The Living Schoolyards Report

Advocating for Green and Open Schoolyards

The Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust sees public school campuses as important spaces that could bring more greenspace to neighborhoods and become assets for physical health, mental wellbeing, and community resilience. Excitement about the possibilities for school campuses and the students and communities they serve catalyzed us to work with partners to form the Living Schoolyard Coalition.

The Living Schoolyard Coalition (LSYC) was formed in summer 2019 to identify opportunities to bring more shade, greening to campuses while also building on efforts by People for Parks and other partners to create Community School Parks, opening campuses to residents when school isn’t in session. The LSYC’s mission is to advocate for and create equitable access to nature and healthy school environments that support: safe outdoor education, physical and mental health, social and emotional wellbeing, and climate resilience for Los Angeles County’s public-school students and communities. To help raise awareness of the important working being done already and additional opportunities for campus greening, the LSYC released this report. We are proud to dedicate our time to this effort and develop this report in partnership with The Trust for Public Land, City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, Cal Poly Pomona, Heal the Bay, KDI, Los Angeles Beautification Team, North East Trees, Occidental College, Urban and Environmental Policy Institute and the Council for Watershed Health.