Play-to-Grow Paradise Garden

Green space, park access, and trees

Central LA South LA

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

Mid-City Heights is a park-barren neighborhood facing a growing mental health crisis. Gentrification’s stranglehold means many can’t afford to enjoy the community they helped build. People feel lonely and disconnected, and need a space not behind a paywall. As heat extremes rise—up to 12°F hotter than the coast—grassroots action is essential. Gardens are proven to reduce anxiety by nearly 40% and cool neighborhoods, yet public land doesn't exist. Traditional community gardens have a 3-year waitlists and fenced-off plots for the experienced few.
That’s why we created Teapot Gardens, a grassroots nonprofit born in the pandemic. Sharing our backyard, we welcomed families and renters eager to learn gardening and connect. After 150+ events, 3,500 served, and 11,000 outdoor hours logged, we’ve outgrown our backyard. Five years of advocacy finally won partial funding for a permanent garden. Now we must inspire neighbors to not only visit but volunteer, to sustain this oasis for generations.

This grant will bring to life a radical new model for greenspace—a Paradise Tea Garden where climate resilience, community care, and cultural connection grow together. On a once-vacant Mid-City lot, we’re reviving ancient desert garden design for modern challenges, creating an oasis that cools the neighborhood while calming the mind.
From the first shovel in the ground, this will be a garden built by and for the community. Biweekly Garden Sundaze will teach neighbors to plant medicinal herbs, construct fire-resistant super-adobe domes, and weave vine-covered tunnels proven to lower temperatures by 15°F—transforming asphalt into a living classroom. By spring, the fruits of this labor will blossom into a daily teahouse offering 50+ free servings of garden-grown botanicals to nourish and connect.
What makes this different from every other garden? The Teapot Tamagotchi app turns passive visitors into active stewards. Imagine seeing the mint plant you watered last week thriving—on-screen and in the soil—while earning credits toward an evening tea ceremony under the stars. The app manages what often overwhelms small nonprofits: volunteer coordination, reminders, and capturing the ripple effects of care.
This is more than a park. It’s a proof point that when cities fail to provide public land, communities can cultivate paradise—where loneliness yields to connection, and a life lived truly outdoors.

By 2050, every park-deprived neighborhood will be centered around paradise gardens serving tea and inspiring regenerative living—regardless of income. Shifting LA’s culture at the root, from consumerism to creation.
By 2035, we envision scaling up to 5 paradise gardens. With self-sustaining cafes that employ and train artists and youth with placemaking, and gardens supported by volunteers. This app launches the giving tree model—and seeds our citywide expansion. Enabling local stewardship, open-source designs, and resource sharing to scale this park cafe concept. Leading to a ripple effect of micro-paradise gardens in people’s backyards, utilizing the app to organize volunteers and make accessible greenspace within walking distance for every Angelino.
By next year, LA’s first Paradise Garden prototype will be realized: a 5,000 sq ft oasis and tea house where 50+ daily visitors access free tea and shade, 1,000+ volunteers engage via our gamified app, and 300+ attend artist-led events.