Blog

This month, Liberty Hill and the Resource Legacy Fund hosted the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the White House Environmental Justice Inter-Agency Council for its EJ Ready Bus Tour to connect environmental justice communities with federal climate investments and Justice40 funding opportunities. Read on to learn more and see photos from the bus tour!

Our new featured section Funder Perspectives highlights insights from leaders in the field of philanthropy and spotlights their work to improve Los Angeles. In honor of Women’s History Month, today we hear from a formidable leader paving the way for women in philanthropy, Executive Director of Los Angeles & National Public Safety at Ballmer Group—Nina Revoyr!

At Liberty Hill, we believe the people most affected by injustice should be leading the fight for change—from the protest march to the ballot box. In our recently released Electoral Power Building docket, we highlight the grassroots work being led by our Liberty Vote! grantee partners to engage, educate and empower LA voters in 2024 and beyond. Click below to learn more.

Over the past year, the Liberty Hill community has helped create lasting change and progress that has impacted the lives of community members throughout Los Angeles. From fighting for a roof over every head, to working to end youth incarceration as we know it, and eliminating toxic neighborhood oil drilling, our work has reached communities in every corner of L.A.

Liberty Hill’s annual Upton Sinclair Celebration brings frontline organizers and donor activists together for an inspiring evening celebrating the progressive victories that power social change in L.A. and the remarkable social justice champions who make that change possible! Purchase your tickets today before they sell out and join us for the biggest social justice celebration of the year!

Liberty Hill’s hit podcast Conversations From The Frontlines is back for another season this Spring giving you a front row seat—and a bird’s eye view—of the social justice battles shaping Los Angeles. So, get ready and be sure to catch up on all your favorite episodes from past seasons before the premier of Season 3—coming soon!

In February, Liberty Hill hosted its first Environmental Leadership Initiative (ELI) Convening, a two-day gathering for newly selected ELI Fellows to connect, build community, and set expectations for their two-year journey within the program. Read on to learn more and see photos from last month’s convening!

At our recent Liberation Fund Funder Briefing, Liberty Hill invited individual donors, funders, and advisors to learn about the progress of our Liberation Fund and the potential pathway the initiative is creating for LA County to become the largest jurisdiction in the nation to end the incarceration of girls and gender-expansive youth. Read on to learn more and watch the full recording.

March is Women’s History Month and Liberty Hill invites you to join us as we recognize the leadership, resilience and courage of women who have fought tirelessly to advance social justice—including members of Liberty Hill’s very own The X Fund Giving Circle which celebrates 10 years of activism this year! Read on to learn more about the group’s milestone in the fight for Gender Justice.

Throughout U.S. history African American activists have charted new courses in the fight for civil rights and social justice, displaying courage through perseverance. During Black History Month, the Liberty Hill community celebrated the excellence and achievements of the African American community and recognized the Movement Makers in Black History that have made in impact on Liberty Hill and changed our nation forever!

At our recent Building Electoral Power in LA: 2024 & Beyond event, we welcomed donor activists to a special conversation with frontline organizers and leaders to discuss our long-running Liberty Vote! initiative and the grassroots work being done by grantee partners to engage, educate, and empower LA voters this election cycle and into the future.

Last month, Liberty Hill proudly announced the inaugural cohort of our new Environmental Leadership Initiative (ELI), a groundbreaking fellowship program that invests in the development and empowerment of emerging Environmental Justice leaders from across California!

The Young Women’s Freedom Center celebrates its 30-year anniversary this month, marking a major milestone in their work to inspire and empower systems-impacted women, girls, and trans people of all genders. Read on to learn more about their policy, advocacy, and organizing work and the lasting impact it has on the lives of young people throughout California.

Liberty Hill’s annual Upton Sinclair Celebration brings frontline organizers and donor activists together for an inspiring evening celebrating the progressive victories that power social change in L.A. and the remarkable social justice champions who make that change possible! This year, we’re proud to recognize four remarkable social justice champions from the Liberty Hill community. Visit the link below to meet our 2024 Honorees!

As the work to support tenants rights in Los Angeles continues, Stay Housed LA grantee partners are hard at work laying the framework to help vulnerable renters understand their rights and access resources available to help them stay housed. Read on to learn more about their Housing Justice work and the recent Stay Housed LA training that took place earlier this month.

Liberty Hill is proud to announce the inaugural cohort of its new Environmental Leadership Initiative (ELI), a groundbreaking fellowship program that invests in the development and empowerment of emerging Environmental Justice leaders from across California! To learn more about the Environmental Leadership Initiative and to see the full list of ELI Fellows click below.

In the latest episode of Nonprofit Report, m/Oppenheim CEO Mark Oppenheim dives deep into the Transformative Justice movement in L.A. with Liberty Hill President & CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith and Senior Vice President of Programs Julio Marcial.

Last month, Liberty Hill Housing Justice partners Community Power Collective rallied at the steps of Los Angeles City Hall to advocate for rent debt relief. The collective urged elected officials to take action to Keep LA Housed and cancel COVID-19 rent debt before the February 1st deadline—a move that could potentially save thousands of LA families from eviction and displacement.

Liberty Hill is pleased to announce Dominique Tan as the newest member of our Board of Directors! Dominique first joined the Liberty Hill community through way of our Environment + Justice Donor Circle where she currently serves as the giving circle’s Co-Chair.

This year, Liberty Hill’s Environmental + Justice Donor Circle raised $200,000 in unrestricted operating grants which will be awarded to 10 organizations working at the frontlines of the environmental justice movement.

Our annual Upton Sinclair Celebration brings together hundreds of frontline organizers and donor activists to celebrate the progressive victories that help us power social change in L.A. Mark your calendars today and don’t miss out on this year’s big celebration– happening on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 at the beautiful Skirball Cultural Center!

At our recent 2023 Leadership Appreciation Brunch, Liberty Hill Donor Activists gathered to learn about community-led solutions aimed at ending the involvement of girls and gender-expansive youth in the incarceration system and gained insight into the local efforts of Liberty Hill grantee partners through our newly launched Liberation Fund.

Since 2014, the Liberty Vote! initiative at Liberty Hill has helped build the organizational capacity of grassroots organizations committed to increasing voter engagement in disenfranchised communities. This year, we’re excited to share that the work around the Liberty Vote! initiative will continue through our Liberty Vote! Grantee Partners.

After two years in legal limbo, the California Courts of Appeal has upheld the constitutionality of Measure J (2020) mandating that 10% of locally generated unrestricted funds be allocated to community investments and alternatives to incarceration– a major victory for Youth & Transformative Justice in L.A.!

Liberty Hill is excited to announce Jon Christensen as the newly elected Co-Chair of our Board of Directors! In his new position, Jon will help co-lead and support the Board in providing oversight, strategic guidance, and ensuring the Foundation’s long-term success. We look forward to his leadership and continued support of Liberty Hill’s vision and mission.

Throughout Native American Heritage Month, we honor the many contributions and achievements of Native and Indigenous People—the nation’s original inhabitants. To commemorate the month-long celebration this year, we’re spotlighting Liberty Hill Grantees and Community Partners that center their work on the voices of Native and Indigenous People and fight to address the unique challenges the community has faced both historically and in the present day.

Liberty Hill joined our community partners California Community Foundation, ChangeRaisers Academy, Legacy LA, and Destiny Coaching and Consulting at the 2023 Unity Summit to present on the impact of Ready to Rise (R2R) and our work to build a youth development movement in L.A.—the first of its kind!

In this very personal blog piece, Liberty Hill’s Vice President of Programs Julio Marcial reflects on his 25 year career in philanthropy, his childhood dream to play for the LA Dodgers, and the immense responsibility we all share to address systemic injustices.

With great appreciation and endless gratitude, we’re excited to announce this month’s Donor Spotlight—longtime Liberty Hill Board Member and honorary Hiller, Paula Litt!

The NextGen Giving Circle hosted its last learning session of the year– From Access to Self-Determination: A Conversation on Reproductive Justice– this past month! The session welcomed NextGen giving circle members to an engaging discussion with leaders on the forefront of reproductive justice in Los Angeles.

Liberty Hill is excited to announce our grantee partners for the Liberation Fund– a groundbreaking initiative to end the incarceration of girls and gender-expansive youth in Los Angeles County!

