The Nature for All Leadership Academy:

Nature for All is proud to continue developing and empowering new generations of environmental stewards with our Leadership Academy program. Nature for All is committed to educate, develop, and encourage environmental stewards to care for our public lands and to advocate for the protection and enhancement of our mountains, forests, rivers, parks, and urban open spaces.

Established in 2011, the Leadership Academy is a training program with the purpose of teaching organizing and advocacy skills, civic engagement, and local community action. Since its inception, the Leadership Academy program has graduated more than 209 participants from diverse backgrounds (77 percent identify as low-income and 90 percent identify as BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color)), many of whom have successful environmental careers as park rangers, community organizers, educators, artists, storytellers, etc. More than one fifth of graduates have joined environmental and community organizations, including the California Conservation Corps, the U.S, Forest Service,TreePeople, Sierra Club, and many more. Many graduates also continue to volunteer with organizations focused on environmental justice and protection.

Leadership Academy members enjoy birdwatching during an educational outing.

As part of the program, Academy graduates have successfully executed over 100 community engagement projects around Los Angeles, San Gabriel Valley, and in the San Fernando Valley. Projects have included leading educational bike tours of the watershed area; organizing community workshops to raise awareness on protecting public lands among park-poor communities; creating educational videos about the San Gabriel Mountains, and much more.

Leadership Academy members lead community outings to Eaton Canyon.

Program Progress:

Since receiving the LA2050 Grant in 2022, Nature for All has launched its Leadership Academy Cohort 20! Leaders and the 12 new participants met for the first time on March 4th, 2023 in Asuksagna (Azusa) at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. Participants came from all over the greater Los Angeles area from places such as: Puvungna (Long Beach), Shevaanga (Montebello), Pimokangna (Burbank), Tibahangna (Lakewood), Awingna (La Puente), Toibinga (Pomona) and places whose names have been lost from written record or memory. Participants gathered in a circle, in the spirit of community, as Kevin LoneWolf Nunez gave a personal history of his ancestral homeland. In the coming weeks, participants will gather on zoom and in person to learn about local geology, watersheds, plants, forest health and so much more!

Leadership Academy cohort 20th members gather in Asuksagna (Azusa).

“My biggest eye-opener so far was inspired by our first field trip to the San Gabriel river. Learning about how the river used to be home to people in which they were able to thrive off of the land was very fascinating. Not fascinating because they were able to live off the land but fascinating because the history of the land was still being told today instead of being lost and untold like a lot of history that died due to it being swept under the rug.” - D- Cohort 20

Leadership Academy cohort 20 members gather in Asuksagna (Azusa) to meet each other and Nature for All leaders.

What’s next:

Cohort 20 sessions will include classes on: Local Native American History, Environmental Justice, Arts as Advocacy, and the very special landscape that gives the San Gabriel Mountains such biodiverse flora and fauna.

“I'm impressed with the breadth and depth of content.” - M- Cohort 20

“The most eye opening thing was finding out more about red-lining and the exposure to pollutants by location. Also, fighting pollution by suing wasn't the most effective solution.” - M- Cohort 20

Visit us on https://lanatureforall.org/ to learn more about Nature for All’s programs and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter at @lanatureforall to keep up with our work.