Native Plant Woodland At The Garden School
Hancock Park Garden Club, Zone XII
2006 Founders Fund Winner
The Garden School Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to providing meaningful education for underserved youth in Los Angeles through gardenbased learning in outdoor living classrooms. It was established when the 24th Street Elementary School in the West Adams neighborhood decided to make a new model for the future and challenge the status quo by establishing outdoor classrooms to create innovative programs instead of repaving an asphalt playground on the property.
The 2006 Founders Fund Award enabled the Hancock Park Garden Club to make a significant difference in the Garden School Foundation’s project by creating a Native Plant Woodland at the 24th Street School campus. The woodland compliments the school’s experiential garden-based outdoor lessons incorporating science, math, literacy and nutrition. The vegetable garden provides more than 1,000 children and their families with fresh vegetables and fruits grown by the students at the 24th Street School.
The project at 24th St Elementary School covers over an acre of land and includes a kitchen garden, instructional outdoor kitchen classroom, California native woodlands, central courtyard garden, oak shaded playground area and a protective border of trees along the adjacent Santa Monica freeway.