This past month, Liberty Hill hosted its latest Liberation Fund Convening—providing safe and collaborative space that fosters deep trust, relationship building, and strategy development that aims to intervene throughout the life course of a young person who has been trapped in avoidable and harmful system involvement.

The Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation (LADF) announced a significant achievement in its mission to uplift the community, awarding more than $1.5 million in grants to 32 deserving organizations — including Liberty Hill Foundation!

The Pilipinx-led organization has been making waves in the fight for social justice since 1997. From providing immigration legal services to advocating for affordable housing and workers’ rights, Pilipino Workers Center demands for better living and working conditions for low-wage Pilipinx communities throughout Southern California.

Liberty Hill Foundation is proud to be a partner with Bold Vision, a multi-sector, multi-year initiative that aims to transform systems within L.A. County.

Earlier this month, Liberty Hill partnered with the California Funders for Boys and Men of Color Southern California Regional Action Committee to host the “Building Bridges to Transformation” conversation on the future of youth justice and youth development in L.A. County.

Liberty Hill is proud to support the work of social justice organizations and their efforts to create a more just and equitable Los Angeles for all. From advocating for Environmental Justice to advancing LGBTQ & Gender Justice, Liberty Hill grantees are making an impact!

In honor of National Latinx/e Heritage Month, Liberty Hill co-sponsored the PBS SoCal | KCET screening of UNIDAD: Gay & Lesbian Latinos Unidos at LA Plaza de Cultura y Arte in Downtown L.A.

Earlier this month, L.A. Care Health Plan announced its continuing efforts to keep people in their homes with an award of $500,000 to Liberty Hill Foundation for support of the Stay Housed LA program.

Liberty Hill Youth & Transformative Justice community partner Gente Organizada has been serving historically underrepresented, immigrant populations in the Pomona area since 2010.

This month, Liberty Hill announced the launch of its new Environmental Leadership Initiative (ELI) fellowship program! Liberty Hill is also proud to be a partner with Bold Vision– a multi-sector, multi-year initiative that aims to transform systems within L.A. County to better serve and invest in BIPOC youth.

At our Housing Justice Salon, we welcomed donor activists to a special community conversation with Liberty Hill grantees, partners, and frontline leaders to discuss innovative solutions to the L.A. housing crisis at the state and local level. Liberty Hill’s Environment + Justice Donor Circle also hosted a briefing on environmental justice issues in the Inland Empire this month. The online briefing brought together donor activists to learn more about the challenges faced by communities and warehouse workers in the Inland Empire.

Liberty Hill donor activists put their passion into action to help make Los Angeles a more just and equitable place for all. In this issue of News from the Frontlines, we’re dedicating our Donor Spotlight to a remarkable NextGen Giving Circle donor activist—Ernesto Arias!

In this recent Inside Philanthropy op-ed piece, Liberty Hill Vice President of Public Partnerships Almas Sayeed and TRUST South L.A. Director of Policy Jessica Melendez make the case for why philanthropy should capitalize on this moment and invest in expanding community land trust programs in L.A. and beyond.

This summer, the Liberty Hill Community came together to celebrate and bid farewell to long-time Liberty Hill staff member, visionary, and Environmental Justice champion—Michele Prichard.

This summer also saw some major developments in the fight to end youth incarceration as we know it, as well as the continued work to ensure tenants know their rights and people stay housed amidst the homelessness crisis.

Liberty Hill’s Power of Persistence report recounts the story of L.A.’s hard-fought victory for environmental justice. With more than 5,000 oil wells in the City of Los Angeles and over 22,000 in the County of Los Angeles, data shows that a significant portion of the oil activity in L.A. exists within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, and other public areas.

Liberty Hill is proud to support the work of social justice organizations and their efforts to create a more just and equitable Los Angeles for all. From advocating for Racial Justice to advancing LGBTQ & Gender Justice, Liberty Hill grantees are making an impact!

Earlier this summer, Liberty Hill Vice President of Public Partnerships Almas Sayeed and Deputy Director of Housing Justice Jessa McCormack were invited to attend a briefing and roll out of The White House Blueprint For A Renters Bill of Rights, alongside the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and approximately 350 tenants and tenant organizers from across the country.

Thank you to all our listeners and guests for helping make Season 2 of Liberty Hill’s hit podcast Conversations from the Frontlines a huge success! With close to 2.8K all time downloads, our podcast community keeps growing!

Since 2018, Indigenous Pride L.A. has provided several education programs and resources for community members throughout Los Angeles. They’ve created and hosted local events to celebrate Two Spirit, Indigiqueer, and LGBTQPAI+ communities including creating L.A.’s first and only Indigenous Pride Event!

Last week, Mayor Karen Bass announced her Administration’s new Deputy Mayor of Community Engagement, Liberty Hill Board Member and Co-Chair—Jared Rivera! Congratulations on your appointment, Jared!

Liberty Hill donor activists put their passion into action to help make Los Angeles a more just and equitable place for all. In this special Pride Month issue of News from the Frontlines, we’re dedicating our Donor Spotlight to a remarkable Liberty Hill donor activist and LGBTQ+ advocate whose story continues to inspire: Weston Milliken

On our recent “From Port to River: Environmental Justice Bus Tour,” Liberty Hill community partners and donor activists embarked on a tour along the I-710 and I-110 corridors, meeting with frontline organizers to learn about the impacts of ports, refineries, and warehousing on local L.A. communities.

Throughout her 34 years at Liberty Hill, Michele Prichard has held a variety of roles, including leading the Foundation as its Executive Director for several years and currently serving as Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives for our Environmental Health & Justice program.

Be sure to catch up on Season 2 before our final episodes drop in July! Episodes 1 through 5 are available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any of your favorite podcast streaming services.

Have you ever wondered what a career at Liberty Hill Foundation could look like? We’re growing our team to expand the fight for justice for all across Los Angeles. View open positions here.

In this recent Spectrum News 1 segment, Liberty Hill Senior Vice President of Public Partnerships Almas Sayeed and our partners in the Community Land Trusts (CLTs) share the importance of affordable housing models and the work being done through LA County’s pandemic-era CLT pilot program to prevent the displacement of local long-time residents in L.A.

Queer and gender non-conforming youth face alarming rates of bullying, loneliness, and isolation putting them at increased risk for depression and other mental health conditions. Local LGBTQ-led nonprofit, Rainbow Labs, is working to change that.

This month, and every month, Liberty Hill honors and commemorates the trailblazing work of our community partners, grantees, and donor activists who have fought tirelessly for LGBTQ+ and Gender Justice in L.A.

Progress is messy and inconstant, and it doesn’t happen without difficult moments and tough conversations. The work of justice goes on, through advances and setbacks. Our partners will never desist from it, and neither will we.

Attention Liberty Hill Community, this year Liberty Hill’s Virtual Offices will be closed for a Summer Break between Monday, July 3rd and Friday, July 7th. We recognize the hard work and dedication of our dedicated Liberty Hill team and believe that offering a summer break will promote employee well-being, work-life balance, creativity, and productivity.

Tune in to our latest episode as Liberty Hill President and CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith sits down with California Assemblymember Isaac Bryan for some frank conversations and real talk!

Have you ever wondered what a career at Liberty Hill Foundation could look like? We’re growing our team to expand the fight for justice for all across Los Angeles. View open positions here.

It’s been just over a month since the Liberty Hill Community came together for our big 40th Annual Upton Sinclair Celebration: Uniting Power and Purpose! Relive some of the night’s magic and watch our new sizzle reel here.

In case you missed it, check out this recent LA Times article about activist Upton Sinclair featuring Liberty Hill‘s co-founder, Sarah Pillsbury, reflecting on her inspiration for starting Liberty Hill Foundation more than 40 years ago!

This past January, Liberty Hill announced its solicitation for applications for the new Liberation Fund Planning Grants—a new initiative that aims to end the incarceration of girls and gender-expansive youth in the Los Angeles County criminal legal system and build liberatory pathways for these young people.

The five-part series—co-designed and facilitated by Diana Zúñiga of Tres Lunas Consulting—provides group coaching and peer support to community partners so that they can successfully meet their self-determined goals for growth and sustainability.

This past month, Liberty Hill’s Senior Director of Environmental & Climate Justice Angelo Logan— who is also a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council—joined a special event at The White House to witness President Biden’s signing of an Environmental Justice Executive Order which will expand the administration’s climate and environmental justice efforts nationwide.

