The Brief

There’s no shortage of volunteer opportunities in Los Angeles. But finding one appropriate for kids or teens? Not as easy.

A few weeks ago an LAist reader wrote to us asking, “Any family-oriented community service projects going on this summer for Angelenos?” When the reporter shared the question with the rest of the team, a couple parents chimed in about how useful something like that would be.

So, here it is! Because May Gray and June Gloom are finally over and summer is a chance for kids to get outside, we focused on outdoor volunteer opportunities, from native garden cleanups to harvesting surplus produce. Most of these opportunities are available year-round.

For many of these opportunities, volunteers also get a lesson on L.A.’s diverse ecosystems, and the small, everyday ways that Angelenos can engage with the natural world around them. (If you’re going to be outside, don’t forget sunscreen! We have a guide on making the right sunscreen choices this summer.)

Gardening and Harvesting

Santa Monica Mountains Fund

On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings, volunteers can propagate native plants with the Santa Monica Mountains Fund. Volunteers will get familiar with some of Southern California’s many native plants, such as milkweed, dudleyas, and manzanitas, to name a few. Volunteers are taught how to “clean” different plant species, plant, weed, and water plants — all while learning their place and importance in the Santa Monica Mountains. Attend Friday and Saturday sessions and go home with a free plant. This July, they need your help planting 25,000 milkweed seeds!

Food Forward 

A young volunteer harvesting surplus produce for Food Forward at the Huntington Botanical Gardens in Pasadena, CA

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Jen Serena

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Courtesy Food Forward

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Food Forward is a local nonprofit that recovers fresh, surplus produce, and distributes it to local relief agencies serving people facing food insecurity across Southern California.

There are a number of ways children and families can get involved, from harvesting backyard fruit trees to gathering excess produce at farmers markets.

Or, do you have a lemon tree in your backyard and always have extra lemons? Don’t let them rot! You can register your backyard citrus tree as a harvest location with Food Forward (and get a tax write-off!)

Arlington Garden

Arlington Garden, Pasadena’s free, community-supported botanical garden, hosts volunteer sessions on Tuesday mornings. Volunteers are tasked with general garden maintenance, like weeding and mulching, as well as collecting and planting seeds. Check out their events page to see if they have any special weekend projects coming up, which in the past have included building water retention mechanisms and pruning citrus trees.

Avenue 33 Farm 

Avenue 33 farm is a 1.2-acre urban farm in Lincoln Heights growing vegetables, flowers, and native plants. On Thursday evenings, volunteers have the opportunity to get their hands dirty on the farm, sifting and turning compost piles, preparing and planting beds, and weeding. This opportunity is best for volunteers ages 10 and up.

On Tuesday mornings the farm distributes food to neighborhood families at their community farmstand. Volunteers can also help with weekly food distribution, but this activity is better for teenagers, as it requires some heavy lifting.

Five youth volunteers for Santa Monica Mountains Fund in Thousand Oaks, CA

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Courtesy Santa Monica Mountains Fund

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Habitat restoration

Friends of the L.A. River

Friends of the L.A. River has habitat restoration volunteer sessions every fourth Saturday of the month at the Sepulveda Basin Refuge in Van Nuys (the L.A. River passes through 17 cities in Southern California). Volunteers clear invasive plant species, such as black mustard, and plant native plants and wildflowers in their place. Depending on the day, volunteers may build or disperse “native seed balls” to plant in the environment.

Audubon Center 

The Audubon Center is a public hub for habitat restoration located in Debs Park (a place we think is great for hiking, too!). Once a week, volunteers can join folks from the Audubon Center to water plants, pick up trash, and remove invasive species. The day of the week changes every month, so check out their website to get the latest dates and register. This habitat restoration opportunity is best for volunteers 10 and up.

Friends of Ballona Wetlands

Located in Playa del Rey, Ballona Ecological Reserve is home to beautiful wetlands and coastal wildlife. families can join their gardening club or tour and volunteer in their freshwater and saltwater marshes.

