LA Youth Sustainability Studio

K-12 STEAM education

LAUSD (select only if you have a district-wide partnership) City of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a citywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Every child in Los Angeles deserves the opportunity to learn, explore, and develop their unique interests. Yet, racism and economic inequality have perpetuated educational inequities for low-income communities of color.
Extended learning programs are meant to mediate the opportunity gap created by the Eurocentric model not being equipped to affirm the identities and lived experiences of Black students. However, systemic barriers like cost and lack of safe transportation and accessible programming further isolate our youth. As a result, children in low-income families receive 6,000 fewer hours in learning by the time they are in the 6th grade. While more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, BIPOC communities lack designated learning experiences that inspire the pursuit of higher education and career pathways to be at the forefront of STEM-based solutions, opportunities that ensure safety and long-term financial stability.

With the support of LA2050, Change the Tune will launch a bold new initiative: the LA Youth Sustainability Studio. This citywide program is focused on youth leadership in STEAM for community impact. Building on our proven social justice business plan and food justice & sustainability curricula, we will work with partners like STEM Soul to introduce a new environmental justice curriculum grounded in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
This curriculum repository in environmental justice will be used to train facilitators so it can eventually be implemented in schools and across LA neighbors most impacted by environmental inequities.
The highlight of our program is the LA2050 Youth Sustainability Challenge, a first-of-its-kind, citywide student showcase where youth will pitch community-based sustainability solutions to local leaders, council members, and civic organizations, both for and not-for-profit. Here, we will leverage existing partnerships with The Plant Plug, AltaSea, Holistically Dope, and Aim4TheHeart, as well as institutions like LAUSD and USC. This initiative fuses leadership, science, creativity, and civic connection, ultimately mobilizing youth to learn, connect, innovate, and lead real change relevant to their lives.

If successful, LA County will have a new generation of young leaders equipped not just with environmental justice knowledge, but with the tools to take action. Neighborhoods will benefit from student-driven projects that reflect the needs and ideas of local youth.
Our partner organizations will have lasting access to this culturally-responsive sustainability curricula, activating youth across the county. Our program works toward the creation of a scalable and replicable model for extended learning at the intersection of STEAM education, social entrepreneurship, and economic mobility.
Most importantly, system-impacted youth will be seen and valued as present-day changemakers whose ideas shape the city’s climate and economic future. All children have the potential to deal creatively with their reality and reimagine the world they live in. Change the Tune strives to create an educational system where no potential is lost to the opportunity gap, where demography does not determine destiny.