The event was moderated by Liberty Hill President and CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith and featured a dynamic panel of housing justice specialists including Almas Sayeed (Vice President of Public Partnerships, Liberty Hill), Joel John Roberts (Chief Executive Officer, PATH Ventures), Mary Lee (Affordable Housing Policy Consultant), and Peter Dreier (E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics, Occidental College).

Our 40th Annual Upton Sinclair Celebration was a night full of festivity, friendship, and fun as more than 700 guests gathered at the beautiful Skirball Cultural Center.

In March, co-hosts Liberty Hill and Resources Legacy Fund convened environmental justice leaders, local government, and diverse community organizations to learn about new federal funding programs and Justice40 Initiative opportunities for L.A. based communities.

Last month, our Housing Justice team joined Stay Housed L.A. community partners LiBRE, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice (EYCEJ) and the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, for another great Stay Housed L.A. Tenant Rights event at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Long Beach.

Los Angeles has one of the highest youth incarceration rates in the country, disproportionately impacting black, brown, and indigenous people and their communities. Through a collaborative partnership, our Youth & Transformative Justice team worked with PDG Consulting to create an in-depth data visualization tool that could be used to find, collect, and curate LA police arrest data to tell data-driven stories about these marginalized communities.

We’re excited to announce Liberty Hill’s hit podcast “Conversations from the Frontlines” is coming back with a fresh new season of episodes on May 4th!" Be sure to join us as we sit down with exciting new guests and explore this season’s theme of “Power, Politics, and Solidarity in L.A.” Stay tuned and we’ll see you soon for more, “Conversations from the Frontlines!”

A new multi-year, multi-sector initiative called Bold Vision is launching in Los Angeles County to address racial and social inequities in our public systems and create a more equitable Los Angeles for youth of color.

Check out this short video below introducing our newest staff members! Have you ever wondered what a career at Liberty Hill Foundation could look like? We’re growing our team to expand the fight for justice for all across Los Angeles.

The newly released toolkit titled “Addressing Legal Issues in Youth Diversion,” was authored by the Criminal Justice Program at the UCLA School of Law and helps jurisdictions create and implement youth diversion programs — approaches that steer youth away from the legal system and into community-based, supportive services in lieu of formal court processing.

This past year’s election produced an historic crop of victories. The Los Angeles political landscape has seen changes big and small that will shape policy for years to come.

Recently, Liberty Hill joined members of the Right to Counsel - LA and Keep LA Housed Coalition, along with local tenants and housing advocates, on the steps of City Hall to rally around the announcement of a new “Right to Counsel” motion that would ensure free legal representation for low-income tenants threatened with eviction.

This month the Liberty Hill community hosted, “Reparations and the Future of Pro-Black Policy in California,” an engaging conversation on the work happening locally in support of reparations policies that aim to heal and enable thriving Black communities.

Recently, our Housing Justice team joined Stay Housed L.A. community partners—Pomona Economic Opportunity Center and East Side Leads—for the Stay Housed L.A. Tenant Rights event in Pomona. Drawing thousands of local residents, the event featured a full day of tenant rights resources including workshops and free legal advice clinics provided by Public Counsel and BASTA.

Don’t miss the social justice event of the year! Join the Liberty Hill community for the 40th Annual Upton Sinclair Celebration: Uniting Power & Purpose at the Skirball Cultural Center on Wednesday, April 19!

We are so proud to announce that Liberty Hill and our Justice for All Marketing Campaign has been awarded a Silver Anthem Award in the Human & Civil Rights, Local Awareness Campaign & Media Category!

At a press conference hosted by Supervisor Holly Mitchell, whose district includes the largest urban oil field in the country and who championed the ordinance, she emphasized that, "We are here today because communities impacted by oil drilling fought relentlessly for justice for their communities."

We’re so excited to share a new bonus episode of Season 1 of Conversation from the Frontlines: Real Talk, Real Change! In this episode, Mayor Karen Bass joins the Liberty Hill community on the eve of her inauguration to discuss her plans to address pressing issues facing the City of L.A.

Check out this short video below introducing our newest staff members! Have you ever wondered what a career at Liberty Hill Foundation could look like? We’re growing our team to expand the fight for justice for all across Los Angeles.

Liberty Hill launched the Liberation Fund last month to ensure that girls and GE youth have access to programs and services targeted toward their unique needs that will prioritize their autonomy and safety.

Every year, Liberty Hill’s Leadership Appreciation Brunch brings the Liberty Hill Community together to discuss ways to achieve transformative change in Los Angeles. This year we welcomed guest speaker Mayor Karen Bass on the eve of her inauguration to discuss her plans to address the most pressing issues facing the city.

Earlier this month, members of the Liberty Hill executive team were invited to participate at the 31st Annual Empowerment Congress Summit and the Annual LA Partnership Business Meeting, sharing insight on a cross-section of experiences as stewards of progressive change in Los Angeles.

The Liberty Hill Community is devastated by the recent, tragic murders of Black men at the hands of police violence. It’s hard to find the right words to express the outrage and sadness we are feeling at this moment.

On Friday, December 2nd, our partners in the STAND-L.A. coalition achieved a milestone victory when the L.A. City Council voted unanimously (12-0) to adopt the final ordinance to prohibit new oil and gas drilling and phase out all existing drilling throughout the entire city!

Thanks to the tireless work of our dedicated frontline partners and the support of our growing community of donor activists, we can and will continue to drive progress toward a just and equal L.A. County for all. We can’t wait to continue building on this momentum together in the new year!

In this very personal blog piece, Liberty Hill’s President and CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith reflects on her early life growing up in Santa Monica, the challenges she and her family faced, and the profound impact a local organization called Clare | Matrix had on her childhood.

Liberty Hill is proud to celebrate the rich history and heritage of Native American and Filipino American People. We acknowledge and honor the original inhabitants of our various regions and support the resilience and strength that all Indigenous people have shown worldwide.

"emPOWER," a groundbreaking local environmental justice program, is expanding beyond L.A. County to bring savings, upgrades, and clean energy to more low-income Southern California residents.

In case you missed any of the engaging episodes, you can check out the very first season of our Podcast Conversations From The Frontlines: Real Talk, Real Change with Shane Murphy Goldsmith here or on your favorite podcast platforms.

Liberty Hill is proud to announce that Pasadena Measure H and Measure United to House L.A. have passed! We are so grateful to each and every individual and organization that came together in support of United to House L.A. and Pasadena Measure H! These key progressive wins are big steps forward in making L.A. County a more just and equitable place for all.

The entire Liberty Hill Family mourns the untimely passing of a dedicated community advocate and friend—Laurie Jones Neighbors.

As of the end of September, CWOs formed a total of 60 Public Health Councils which reached more than 12,900 employees and held over 1,110 conversations across a total of 159 unique employers.

Liberty Hill Foundation’s Annual Leadership Appreciation Brunch has become LA’s favorite Fall gathering, where we recognize the outstanding impact of our Donor Activist community and discuss ways to achieve transformative change in Los Angeles.

The independent report—commissioned by Liberty Hill with support from the California Endowment—examines the implementation of this acquisition and rehabilitation program and makes the case that CLTs can be an important model in responding to the housing and homelessness crisis as an alternative to traditional affordable housing.

Liberty Hill honors the Latinx/e-led organizations that continue the fight for justice in their local communities and beyond. We are proud to partner with organizations and leaders who have dedicated their work and missions to improving systemic conditions and bringing community-led solutions to life.

Organizers from CA Native Vote Project and Indigenious Education Now packed the house at a recent town hall with the Superintendent of LAUSD to advocate for funding to serve the needs of Native and Indigenous students. The Superintendent committed to working with the coalition to implement $10M in funding and will be drafting a compact this month.

As a special wrap-up to our first season of "Conversations From The Frontlines: Real Talk, Real Change" we hosted a special bonus episode called Defending the Future: America Post Roe featuring guests Laura Jimenez, the Executive Director of CA Latinas for Reproductive Justice and Janette Robinson Flint, Executive Director of Black Women for Wellness.

Liberty Hill is proud to welcome EJ Leader Angelo Logan as the new Senior Director of Environmental Justice. Angelo has served as a leader in the environmental and climate justice fields for more than 22 years. He got his start as an organizer for Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) in 2000 when they successfully fought the location of a polluting power plant in Southeast LA.

