Three Long Beach nonprofits were among 55 organizations awarded funds through this year’s LA2050 Grants Challenge, an annual demonstration of participatory grantmaking and open call for ideas to build a more vibrant, thriving, and equitable Los Angeles.
The local nonprofits’ proposals centered around STEAM education, arts programming, and career development workshops for Long Beach youth, organizers said.
LA2050 is a community-guided initiative, operated by the Goldhirsh Foundation, driving and tracking progress toward a shared vision for the future of L.A., according to its website. Their most significant program is the Grant Challenge, which calls for ideas to make the LA region the best place to connect, learn, live, play and create.
Since 2013, LA2050 has launched 11 cycles of the Grants Challenge, giving more than $20 million to hundreds of local impact organizations, with the help of hundreds of thousands of people casting votes in support.
For the 2025 Grants Challenge, more than 21,000 Angelenos cast nearly 140,000 votes for the issues they most want addressed, according to a press release. Local organizations then submitted over 1,000 proposals to address the top-voted issues.
Of those submissions, 55 LA County nonprofits were selected. LA2050 announced that 12 foundations came together to award the grantees with funds that total nearly $3 million, according to the press release.
Each organization will be receiving a range of $5,000 to $50,000 in grants, according to Maya Chen, social media and communications coordinator for LA2050.
Goldhirsh Foundation president Tara Roth gave opening remarks at the 2025 LA2050 Grantee Showcase on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at The Huntington. (Photo courtesy of LA2050)
(L-R) Goldhirsh Foundation AI executive Jen García and Juan Young of Grid110 pose for a selfie at the 2025 LA2050 Grantee Showcase on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at The Huntington. (Photo courtesy of LA2050)
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass gave the keynote address at the 2025 LA2050 Grantee Showcase on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at The Huntington. (Photo courtesy of LA2050)
Elected officials, including California State Senator Ben Allen, gave speeches at the 2025 LA2050 Grantee Showcase on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at The Huntington. (Photo courtesy of LA2050)
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Goldhirsh Foundation president Tara Roth gave opening remarks at the 2025 LA2050 Grantee Showcase on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at The Huntington. (Photo courtesy of LA2050)
This year’s LA2050 Grants Challenge theme, “LA, Together,” resonated even more following the devastating Los Angeles wildfires in January, organizers said. The funded initiatives reflect the same spirit of resilience, communal care, and collective action during and since the wildfires.
“This has not been an easy year for Los Angeles,” Goldhirsh Foundation president Tara Roth said in a statement, whose own family was displaced for seven months by the wildfires. “The Goldhirsh Foundation’s commitment to experimentation, collaboration, and responsiveness to the needs of the community remains stronger than ever.”
The funded initiatives span from firefighting careers for formerly incarcerated individuals through the Forestry & Fire Recruitment Program to adult media literacy workshops by the Los Angeles Reporting Collective. Other grantees included the Downtown San Pedro Community Foundation for a free electric trolley system in San Pedro; LA Compost for a “Magic Soil Bus” educating youth about reuse; and Union Station Homeless Services to provide housing assistance to families displaced by the Eaton fire.
Grantees specifically addressing the Long Beach area include the Museum of Latin American Art, the California Conference for Equality and Justice, and Adventures to Dream Enrichment.
MOLAA will use the funds for its bilingual STEAM and ART Programs, which will serve approximately 1,000 underrepresented LA County K-12 youth through programs such as STEAM Sundays and STEAM Week at Summer Camp, according to the LA2050 website.
These programs provide hands-on activities in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) and learning opportunities outside the school environment that allow for developing skills in an accessible and appealing way for students.
The California Conference for Equality and Justice will be supporting systems-impacted youth with holistic supports, including career exploration, mentorship, and social justice leadership, according to the LA2050 website. The “Rising Futures” program will build on the success of CCEJ’s Restorative Justice youth diversion work by expanding support for 100 system-impacted youth during an eight-month exploration of career and education pathways.
The nonprofit Adventures to Dreams Enrichment will be expanding its youth garden and “Adventure Labs” that integrate STEAM learning with gardening to build skills and inspire careers, according to the LA2050 website. After a successful pilot program at Washington Middle School, the non-profit will bring the “Adventure Labs” to three more Long Beach Unified School District schools.
The 55 nonprofits were presented with their awards earlier this month on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at the annual LA2050 Grantee Showcase, hosted at The Huntington, according to a press release. Community leaders, past grantees, speakers, youth ambassadors, and elected officials, including LA Mayor Karen Bass, celebrated this year’s cohort.
Originally Published: October 16, 2025 at 8:00 AM PDT