CREATEEmpower the Next Generation of Community Yoga Leaders!
People’s Yoga is dedicated to making yoga an accessible, inclusive reality for all Angelenos by empowering the next generation of community rooted, social justice focused yoga leaders. We are committed to training 50 new yoga teachers and offering scholarships so more women, people of color, and folks from underserved communities can provide health, wellness, and healing to their deserving families and neighbors.
In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
Central LA
East LA
San Gabriel Valley
San Fernando Valley
South LA
County of Los Angeles
In what stage of innovation is this project?
Expand existing program
What is the need you’re responding to?
Now more than ever diverse communities not only need access to health and wellness opportunities, they also need culturally relevant and competent practitioners. Unfortunately, there are many barriers for underserved communities to obtain the yoga training necessary to safely and effectively serve communities. People’s Yoga aims to fill the gap by offering affordable payment options and scholarships to support the development of yoga teachers who understand the unique lived experiences of the communities they come from.
As a small, mama of color owned business we are only able to offer a handful of scholarships each year. With the support of LA2050 grant funds, we will be able to grow our impact by expanding our yoga teacher training program to offer more scholarship opportunities and community-focused yoga training like family yoga, yoga en español, and prenatal/postnatal yoga
Why is this project important to the work of your organization?
For the past three years, People’s Yoga has successfully offered Yoga Teacher training to the greater Los Angeles area and beyond. Our 200-Hour training course offers a mindful and community focused approach to bridging yoga with social change, and aims to develop and encourage a new generation of leaders who will advocate for, and create access to, health and wellness. We have developed a unique and powerful yoga teacher training model that centers accessibility, inclusivity, sustainability, decolonized healing, community care, and conscious entrepreneurship. Majority of our graduates are women of color, older adults, and LGBTQ+ folks who are dedicated to serving their community and growing supportive networks by offering healing modalities where limited to no options are available. Many of our graduates have returned to People’s Yoga to offer donation based yoga classes in our studio and free classes through our community partnerships.
Approximately how many people will be impacted by this proposal?
Direct Impact: 170
Indirect Impact: 2,500
Please describe the broader impact of your proposal.
There has been a self-care boom in popular society in recent years. All over social media you can learn about the importance of self-care and wellness. Unfortunately, access is a major barrier for low income communities of color and other underserved communities. Even though communities understand the value of self-care and wellness practices, many people do not have the time, resources, local infrastructure or support to take action. Our proposal works to ease barriers and lead a wellness culture shift in underserved communities by training community members to bring healing services back to their neighborhoods. When yoga instructors reflect the fabric of communities, the possibilities for radical community transformation are endless.
Please explain how you will define and measure success for your project.
In the short term, we plan to train 50 new yoga teachers and offer six continuing education opportunities to approximately 120 existing yoga teachers by the end of the grant period. In the long term, we aim to have 50 new yoga teachers offering regular yoga classes in their respective communities, reaching at least 50 community members each. We also will work to connect yoga graduates and trained yoga specialists to community based projects and non-profit organizations to develop long-term teaching contract partnerships.
Our key performance indicators include:
-50 new yoga graduates (graduation rates, Participant demographics)
-Host six speciality yoga training sessions for approximately 120 certified yoga teachers. (Track attendance, demographics of attendees, dates and locations of trainings)
-At least 60% of recently trained graduates offer community yoga classes within one year of the Training program (Follow-up surveys with yoga graduates)
-Establish 5-10 partnerships with community-based organizations and non-profits to offer yoga classes to their staff and/or participants. (MOU/contract agreements with partner organizations)
Which of the CREATE metrics will your submission impact?
Employment in the creative industries
Minority- and women-owned businesses
Which of LA2050’s resources will be of the most value to you?
Access to the LA2050 community
Host public events or gatherings
Communications support
Office space for meetings, events, or for staff
Strategy assistance and implementation
Space for yoga trainings