A new report released by the Los Angeles Community Land Trust Program—a $14 million pilot initiated two years ago with the support of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors—showcases the power of community ownership strategies.

Have you ever wondered what a career at Liberty Hill Foundation could look like? We’re growing our team to expand the fight for justice for all across Los Angeles.

Please join Liberty Hill and a broad coalition of Los Angeles community neighborhood organizations, labor unions, community members, and many of our grantee partners in supporting Measure ULA. Liberty Hill is also proud to endorse Measure H—The Pasadena Fair And Equitable Housing Charter Amendment for the November 8th ballot.

This month the Stay Housed L.A. team held one of their largest community events of the year in the city of Bell Gardens, which recently passed a permanent rent stabilization ordinance.

That’s why Liberty Hill is proud to endorse Measure ULA for the November 8th City of Los Angeles ballot. With the support of our donor activists, Liberty Hill and our community partners have been deeply engaged across Los Angeles city and county to help tenants get the assistance they need and to advocate for more protections.

This month we’re highlighting several of our grantee partners working in the Housing Justice area. These grassroots groups such as tenant rights groups, are fighting for housing as a human right and legal protections for at-risk tenants.

Liberty Hill Community, is there a burning topic, issue, grassroots leader or local power player you’d like to hear from? Send us your ideas!

Have you ever wondered what a career at Liberty Hill Foundation could look like? We’re growing our team to expand the fight for justice for all across Los Angeles.

On Monday, the Bell Gardens City Council unanimously passed a rent stabilization ordinance that limits annual rent increases to once a year with a 4% ceiling. The ordinance will be read and voted again on September 12th before it is signed into law.

Liberty Hill’s new podcast—"Conversations From The Frontlines: Real Talk, Real Change" hosted by our President and CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith has established itself as one of the Top 100 Nonprofit Podcasts on Apple Podcasts!

The latest incident of excessive use of force by police in Arkansas is a testament to the need for urgent reforms. The police violence against people of color that has plagued our country for so long must end. From Los Angeles to Arkansas, we must raise our voices across the country to make this a reality.

After nearly two decades of activism from local organizers, Los Angeles County has made history by launching a new Department of Youth Development!

To challenge mass criminalization of Black, Brown, Native American and Indigenous peoples, Liberty Hill’s Youth & Transformative Justice focus seeks to shift power from punishment systems to people impacted by mass criminalization, dismantle these systems in Los Angeles County, and work toward reimagined approaches to justice that invest in communities rather than prisons and surveillance.

Don’t Miss the Sixth Episode featuring The Honorable Peter P. Espinoza, a retired judge for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County and former director of the Los Angeles County Office of Diversion and Re-entry.

When you recognize Liberty Hill Foundation in your estate plans, you are making an investment in the future of Los Angeles.

Check out this short video below introducing two recent additions to our team: Jazlean Gipson, HR Generalist and Jessica Prieto, Program Manager of Public Partnerships!

This morning’s attack on human rights is shocking and infuriating, if not surprising. We ask you to join us in supporting organizations that serve the reproductive health and other needs of women and nonbinary people. Today, their work is more urgent than ever.

Have you ever wondered what a career at Liberty Hill Foundation could look like? We’re growing our team to meet the needs of neighborhoods across Los Angeles. Check out this short video introducing our two newest staff members, Nicole and Robert!

This Pride Month, we acknowledge the fights for LGBTQ rights happening at the intersections of many social justice struggles and salute the organizers and activists working to build a more just and inclusive world.

One of the youngest organizers for ending oil drilling in Los Angeles, Nalleli Cobo, was honored with the Goldman Environmental Prize for North America last month, a distinguished honor which recognizes courageous environmental activists from around the world.

This past year, along with funding a strong group of longstanding community organizations, Liberty Hill expanded our power-building strategy with a specific focus on “Rising Activist” organizations, shifting our outreach strategies, application processes, and assessment tools so that these smaller organizing groups could have greater access to funds.

We’re still riding the wave of excitement from our 2022 Upton Sinclair Homecoming Celebration! Check out this short video with highlights from this unforgettable evening!

Join Liberty Hill President/CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith as she interviews leaders on the frontlines fighting for change. This episode features Miguel Dominguez, Director of Education at Community Coalition.

Liberty Hill’s new podcast—"Conversations From The Frontlines: Real Talk, Real Change" hosted by our President and CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith is now live and online!

Our 2022 Upton Sinclair Homecoming Celebration was a sold out success! After 3 long years apart, the Liberty Hill community came together like never before to celebrate the progressive victories and visionaries powering progress in L.A.

This May, Liberty Hill honors the many contributions of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AA and NHPIs) and stands in solidarity with AA and NHPI organizers demanding an end to racial violence and fighting for systemic change.

We invited youth from Arts for Healing and Justice Network, Anti Recidivism Coalition, Youth Mentoring Connection, Amazing Grace Conservatory, and Share Fest to tell us what justice for all means to them. Their voices remind us why we’re in this fight and continue to leave us inspired. Watch this video mosaic to hear their visions for a just future.

Through a Stay Housed L.A. clinic, one of our grantees—ACCE—started organizing tenants at a building with about 400 units that are rife with every habitability issue imaginable, including raw sewage seeping through the pipes, flees, bed bugs, and black mold.

Join us for a virtual networking event with Power to Fly to meet our team and learn more about the social justice philanthropy landscape in Los Angeles. Register for our virtual networking event on May 5th at 6 PM PST!

Liberty Hill’s Vice President of Public Partnerships, Julio Marcial, recently participated in a Social Innovation Summit on the topic of Criminal Justice, hosted by the USC Sol Price Center for Social Innovation. The panel was moderated by Dr. Brittany Friedman, and examined ways that the field of social innovation can be used to reverse the centuries-long history of racism and economic discrimination within the criminal legal system.

Get ready to dive into some challenging conversations about how to make the real change we are fighting for possible! Liberty Hill is launching a new podcast called "Conversations From The Frontlines: Real Talk, Real Change" hosted by Liberty Hill President and CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith.

Liberty Hill Foundation and Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Holly J. Mitchell recently partnered to prepare and train community leaders in Supervisorial District 2 for positions on LA County Boards and Public Commissions.

Our Upton Sinclair Homecoming Celebration is around the corner and Spring Training is in full swing! We’re excited to announce our Upton Sinclair Visionary Award winners, the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation (LADF).

The Liberty Hill community is expanding! As we work to make the greatest impact possible in the Los Angeles community, we are staffing up with dedicated professionals to help us take our mission and work to the next level. Please join us in welcoming team members, Almas Sayeed, Vice President, Public Partnerships and Charlette Wilburn, Senior Director, People Operations.

Please join us in welcoming team members Janine Lim, Deputy Director, Contract Compliance!

Liberty Hill kicked off the new year with its “Transformative 2022: Ring in Your New Year of Giving'' Webinar Series. Our recent series provided opportunities for donors to explore: creating a giving plan, legacy/planned giving, trust-based philanthropy and black equity principles, and understanding nonprofit financial health.

We are delighted to share Liberty Hill Foundation’s 2021 Impact Report, highlighting a record-breaking year of giving made possible through partnership and community. We awarded 922 grants totaling approximately $19 million dollars to support organizations and social justice movements working to advance, transform, support, and demand Justice for All in Los Angeles.

Black-led organizing is a powerful driver of social change in Los Angeles. Since its founding, Liberty Hill Foundation has directly invested in Black-led organizing to build power in communities most impacted by systemic oppression to achieve equity and justice.

This Black History Month we are proud to honor the service of our Black Leaders across Liberty Hill—from our our Black-led organizing and grantee partners, our donor activists and Black-led Giving Circles, to our Black Board and Staff Leadership— we thank you for your dedication and commitment to the fight for social justice and Black lives.

Liberty Hill helps grassroots leaders make lasting change! This Liberty Hill Flashback is from a recent visit by Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, who joined our partners from Stand L.A. on the frontlines to understand how neighborhood oil drilling affects disadvantaged communities.

