff at the corner of Pacific Coast Hwy and 1st. Street in Seal Beach. Arriving around 10:15 a.m. is recommended.

Length: 2 hours, 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Please Bring: The wetlands are wildlands, so please dress accordingly. Closed-toe shoes are required. Hat and sunscreen are recommended. Drinking water will be provided, but this is a plastic water bottle-free event. Please bring a reusable water bottle.

Participants eligible to win a free ticket to the Aquarium and other prizes!

For more information, please visit the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority.

The mission of CNPS is to conserve California native plants and their natural habitats, and increase understanding, appreciation, and horticultural use of native plants. We achieve this mission at the native garden days at Point Vicente Interpretive Center through community based native gardening.

Program Description: Volunteers learn about California native gardening which gazing out at the Pacific Ocean at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center. The garden provides important habitat for endangered species and inspires people to plant local. The volunteer maintenance of the garden is critical to it's success. 

Volunteer Roles & Responsibilities: Volunteers will be pruning, weeding, watering, spreading or collecting native seeds, learning irrigation systems, planting, and mulching the oceanside garden.  

Time Commitment: 2 hours.  

Requirements: Close-toed shoes, clothes for outdoor work.

Benefits: Volunteers benefit by receiving a full training on proper garden techniques that they can use at home and enjoy an enriching educational experience in a beautiful setting.   

*This project is created, organized and managed by our nonprofit partner. Once you click on EXPRESS INTEREST below a staff person from that organization will contact you to follow up.

Our monthly all-ages beach cleanup bonanza, 10 a.m. to noon on the third Saturday of every month except December.

Beach cleanups are a great experience for you and your family, friends and co-workers to get involved in the community and environment. All you need to do is show up…and bring reusable supplies, if possible! We provide the supplies, all you need to do is register, sign a waiver, and show up! Visit Heal the Bay’s Eventbrite page for details about the location for this month’s Nothin’ But Sand beach cleanup.

This is a rain or shine event. Cleanups are only cancelled for lightning or thunderstorms. We will still hold the cleanup in light and steady rain. In this case, please come prepared with a rain jacket, appropriate shoes, and an umbrella.

The 10th annual Festival for all Skid Row Artists
Saturday and Sunday, October 26 & 27, 2019
1-5pm each day in Gladys park (corner of 6th Street and Gladys Avenue)

Sign Up as a Skid Row artist – write info@lapovertydept.org / call 213-413 1077

Say What! TENth Annual –can you believe it! How Time Flies! How a community vitally sustains itself! You better believe it!

Los Angeles Poverty Department celebrates and preserves the rich artistic heritage of Skid Row and beginning with the first Festival in 2009 has generated a registry of Skid Row artists, which now numbers more than 800.

The Festival for All Skid Row Artists is a two-day festival of performing and visual art with plenty of music, showcasing the diverse range of talents among Skid Row residents. The festival has become one of the most anticipated grassroots cultural events in Skid Row where over 100 Skid Row Artists perform or display their artwork to enthusiastic audiences. Many come back each year and prepare their acts and works of art, and thanks to extensive street outreach, many people will get on-stage for the very first time and get in the mix of the vibrant Skid Row artistic culture.

LAPD partners with Studio 526 and United Coalition East Prevention Project (UCEPP) to produce the Festival. This year, the Goethe-Institut is an additional producing partner. The Goethe-Institut is organizing the event series “Worlds of Homelessness”, including discussions, music and film screenings, that begins Tuesday October 22, at LA Poverty Department’s Skid Row History Museum & Archive (with additional sites at Sci-Arc and Navel). The project brings together local and international artists, architects, scholars and others and culminates with the 2 days of the Festival.

“Worlds of Homelessness” will open with music by the LA Playmakers and the Playmakers will close out the Festival on Sunday Afternoon. The LA Playmakers are a local band founded by Joseph Warren and Stan Watson 5yrs ago. These accomplished professional musicians have played with a number of well known jazz and pop music figures. They can play anything, R&B, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Gospel– and they do.  The band members have one thing in common: they all were members of the Praise and Worship Team at Skid Row’s Central City Church of the Nazarene.

Festival attendees are invited to participate in a range of artist facilitated workshops and creativity stations. The LA City Department of City Planning will be there to gather community input on their emerging plan for downtown DTLA2040 and Skid Row Now & 2040, will also be getting festival-goer input on their community generated plan for a Skid Row future without displacement and with housing for area residents now on the streets. LAPD’s Festival for All Skid Row Artists gives audiences a chance to hear what you usually don’t hear about Skid Row: that it is a community rich with talent!