Real Access: Achieving the Promise of Community School Parks

Green space, park access, and trees

City of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a citywide benefit) Central LA South LA San Fernando Valley

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

The City of Los Angeles faces a severe park equity crisis. The Trust for Public Land ranks LA 90th among major U.S. cities for park access, with low-income areas having 48% less park space per person than high-income neighborhoods. Community School Parks (CSP) addresses this gap by opening LAUSD schoolyards on weekends, providing green space in underserved communities. But access alone isn’t enough—these spaces must be activated and visible. The value of Community School Parks must also be seen and understood by the general public in order for it to take hold more widely. This initiative will enhance engagement at ten pilot sites, raising awareness, building community use, and making the case for broader adoption and sustained funding.

This grant will fund the activation of ten existing CSP pilot sites through free, inclusive programming and community events. In partnership with the LA Parks Foundation, LAUSD, and the Department of Recreation and Parks, the project will bring targeted activation to these schoolyards, which are located in neighborhoods where families lack access to safe green spaces. Events may include cultural celebrations, fitness classes, resource fairs, family movie nights, and seasonal activities, designed to bring residents of all ages into their neighborhood parks.
By encouraging consistent use and meaningful community participation, the initiative will foster ownership of CSP spaces within a community, which will be instrumental in efforts to finalize a long-term joint powers agreement (JPA) between LAUSD and RAP. These activations will demonstrate the program's effectiveness, making the case for continued investment and expansion to other park-poor areas of Los Angeles. Funds will support event planning, staffing, site materials, outreach, translation, and amenities that reduce barriers to participation, like food, restrooms, and shade structures. Through this effort, CSP sites will be able to take their school yards from open space to active public commons each weekend.

If successful, this initiative will demonstrate how schoolyards can serve not just as parks, but as powerful platforms for community pride, youth development, and intergenerational exchange. Across ten CSP sites, neighbors and neighborhood groups and institutions will be invited to participate in programs and events that connect them with the offerings at their neighborhood school each weekend. The program will also strengthen stakeholder confidence in CSP’s value, paving the way for deeper investment from school leaders, families, and funders. In the long term, this approach for activating school campuses in the evenings, during school vacations, and across CSP locations throughout the LAUSD. If we are successful, public schoolyards will be year-round hubs of connection, play, and civic life, and we will move closer to the goal of putting every Angeleno within a half mile walk of a public park they can use and enjoy.