Our support for tenants rights is more important than ever. Liberty Hill Foundation partners with legal service providers, government agencies, and grassroots organizations to help vulnerable renters understand their rights and the resources available to help them retain housing. Stay Housed L.A. launched in 2020 to connect tenants with community organizations and legal service providers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 150 attendees joined Liberty Hill, our evaluation team from Imoyase Community Support Services and Destiny Consulting, and our partners at California Community Foundation for a virtual Town Hall to share the results of this multi-year $38 million public private partnership and provide support to our Ready to Rise partners offering culturally responsive community-based services to young people.

We are excited to launch a virtual version of our 2022 Emerging Leaders Commissions Training Program this year in partnership with the office of L.A. County Board of Supervisors Chair Holly J. Mitchell. The Wally Marks Leadership Institute Commissions Training Program for Emerging Leaders will seek to create better transparency and knowledge about boards and commissions service by providing training and support for candidates with commitments to equity and social justice.

This year— for the first time ever—Liberty Hill is partnering with Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Holly J. Mitchell and her team to provide targeted support to residents, advocates and individuals who work specifically in Supervisorial District 2. Our goal is to continue to build a pipeline of leaders who are interested in and prepared for service on a variety of boards and commissions.

This week—after years of patient and steadfast organizing by community organizations supported by Liberty Hill—the L.A. City Council put an end to the practice of poisoning our communities with toxic oil and gas drilling operations! They voted unanimously to draft an ordinance to prohibit all new oil and gas drilling and to phase-out existing drilling operations throughout all areas of the City of Los Angeles!

Liberty Hill Foundation believes that we can end the incarceration of girls and young women by building stronger, safer, and more equitable communities where the distinct experience of girls —particularly youth of color — are no longer criminalized for the violence and discrimination they face.

​​Healing Justice is a movement that aims to address widespread generational trauma by responding with traditional holistic healing practices and building new, more inclusive ones. The peer convenings allow organizations to come together, build community, share their growing expertise, and support the healing and well-being of organizational leaders and their teams as they commit to long-term power-building and organizing work.

Four years ago, we set out to end youth incarceration as we know it. And four years later, arrest rates for youth under the age of 18 have declined by 53%; incarceration rates have declined by 66%; more than 50% of youth jails have been closed; and there’s been a reinvestment of more than $200 million from punishment to care.   There are now fewer youth in juvenile halls or courtrooms and far smaller probation caseloads. Yet, the implementation work continues to develop the nation’s largest Department of Youth Development.

In honor of their 100 Years of Miramar celebrations, the Fairmont Miramar Hotel has partnered with iconic Los Angeles based Studio Number One—founded by artist and activist Shepard Fairey—to design a set of two limited-edition, hand numbered, silkscreen Centennial Posters, available for purchase for locals who hold a special place in their hearts for iconic hotel. In partnership with Liberty Hill, a portion of the proceeds will support arts organizations that provide restorative and healing justice opportunities for local youth.

Our Vice President of Strategic Partnerships Julio Marcial has authored a chapter about transforming the nation’s youth justice system for Latine Future’s new book, “If We Want to Win: A Latine Vision for a New American Democracy” published by The New Press. The book has been described as an urgent, provocative collection of essays from Latinx thought leaders heralding a more inclusive vision of America’s future.

Please join us in welcoming team members, Tommy R. Morris, Youth Justice Program Associate and Gerrlyn Gacao, Public Partnerships’ Senior Program Manager.

Check out the Activist Video Archive for its new additions especially the "L.A. Rising" Collection of interviews. Twenty years after the civil unrest, Michele Prichard videotaped a series of interviews with movement builders as background research for what became “LA Rising: the 1992 Civil Unrest, the Arc of Social Justice Organizing, and the Lessons for Today’s Movement Building” co-authored with Manuel Pastor of USC in 2012.

In the New Year, Liberty Hill will be offering a series of educational sessions to help supporters better understand your options around planned giving and designing your philanthropic legacy.  Save the Date for a special conversation about Planned Giving with Jane Peebles, Estate Planning Attorney of Karlin & Peebles, LLP, on Friday, January 28th. More info to come in the new year!

Thank you for helping Liberty Hill and our partners call attention to the urgent need to phase-out oil drilling in Los Angeles. Now, we have a chance to amplify that message statewide by telling Governor Newsom and state leaders to adopt strong public health and safety rules. Sign the petition to tell Governor Newsom to adopt the strongest possible statewide regulations.

Please join us in welcoming our newest team members, Andrés Gonzalez, Program Manager for Environmental Justice, Giselle Armendáriz, Programs Assistant, and Justin Suarez, our new Grants Associate!

The main topic explored in the article was the critical importance of funding implementation once headline victories have been won. Shane’s piece also explores the challenges of moving from campaign work to policy implementation, and highlights the efforts of several local initiatives.

Currently, California is the only oil-producing state in the country without a minimum distance requirement between oil wells and the people who live and work in the frontline communities in the immediate vicinity. But this past week, the state of California took bold action to increase environmental protections for vulnerable communities.

Advocacy groups that provide educational and legal support to renters across the county have seen an uptick in tenant harassment complaints, such as landlords conducting construction at all hours of the night or refusing to turn on the water or address roach infestations. Reports of harassment like this have almost doubled in the last few months via the Stay Housed L.A. program.

This was truly a banner year for activism and progress! We have much work to do on the road ahead, but we couldn’t be prouder to take this journey with you—our Beloved Community.

Please join us in welcoming our newest Board Members, Veronica Flores, M.A., Executive Officer of Community Health Councils Inc., a research and capacity building organization in South Los Angeles and Shimica Gaskins, the President and CEO of GRACE/End Child Poverty CA.

After years of activism and organizing including huge wins and painful setbacks—the Environmental Justice movement to end toxic neighborhood oil drilling in L.A. County secured a huge landmark victory yesterday!

Last month’s inaugural "I Am A Philanthropist" Black Philanthropy Month event sponsored by Uplifting Change brought together giving circle members, donor activists, and community organization leaders from across Los Angeles.

To date, the Dodgers Foundation and Kershaw's Challenge have raised more than $415,000 for this critical work. This marks a bold step forward and a significant investment in our work in Los Angeles.

The report looks at R2R’s strategies to transform the justice system and to reinvest in the health and well-being of historically excluded young people and their communities.

Liberty Hill Foundation’s Youth & Transformative Justice program seeks to shift power from punishment systems to people impacted by mass criminalization and work toward reimagined approaches to justice that invest in communities rather than prisons and surveillance.

This year’s 2021 Fund for Change and Liberty Vote! grants are building on our legacy of supporting emerging organizations at various levels of development by making a commitment to “Rising Activist” organizations across the County.

Liberty Hill is proud to announce a historic $3.34 million investment in the local grassroots and community organizing ecosystem and its leaders of color in L.A.

We are excited to announce the launch of our “Justice for All” public awareness campaign designed to raise awareness and funds to support local grassroots activism and organizing led by those most impacted by systemic oppression.

The Stay Housed L.A. program was featured by the White House as a national model for eviction prevention. Check out our Executive Vice President Jenny Delwood as she shares lessons learned and best practices from Stay Housed L.A.

As part of the recent launch of our Justice for All awareness campaign we also underwent a refresh of Liberty Hill’s brand, including our logo, color palette, and materials.

Liberty Hill Champion and Donor Activist Elizabeth Levitt Hirsch (Liz) is best known for her ability to connect and inspire people to achieve a shared vision through community engagement.

Liberty Hill has always worked to support grassroots community organizations as they build power among those who have been disenfranchised. The Community Funding Board (CFB) is at the heart of those efforts, guiding decisions on both the selection of grantee organizations and the level of support.

The night before he spoke with Barack Obama at the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance Leadership Forum, Jacob “Blacc” Jackson was harassed by police. Again.

Affordable housing adjacent to a public transit hub. A public park that captures stormwater during the raining season and provides respite from summer heat.

Santa Monica’s iconic Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows will show its support for the LGBTQ community through various PRIDE-centric programming and partnerships throughout the year, including a special PRIDE promotion this month benefitting Liberty Hill!

This past year, Liberty Hill Foundation relaunched the Liberty Vote! Initiative, which aims to build power at the grassroots level by supporting nonpartisan electoral engagement in L.A. County’s most disenfranchised communities.

In a year that saw a rise in both anti-Asian hate and awareness around it, Liberty Hill stands in solidarity with the approximately 1.5 million Asian and Pacific Islanders in L.A. County.

