Community Partners

Rootdown LA'S Healthy Food and Youth Pipeline Builds Public/private Partnerships to Increase the Availability of Healthy Food in Low-income Areas via New Entrepreneurial Culinary Training and Catering Programs for Youth in South Los Angeles (sla). These Programs Are the Foundation for a Stand-alone Youth-run Catering Business That Will Put Sla Youth at the Forefront of the Local Foods Movement. Youth, From Elementary School Through Past High School Graduation Receive Successive Education, Training, Mentoring and Jobs to Help Them Thrive as They Become Key Stakeholders Building a New Healthy Food Production, Promotion, and Distribution Pipeline in the Sla Community.this Project Brings Diverse Sectors Together to Engage South La Youth in an Educational and Economic Pipeline Culminating in a New Youth-led Catering Business in Sla to Address the Following Community Needs: 1. a Missed Economic Opportunity to Address the Lack of Affordable Healthy Value-added Products and Catered Items Produced by South La Residents. 2. a Lack of Opportunity for Sla Youth to Become Meaningfully Involved and Gainfully Employed in Their Communities. 3. a Community-wide Lack of Nutritional, Financial, and Ecological Health.this Project Also Builds on Successes of Rootdown LA'S Previous Nifa Community Food Project That Supported the Development of a Program That Trains High School Students to Design Gardens and Grow and Distribute Fresh Produce in Sla; This, and Other Locally Grown/gleaned Produce Will Be Used in New Programs. Project Partners, Rdla, the Los Angeles Police Department (lapd), Carver Middle School (CMS), and Youth-mentor Non-profits Such as Stepping Forward La Collaborate to Meet Shared Programatic Goals as They Support Youth to Succeed Through a Pipeline of Existing Educational and New Training Programs. Rootdown La Envisions a Day When More Partner Organizations in South La Are Collaborating to Share Resources and Bring Their Unique Strengths Together in Service of Assuring That Next Generations of Youth in South La Have All the Advantages That Youth in Other La Neigborhoods Enjoy.