As a volunteer, you’ll get to observe the year-round residents of Ballona Wetlands – egrets, herons, waterfowl, brown pelicans — while removing invasive species and restoring the expansive habitat.

Cleanups

Friends of Griffith Park

Every second Monday of the month, Friends of Griffith Park hosts “Trash Patrol” sessions. Locations within the park vary depending on the week. On Wednesday mornings, volunteers remove invasive species from the park. Friends of Griffith Park also hosts volunteer events that aren’t as regular, such as their upcoming cleaning of the streams in Fern Dell. In order to get notified about or register for any of Friends of Griffith Park’s volunteer events, you’ll need to sign up for their newsletter or join their Facebook group.

Heal the Bay 

A volunteer for Heal the Bay shows her bucket of trash collected on a beach in Santa Monica, Ca

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Courtesy Heal the Bay

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Heal the Bay hosts monthly beach clean ups every third Saturday of the month where volunteers learn about L.A.’s sewer system and how it’s connected to water quality and pollution at L.A. beaches.

Volunteers can also join the mammal response team that was created in response to the toxic algae blooms affecting marine wildlife. You’ll learn what to do if you see an animal on the beach and will be equipped with materials to educate other folks on how to protect marine wildlife. Volunteer trainings are held at the Heal the Bay aquarium on Santa Monica Pier Wednesdays through Sundays, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. You can register for these volunteer sessions, and their other upcoming volunteer events, on Heal the Bay’s events page.

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium

Every first Saturday, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium hosts a clean up on Cabrillo Beach and every second Saturday , they host a clean up of their native plant garden. For both opportunities volunteers start their morning at the steps in front of the aquarium, where they’ll get a quick lesson about the environment and wildlife around them. You can just show up, but larger groups should make a reservation in advance.

Map of Volunteer Locations

Tell us your kid-friendly volunteer opportunity

Robert Mueller, the ex-FBI director and former special counsel who led the high-profile investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice by President Trump, died Friday at 81.

"With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away" on Friday night, his family said in a statement Saturday shared with NPR. "His family asks that their privacy be respected."

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

Copyright 2026 NPR

At the Koreatown Senior and Community Center, people were used to seeing Keum-soon Lee arrive early. When she didn’t show up for the 11 a.m. group harmonica class at the center last Friday, people took notice. 

“She would always be there first,” said conductor Eun-young Kim. “If she couldn’t come, she would tell me ahead of time. This time, I didn’t receive any messages from her. I thought, something isn’t right.”

Kim tried calling and sending messages. She didn’t get a response.

Members of the center later learned that Lee, 73, was critically injured in a hit-and-run crash while biking home in Koreatown after attending early morning prayer at her church. She died in a hospital March 13 from her injuries, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

“I was shocked,” said Jin-soon Baek, who has played with Lee for years. “We’ve been friends for a long time. We ate together, practiced together. She was like a sibling to me.

“She was so hardworking. Always the first one there to sign in for class. She’d walk ahead of me and I’d follow behind. That’s how it always was.”

Baek, who is in her 80s, said the two also shared something more personal: Both had cancer.

“I had cancer years ago, and she was going through treatment recently,” Baek said. “We understood each other.”

In January, Lee played with the harmonica ensemble at an LA Kings game. Lee spoke with a journalist about undergoing surgery and chemotherapy, and what the group meant to her. 

“I think I’ve almost fully recovered,” Lee told journalist Chase Karng at the hockey game. “Even while receiving chemotherapy, I felt encouraged when I heard that I could perform here.”

At the Koreatown Senior and Community Center, people were used to seeing Keum-soon Lee arrive early. When she didn’t show up for the 11 a.m. group harmonica class at the center last Friday, people took notice.

Lee was born in 1952 in South Korea and immigrated to the United States in 1998. She was an elder at Saehan Presbyterian Church in Pico Union and is survived by her husband, Sang-rae Lee, and son, Young-jo Lee.

