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Founded in 1984, LAEP was the first nonprofit in Los Angeles to focus exclusively on educational equity and among those at the forefront of the educational transformation movement nationwide. Over the decades, our cutting-edge efforts in smaller learning communities, pilot schools, interdisciplinary curriculum, career-themed instruction, inquiry-based teaching, and educator well-being became recognized best practices.
Our work continues to evolve to meet the interests and needs of educators, students, families, and communities.
David Abel and Peggy Funkhouser launch LAEP as the first nonprofit in Los Angeles to focus exclusively on educational equity
LAEP pilots its teacher-designed, student-centered Humanitas instructional model at five LAUSD high schools
LAEP establishes the Jaime Escalante Awards and distributes over $100,000 to more than 100 teachers in 32 schools across LA County.
LAEP launches the first comprehensive pre-K-12 model for Elizabeth Learning Center in Cudahy in 1993 and Foshay Learning Center in South LA in 1995, later introducing model technology centers and school-based health clinics at these sites
LAEP convenes nonprofit partners and local elementary schools to support locally coordinated, school-linked services (health, mental health, family support, academic support, violence prevention, youth development, and more)
LAEP launches a school readiness initiative via home visitations with families in the Northeast San Fernando Valley (expanded to South LA in 2004)
LAEP is awarded a 5-year Smaller Learning Community U.S. Department of Education grant to transform two Baldwin Park Unified School District high schools into Smaller Learning Communities
LAEP receives its first U.S. Department of Education Full Service Community School Grant to lead the Valley Neighborhood Collective in the Northeast San Fernando Valley
LAEP supports teacher design teams to create 10 autonomous pilot schools in LAUSD from 2010-2013, including Esteban E. Torres High School and Social Justice Humanitas Learning Academy
LAEP begins a mobile childcare program
A second Full Service Community School Grant for South LA gives LAEP a full K-12 feeder pattern
LAEP launches the pilot Resiliency in School Environments (RISE) project in partnership with Kaiser Permanente, later re-branded as CORE (Cultivating Organizational Resilience & Empowerment) and adapted by LAEP as a permanent program fixture
In partnership with El Nido Family Centers, LAEP begins to facilitate the Northeast Valley Best Start Community, providing capacity-building opportunities to volunteers who in turn lead workshops on parenting, family support, and more in their local communities
LAEP receives its third Full Service Community School grant to support East LA schools
LAEP expands Early Head Start services to Inglewood (2019) and Hawthorne (2020)
LAEP launches STEAM Teaching & Learning partnerships, beginning with building a STEAM culture at three LAUSD schools and growing from there
LAEP receives a three-year, $3M grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and additional funding from the Tikun Olam Foundation to develop the infant-toddler teacher workforce. The resulting pilot program, Ready2Teach, launches its first cohort in August 2023.
Through California Community Schools Partnership Program grants, the organization expands to provide community schools and CORE services at eight schools in Pomona and, in partnership with the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, begins providing services as a Regional Technical Assistance Center for community schools in Inyo, Mono, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties. The organization’s funding as a 21CSLA provider is also renewed for three years.
LAEP began by providing small grants to teachers to test their new ideas while also developing programs to support their professional growth and leadership. In partnership with LAUSD and teachers, we have fostered the expansion of teacher-driven professional development and networks, distributed leadership practices, and the creation of urban learning centers, such as Foshay Learning Center, and pilot schools like Social Justice Humanitas and Humanitas Academy of Art & Technology. Today, LAEP is pioneering trauma-responsive and resilient school teams to advance academic outcomes for students and improve well-being for staff and students as well as supporting the development of the early childhood education workforce pipeline.
As LAEP was working with teachers, we recognized we needed to get involved earlier with children and more deeply with families. In response, by 1989 we were working with schools to develop early childhood programs and resource-rich parent centers and Healthy Start collaboratives to increase school readiness. Our emphasis on promoting parents as their child’s first teacher lifted up the underutilized talents of community residents and led to their employment at LAEP as health promotoras, home educators, and childcare workers.
In 1985, teachers designed LAEP’s student-centered, interdisciplinary Humanitas model to promote educational rigor, critical thinking, and communication skills using locally relevant and culturally rich instructional material. Student-led conferencing, promoted by Humanitas, encourages students to own a vision for their future and to share it, plus their progress, with parents and caregivers. In 1986, LAUSD and business leaders expressed a desire to increase the opportunity for high school students to get real-life relevance and experience while in school. The result was LAEP’s development of career-themed academies linked to local industries. Now, our school- and classroom-embedded college and career readiness programming ensures that all students have a strong foundation upon graduation from high school.
Our signature work with administrators and teachers builds their capacity for distributed leadership and collaboration to foster mission- and vision-driven schools. Our equity-centered coaching also supports administrators in dismantling inequitable systems for both students and staff of color. Our experience confirms that collaboration, continuous commitment to equity, and an unwavering focus on mission and vision are the keys to school success—not a cookie-cutter or silver bullet solution.
Every school and community is different, with varied resources that can be harnessed to support learning. Since launching the first resource-rich parent center in the northeast San Fernando Valley, we have prioritized assisting schools in building a collaborative infrastructure. These community collaboratives address the specific needs of each school’s students and families by integrating community assets into school services and creating opportunities for expanded learning. LAEP is the preeminent community school practitioner and thought leader in California and an influential partner in the national community school movement.
LAEP can come alongside your community, as thought partners and collaborators, empowering you to drive transformation and liberation.
