Children's Nature Institute Gets Rooted in Los Angeles
November 18th, 2011
Childrens' Nature Institute collaborates with The Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust Gardens and offers a SPARK Middle School Internship.
Children's Nature Institute (CNI) is thriving in Los Angeles!
CNI is providing curriculum for the garden-based education programs offered by the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust (LANLT), one of only 10 organizations to be awarded the USDA All People's Garden Grant Program this year. The program will help build capacity of four community gardens located in under-served areas of Los Angeles. CNI and LANLT cohosted the kick off event.
CNI was also approached by SPARK, a nonprofit that recently expanded to the Los Angeles area from the Bay Area, with replication funding from the Frieda C. Fox Family Foundation and other local funders. SPARK provides life-changing apprenticeships to middle school students from disadvantaged communities. CNI's new 8th grade apprentice, Kierra, is a curious student from Thurgood Marshall Entrepreneurial Academy who wanted real life experience in science and working with animals.
Finally, CNI has moved into the Magnolia Place Family Center (MPFC), a community hub for at-risk families, which also unites more than 20 nonprofit community organizations in an effort to create sustainable change for families, build neighborhood resiliency, and become a national model for other vulnerable communities. CNI is the lead partner for the Digging Deeper project at Magnolia Place and at the Carson-Gore Academy. This project replicates a successful community engagement/science collaborative model first started in the Bay Area.
The Frieda C. Fox Family Foundation has proudly supported both CNI and SPARK, as well as other partners in the Digging Deeper collaborative. The Foundation is a major supporter of both Science By Nature and Digging Deeper, and believes the model will be adopted across the state in years to come.