The painful irony of work under COVID-19 is this—the workers most essential to the health and well-being of our families and communities are those too often denied the power to protect the health and well-being of themselves, their families and their communities.

Though we could not gather in person at the annual Upton Sinclair Awards dinner this year, we found a way to come together for our very first virtual Upton Sinclair event.

Through a global pandemic that threatened both lives and livelihoods, and a national uprising for racial justice that challenged and ultimately changed hearts, minds, and laws—the fight for social justice has continued. Will you join the movement for change?

At Principal Development Group Consulting (PDGC), philanthropy and community service are baked into the corporate culture. Based in downtown L.A., PDGC is a successful technology consultancy that got its start in 2010.

Our hearts are with the Floyd family—who suffered an immeasurable loss with a loved one taken from them in violence and too soon—and with the family of Daunte Wright, who was murdered not ten days ago.

Los Angeles is at the heart of a changing environmental future. Environmental justice and equity are at the center of this future: righting past wrongs and supporting communities committed to equal access to the benefits of a better environment.

Donor Activist Dr. Sam Ho has been committed to social justice for more than six decades. Growing up in Hawaii, his activism started when he was just a youth protesting against atomic bomb testing in the South Pacific.

Through a global pandemic that threatened both lives and livelihoods, and a national uprising for racial justice that challenged and ultimately changed hearts, minds, and laws—the fight for social justice has continued.

The tragic shootings that took place in Atlanta yesterday were shocking. The entire Liberty Hill Community denounces this senseless violence against the AAPI community and the tragic loss of life that took place as a result.

For more than 15 years, The Bertha Wolf & Lance Miller Families Fund for Community Service has been uplifting young adults by providing relief from the cost of living as they embark on their journey as professionals or in service to the community.

Over the past year, essential workers across many industries have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. From the roller coaster of uncertainty and changing restrictions, to the fear of contracting the virus in unsafe working conditions, the workforce of Los Angeles has been challenged like never before.

The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to drastically expand the ranks of Los Angeles’s unhoused population and worsen the region’s long-standing eviction crisis.

For more than 40 years, Liberty Hill has invested in activism in L.A. Our investments help build the power of grassroots community organizing groups to win significant social change.

Liberty Hill Foundation is guided by and draws strength from a vibrant and dedicated group of volunteer Board members who represent all parts of the social justice ecosystem of Los Angeles, including individual donor activists, philanthropy sector professionals, academics and other experts, as well as community organizers and members of the business sector.

American democracy has always been complicated. It was built on the enslavement of Black people, who won liberation for half a generation before Reconstruction was replaced with Jim Crow.

This year brought challenges the likes of which the world hasn’t faced in a century—with a pandemic raging around the globe and ineffective leadership from the White House here at home–COVID-19 took an immeasurable toll on all of us.

The Los Angeles Chargers today announced an expanded partnership with Liberty Hill Foundation, a national leader in social justice. The partnership will feature several initiatives to continue growing Bolt Up for Justice – an overarching program within the Chargers organization that includes a player committee focused on social justice reform.

The 2020 election was generation-defining in many respects—from the record-breaking turnout to the critical social justice issues on the ballot for millions of Americans—a coalition of diverse voters, led by Black and Brown organizers, showed up to flex their electoral power in major ways this year.

The Liberty Hill Family gathered for the first time since the election to decompress, review, and discuss the road ahead with guests Deepak Bhargava, Distinguished Lecturer, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, and Liz Watson, Executive Director, Progressive Caucus Action Fund.

Employee Giving Programs are a great way to help fuel progress in Los Angeles through Liberty Hill. We were grateful to local company PDG Consulting for selecting Liberty Hill for their Employee Matching Gift program for Giving Tuesday!

After sharing the stage with President Obama on MSNBC's Special Edition, Liberty Hill Youth Justice Intern, Jerron Hawkins looks back on his experience as a former White House Mentee and as a beneficiary of the My Brother's Keeper initiative.

For years, Liberty Hill’s donor-activists have walked with the neighborhood activists of the STAND-LA coalition as they took on drilling in their neighborhoods. We’ve made sure their testimony of respiratory illnesses, dizzying headaches and foul smells was heard widely. We’ve made sure their efforts had the support they needed.

Victory! We are on our way to Ending Youth Incarceration As We Know It! On Tuesday, November 24, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to dismantle the largest youth justice system in the nation in favor of a care-first model that would emphasize emotional support, counseling, and treatment.

Yesterday, the Los Angeles Police Commission began a shift away from an unjust practice that has fallen the hardest on communities of color.

As the reality of a new President-Elect becomes clear and we pause for a moment to take in the monumental nature of this day, I want to first thank you for being a part of the Liberty Hill Family.

We were excited to recently host a lively discussion called Divest, Defund, Reform, Abolish? Next Steps for Justice and Policing After the 2020 Protests. This virtual event was an important discussion on the movements to reduce reliance on policing, along with the necessary steps to ensure the safety and future of our youth and communities.

Liberty Hill Foundation recently announced the relaunch of its Liberty Vote! initiative, which supports nonpartisan electoral engagement efforts through grants and other electorally-focused initiatives to build power at the grassroots level in L.A. County’s most disenfranchised communities.

At Liberty Hill, we believe the people most affected by injustice should be leading the fight for change—from the community meeting to the protest march to the ballot box. That’s why we relaunched our Liberty Vote!

The late Gary Stewart’s first encounter with activism came in 1988 when he walked into the offices of a shoestring progressive group called Coalition 88 in a strip mall on Western Avenue and asked, “How can I help? What can I do?”

Longtime Donor Activist Jody Uttal and her husband Jeff Gold have been supporting Liberty Hill and the fight for a more just and equitable Los Angeles for nearly 30 years.

Los Angeles County is transforming its approach to justice, especially in its approach to young people who come in contact with the law.

The belief in the collective power of individuals to come together to create change is a cornerstone of our work at Liberty Hill and it extends to our dedicated Donor Activists who form the core of our philanthropic support.

We are excited and eager to share this opinion editorial, authored by one of our participants in this summer’s Wally Marks Leadership Institute Op-ed Training. The training was hosted by Liberty Hill in conjunction with our partners at Fostering Media Connections.

The Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation (LADF) announced a grant of $304,400 to Liberty Hill Foundation’s California Funders For Boys and Men of Color: Our Kids, Our Future Fund to support the thirteen Southern California community partners who are working with the County of Los Angeles to develop the most comprehensive approach to youth development in the nation.

Exclusive game-worn jerseys from your favorite Los Angeles Chargers players are now available for auction at chrg.rs/equality.

Liberty Hill Donor Activist and SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director, David White is no stranger to activism. He leads the world’s largest entertainment union, representing more than 160,000 diverse members worldwide who work in fields of film, television, commercials, music, video games and emerging media.

The movement to transform the criminal justice system in Los Angeles won a major victory in July when the Los Angeles Police Commission voted to permanently end the LAPD’s use of the CalGang database.

While we continue to support the push to make this recent national reckoning on racial justice more than just a moment in the crucial fight for Black Lives, our partners are also continuing the fight to ensure this movement makes lasting change in our society and in the lives of Black people in our country.

Mainor is a Youth Policy Advocate working to keep Brown and Black youth out of the system at The Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network (AIYN). After navigating his youth without proper guidance or mentorship, he found himself in jail as a teenager.

Last week, Culver City council members voted unanimously to phase out urban oil drilling in the city’s portion of the Inglewood Oil Field. This was the first and necessary step toward a just transition while protecting residents from a legacy of toxic emissions.

Since its founding in 1976, Liberty Hill has sought to build deep relationships with grassroots organizations and leaders in underserved communities and to support them and help them grow through good times and bad.

The heartbreaking and horrifying shooting of Jacob Blake—seven times in the back, at point-blank range, in front of his children—leaves us stunned. We are saddened, and we are angry, but unfortunately we are not surprised.

Organizing takes time and building true power sometimes takes years. As the late icon John Lewis once said, “Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime.”

Low-income households in California face larger energy, transportation and water affordability burdens than other populations. emPOWER is a coordinated L.A. County-wide outreach program with a mission to overcome barriers to sustainable energy usage commonly experienced in low-income and working class communities of color.

This summer, Liberty Hill hosted a series of virtual Youth Activist Op-ed Trainings designed to help our grantee partners expand their thought leadership and make their voices heard on a variety of topics through the medium of opinion pieces.

One of the core aspects of our Agenda for a Just Future is our commitment to fighting for a roof over every head. As part of that housing justice work, we have also supported organizations working to ensure fair treatment of tenants who face the risk of eviction during these uncertain times.

Low-income households in California face larger energy, transportation and water affordability burdens than other populations in terms of the percentage of the household income spent on utilities.

Los Angeles renters have faced a housing crisis for many years, but it has exponentially intensified with the onset of COVID-19. Over half a million people are estimated to have lost jobs in the last six months, making rent even harder to pay. Scholars estimate that close to 350,000 people in LA County are at risk of eviction.

The worlds of art, social justice, and youth activism have long worked together to drive social change within the community. Engaging youth in the arts can promote powerful change in countless ways, improving creativity and social skills, enhancing critical thinking, building confidence, and creating deep cultural and personal connections.

The Liberty Hill Foundation along with California Funders for Boys and Men of Color, Executives' Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, and Funders for Justice, in collaboration with the Congressional Black Caucus, joined forces this month to host a lively discussion on Criminal Justice During COVID-19.

This May, in response to the evolving COVID-19 crisis, we held our first Champions Conversations: Voting Rights in the Age of COVID event. Our frank and lively discussion with 82nd Attorney General Eric Holder was moderated by longtime Liberty Hill supporter and Champion Mitch Kamin.

Liberty Hill is committed to ensuring we continue to use our financial resources to support Black-led organizing and the activists on the frontlines. We are committed to using our voice to promote anti-racist policies and amplify the voices of those screaming for justice.

As we pause to highlight PRIDE month amidst the continued uprisings for racial justice and police accountability across the country, it’s important to remember that while much progress has been made, equality has not expanded equally across all communities.

Last week we witnessed a Black man, George Floyd, murdered in broad daylight in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We stand with Americans in communities across the country who are sharing pain, anguish, exhaustion and anger due to the senseless killing of yet another Black man by police. Our hearts are broken.

The Liberty Hill Foundation encourages donors to make longterm commitments to a broad landscape of grassroots organizations fighting anti-Black racism and police violence. These recent Liberty Hill grantees and community partners organize for Black lives and advocate for criminal justice reforms throughout Los Angeles County.

This emergency fund is designed to support immediate community organizing needs on the frontlines and fuel emergency advocacy efforts in Los Angeles County to protect the most vulnerable during this time of unimaginable upheaval due to the COVID-19 crisis.

As the global pandemic reshapes how we all live, youth organizers continue the fight for justice, especially after two youths in Los Angeles County’s juvenile halls tested positive for coronavirus this week.

One of the rising stars of the Youth Justice movement, LeQuan Muhammed has emerged as a voice for his local community and a shining example of the power of positivity and the promise of youth.

This past year, the youth climate movement sprang into action in a major way. With coordinated climate protests across the globe and increased civic engagement here at home, today’s youth are leading the way toward the environmental justice victories of tomorrow.

This emergency fund is designed to support immediate community organizing needs on the frontlines and fuel emergency advocacy efforts in Los Angeles County to protect the most vulnerable during this time of unimaginable upheaval due to the COVID-19 crisis. Small grants, up to $5,000.

In 2018, the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance (MBK), an initiative of the Obama Foundation, sought out organizations working to improve the lives of boys and young men of color. As one of 10 MBK selected sites, the Liberty Hill Foundation, along with 15 cross-sector partners, is now working to transform L.A. County’s youth justice system.

At Morningside High, Dylan learned about “all the barriers that boys and men of color face in communities like Inglewood,” but in the Black Male Youth Academy on campus, he worked on college-prep projects and was invited to participate in the Brothers, Sons Selves Coalition, which is managed by Liberty Hill. With enthusiasm and hard work, Dylan advocated with school board members and state legislators for changes in school discipline policies that disproportionately impact young men of color and have been shown to increase dropout rates.

Earlier this month Liberty Hill convened an L.A. Organizers’ Virtual Town Hall that brought together more than 100 organizers and activists across L.A. County to share and strategize around the COVID-19 crisis and how we can best support the needs of our communities on the ground.

Our Ready to Rise partners are busier than ever -- providing enhanced mental and emotional health services, peer support groups, virtual learning, as well as financial and food assistance. These expanded services are meeting critical needs for families in crisis and youth coming home from lock-up.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and a longstanding housing crisis, families are fighting for their right to a safe place to live.

The COVID-19 crisis has laid bare the injustices in our society. And those who have been historically oppressed are being hit hardest by this crisis. But crisis also creates opportunity.

The Liberty Hill Community, like the rest of the country and the world, is concerned and saddened by the impact the spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) continues to have on our neighbors and communities.

Local resident Carolina Rodriguez, who was born and raised in East L.A., became a key figure in the local battle for rent control. Despite multiple attempts by her landlord to evict her and her family after increasing their rent more than $500, Carolina remains in her home in East L.A. today due to the efforts of Unincorporated Tenants United, which Liberty Hill helped coordinate.

Right now, community organizers on the frontlines need immediate support. I hope you will consider making a contribution to our COVID 19 Rapid Response Fund for Community Organizing to support the immediate needs of organizers and community members on the frontlines of this crisis.

When Teresita left the Philippines, traffickers took her to Hawaii, where she was eager to start her new life working on the island. At first she had no idea she was a human trafficking victim. But her dream of coming to America quickly became a nightmare. The people who brought her to the US promised her citizenship, but never followed through. Soon she was starving and severely overworked, but because of her immigration status, she “was afraid to call the police.” At the same time, she knew little about US labor laws and had no access to information about her rights.

From the beginning, says Manuel, his wife supported his organizing activities. “She would tell me not to be afraid, that everything was going to work out—and yes, we were able to accomplish this.” His elementary school aged son, too, was part of the push for justice. “He was always involved in the campaign. He says when he grows up, he will also be an organizer!”

It wasn't until she was 29 that Roslyn Broadnax learned she had a learning disability. She'd been a victim of "pushout," as her fellow members of CADRE call it. As a student in South Los Angeles, she'd been passed from grade to grade, eventually graduating high school without the ability even to fill out a job application.

In his current job, people address him as “Your Honor.” The description of his old job—“complex litigation”—pretty much stops most of us in our small-talk tracks (“So, uh, is that fun?”). But it turns out that when Judge Dean Hansell talks about how his more than 20 years of social justice activism and civic engagement informs his philanthropy, his perspective is authentically, even stubbornly grassroots. He zeroes in on what individuals experience, on what stands in the way of justice for each person.

My name is Diana Feliz Oliva and I am a transgender, first-generation Mexican American. I was raised in a single-parent household in a small, rural town just outside Fresno, California. For a shy, feminine, awkward little kid like me, growing up in a small, rural town was not easy.

Esthefanie was born in Guadalajara and was brought to the U.S. when she was six years old. She’s now a community college student and a youth organizer at InnerCity Struggle, a community based education-focused organization that Liberty Hill has supported for many years. Esthefanie transformed her frustration and shame into a sense of pride and determination, standing up against injustices.

Liberty Hill has also helped Gabriel on a very personal level through his work with the Brother Sons Selves Coalition, a Liberty Hill led campaign. "My personal experience being trans, entering BSS was a little bit of a nervous and scary place," Gabriel explains. Up until that point in his life he had never really been welcomed into masculine or even cis male spaces. "And so to have this kind of access through my job and through the social justice work has really helped to heal."

Glen Dake seems to work on a vision of Los Angeles the way he works on a vision of a particular community garden or landscape—with lots of practical, hands-on effort. He supports nonprofit organizations, not only through Liberty Hill’s grantmaking, but also, with his sister Renee Dake Wilson and her husband Brian Wilson, through a donor advised fund housed at Liberty Hill. He has also served on Liberty Hill’s Environmental Justice Community Funding Board.

When I started their training I couldn't stand the thought of being on a commission. We just didn't get along with the people in power so much! But now, knowing what I know, and learning what I've learned, I can't stand the thought of missing the opportunity. Because when I'm outside a door waiting for it to open, today, that door is more likely outside the Governor's offic

Patrisse spoke at Liberty Hill’s Uplifting Change luncheon earlier this year, bringing the voice of a new generation to donor-activists focused on strengthening Black Los Angeles through philanthropic investment in grassroots community organizing. She led the group in a moving refrain by Assata Shakur: “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love and support one another. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

Liberty Hill was an early funder and ally of Los Angeles Black Worker Center, helping to strengthen the year-old fledgling organization in 2010. Gerry learned of the Center—which organizes Black workers to fight back against discrimination in the workplace and improve access to quality jobs—when he was referred by a friend after complaining of racial bias at work. He first called more than two years ago and has been a member ever since. “I didn’t know that there were so many other people who shared the same story as me,” he says.

Rabbi Heather Miller and Melissa de la Rama fulfill multiple roles in their social justice work, showing up sometimes as volunteers, sometimes as donors. They bring social media savvy to campaigns for change, but are just as likely to show up in person at a rally.

This week, the Board of Supervisors took an unprecedented set of actions to shift away from punishment in large prison-like settings and toward a decentralized community safety strategy focused on expanded neighborhood health services and effective alternatives to lockups.

The public-private partnership between L.A. County Probation, Liberty Hill Foundation and the California Community Foundation has awarded $2.59 million to 20 L.A. based nonprofits providing community-based youth development services.

The 2019 Homeless Count paints a dire picture of L.A.’s homelessness crisis, including a 12 percent increase in people living on the streets. Skyrocketing rents, evictions and flat wages are leading to homelessness for tens of thousands of people.

This past April, Liberty Hill hosted a bus tour that provided an opportunity for 40 funders with the Climate and Energy Funders Group (CEFG) to explore challenges and innovations around energy and the environment in Los Angeles.

For Liberty Hill, environmental justice is a cornerstone of social justice. However, many residents in low-income and working class communities of color have traditionally been left behind by innovations in clean energy and solar power, which could mean a lack of access to readily available savings and important community health improvements.

In a tremendous win for our environmental justice agenda, officials recently announced the permanent closure of the Jefferson oil drilling site in South L.A.!

This spring, Liberty Hill joined community-based environmental health and justice organizations to host five Sustainability Expos + Fairs with over 370 participants in order to solicit public input on the draft countywide Sustainability Plan that we and our partners helped to create.

Liberty Hill donor-activists from across Los Angeles turned their energy into action this spring by sending letters to elected officials to encourage support for the Youth Reinvestment Grant in the 2019–2020 state budgeting process.

Although California is the fifth-largest economy in the world, our state ranks a whopping 44th in the United States in per-pupil funding for education. We can do better—for our kids and our communities.

For 37 years, Liberty Hill’s Upton Sinclair Awards Dinner has been the premier gathering for those at the epicenter of progress and justice in Los Angeles. Every year, political allies, donor-activists, grassroots leaders and community organizers from across the region come together to celebrate the progress made in fights for social change.

This year Liberty Hill is honored to recognize three amazing individuals with awards at our annual Upton Sinclair Award Dinner. Our honorees truly demonstrate the spirit of our gala theme–Our Movement, Our Moment.

Liberty Hill Foundation (Liberty Hill) and California Community Foundation (CCF) have launched a Public/Private Partnership (P/PP) with the Los Angeles County Probation Department. This collaboration will expand opportunities and resources for programs that keep vulnerable youth out of the criminal justice system and help those in the system transition back into the community.

In the fight to end neighborhood oil drilling across Los Angeles’ communities, every small victory is worth celebrating, and every campaign move is an opportunity to highlight the public health challenges that communities face.

In partnership with First 5 LA, and with contributions from our donor-activists, Liberty Hill has established a Rapid Response for Young Immigrant Children Fund.

Liberty Hill is pleased to announce that our 2018 Fund for Change grants will invest $975,800 in 39 grassroots organizations throughout Los Angeles County. Thanks to the generosity of our donor-activists and foundation partners, we have been able to increase our Fund for Change grantmaking by $256,800 since 2016.

For over 40 years, Liberty Hill Foundation has supported the tenants’ right movement. From funding tenants’ organizing in Pasadena and Long Beach in 1977, to supporting successful campaigns for rent stabilization in the cities of Los Angeles and Santa Monica in 1979 and winning against discriminatory landlords, Liberty Hill has long been an ally in the fight for housing justice.

For over 40 years, Liberty Hill Foundation has supported the tenants’ right movement. From funding tenants’ organizing in Pasadena and Long Beach in 1977, to supporting successful campaigns for rent stabilization in the cities of Los Angeles and Santa Monica in 1979 and winning against discriminatory landlords, Liberty Hill has long been an ally in the fight for housing justice.

June is Pride month, and a great time to recognize the contributions of LGBTQ individuals in music. As part of our Agenda for a Just Future, we are addressing the impact of housing instability and youth incarceration in queer communities, and fighting for LGBTQ rights.

When Liberty Hill started deciding where to concentrate our efforts for the next three years, there were many factors to consider—the new administration in Washington; California’s role on the national stage; L.A.’s rapidly changing urban landscape and the challenges and opportunities that come with it.

Like many other people across the nation, I went home every night this last week to hug my children a little tighter, feeling extreme sorrow for those families who were denied the same opportunity by our government.

Remember what it was like to be a kid? What would you have done, at 12 years old, if you couldn’t breathe because of the oil drilling site next door? What if, at 16 you were sent to jail for being late to school?

Liberty Hill's 2018 Upton Sinclair Awards Dinner has always been the premier place where progressive L.A. comes to celebrate the movement-making social justice moments that are unfolding across Los Angeles.

These days the news can be overwhelming. Stories of violence, injustice and oppression fill our feeds almost daily. Meanwhile, hateful ideas are being given an increasingly visible platform at the national level.

Liberty Hill is pleased to honor Elizabeth Levitt Hirsch with the Founders Award at our 2018 Upton Sinclair Awards Dinner on April 19.

“Tell them they have to have hope, no matter what. If they get knocked down, they have to get back up.” That is what Congressman John Lewis—this year’s recipient of Liberty Hill’s Upton Sinclair Award—told me when I asked him what he would say to our youth leaders in L.A.

In February 2018, Liberty Hill partnered with the Genders and Sexualities Alliance (GSA) Network of Southern California—one of our grantees fighting to empower and train young LGBTQ leaders—to call on Los Angeles County elected officials to address issues of disproportionate criminalization and abusive treatment of LGBTQ youth of color.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health validated today what hundreds of residents living near urban oil drilling sites have already known: proximity to oil drilling is hazardous to their health. Many active oil wells in Los Angeles are next to places where people live, work and play, causing nosebleeds, nausea, respiratory illness and dizziness.

If someone offered you $100,000 and two years to think deeply about how to solve a big problem, what problem would you tackle? As a recipient of the 2018 Stanton Fellowship, I have just that opportunity.

"At Liberty Hill, environmental justice is a core value and one of our top priorities. Over the years we have powered landmark environmental campaigns, including today’s fight to end oil drilling near homes and schools in Los Angeles—the nation’s largest urban oil field.

With June being Pride Month, it's the perfect time to shine a light on the progressive work being birthed out of a continued fight for equity and liberation in this space.

Exciting environmental news from one of Liberty Hill’s long fought, diligently worked campaigns. On Thursday, June 22 the policy known as Clean Up Green Up was honored with the American Planning Association (APA LA) award for Excellence in Innovation in Green Community Planning at the 2017 L.A. Awards.

At Liberty Hill we know what day it is, Cyber Monday, that day when folks who wanted to avoid the shopping crowds jump online to do their holiday cyber shopping instead.

This week California made history by passing Proposition 47: The Safe Neighborhood and Schools Act. We are the first state to downgrade certain cases from felonies to misdemeanors.

Breaking news! Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) announced today that its School Police would no longer issue citations or subject students to arrest for most on-campus fights, petty theft and other minor offenses, but instead refer students to counseling and other services.

You can’t help but think in garden metaphors when talking to Glen Dake, a landscape architect,  prominent advocate for “green agenda” issues in Los Angeles, and one of Liberty Hill’s most active donor- activists.

On April 23, at Liberty Hill's Upton Sinclair Dinner and Awards Celebration, the 2013 Founders Award will be presented to Alison Morgan and Parke Skelton. Alison and Parke, the fundraiser/strategist duo, are one of L.A.’s power couples.

Liberty Hill has been known for years as a funder through our work in supporting nonprofit groups organizing for change. Last night, we showed our other side: Liberty Hill as a resource for you to think strategically about your philanthropy.