The senior center, where Lee was a fixture and known as a reliable friend, has designated March 20 as a day of mourning.

On Friday, Lee’s church held a funeral service, where members of the harmonica ensemble performed the hymn, “Nearer My God to Thee,” in her memory.

“I usually don’t attend funeral services, but I had to come for hers,” said Alice Kim. “Whenever I came to church, I would see her watering the grass, bent over, and she would smile and say, ‘You’re here, Alice,’ and hand me the Sunday bulletin.”

In her eulogy, elder Gyu-sook Lee said the sudden loss has hit the congregation hard.

“She always greeted everyone with a warm smile,” she said. “She was the kind of person who always stepped forward first to do the hard work that no one else wanted to do. And when she took something on, she saw it through to the end.”

At the Koreatown Senior and Community Center, people were used to seeing Keum-soon Lee arrive early. When she didn’t show up for the 11 a.m. group harmonica class at the center last Friday, people took notice.

“She still had so many years ahead of her,” Baek said. “She was younger than us. Full of hope. It feels like it should have been me instead.”

According to police, Lee was riding through a crosswalk when a white Dodge Ram truck turning right struck her around 6:40 a.m. near Olympic Boulevard and Vermont Avenue. The driver briefly stopped, then drove away, authorities said.

Investigators found the truck and are looking into whether the driver was impaired on drugs or alcohol. The truck was seized and there was no information about the driver.

Kim, the conductor, said Lee was the first person to reach out to her when she started to lead the ensemble in September. 

“She sent me a message saying thank you for coming,” Kim said. “She was such a special person to me.” 

At Friday’s service, speaker after speaker described Lee as someone who was a light in every community she was part of. 

“The way she served the church behind the scenes became a lesson in faith for all of us. There isn’t a single part of this church that hasn’t felt her touch. Her warmth, her love, her dedication — I can still feel it,” Gyu-sook Lee said.

When Gilbert Lindsay became the first Black person elected to Los Angeles City Council in 1963, it gave the residents of the predominantly Black District 9 someone who understood the challenges they faced living in South Central. 

This area was the center of Black political power in LA because it was one of the few places in the city Black people were allowed to live and thrive due, in part, to housing restrictions. For the next 63 years, voters in this district — which includes historic South Central, Exposition Park and a small portion of downtown Los Angeles — consecutively chose a Black representative. 

That will end with Curren D. Price Jr., the current District 9 councilmember who can’t run again due to term limits. 

Twelve candidates announced campaigns in February to replace Price. Of them, six candidates have qualified to be on the June 2 primary election ballot, none of whom are Black. They include: Estuardo Mazariegos, Elmer Roldan, Jorge Hernandez Rosas, Jorge Nuño, Martha Sánchez and Jose Ugarte. 

The list is a reflection of the demographic shift of the area, but candidates also told The LA Local that it shows the strength of the district’s Black-Latino political coalition. And with the civil rights gains since the 1960s, while some locals are concerned that issues facing Black voters won’t get the attention they need, others who live in the district said they’re less concerned with what their representative looks like. Instead, they said they want someone who listens and gets things done. 

“As long as you do good in the community, we’re going to be happy,” said Dennis Anya, who works on Central Avenue and has lived in the district for nearly 40 years.

What the demographic shifts in District 9 mean for the June election

The upcoming election comes as the demographics have changed in District 9 and South LA. The Black population in South Los Angeles was 81% in 1965, according to a special census survey from November 1965 of South and East LA. 

As of 2021, District 9, specifically, is about 78% Latino and 13% Black, according to LA City Council population demographic data taken that year as part of a redistricting effort. 

Officials have predicted the district’s shift for years. Former City Councilmembers Kevin De León and Nury Martinez discussed the district’s future in the leaked 2021 audio — checkered with racist remarks — that the LA Times reported in 2022.“This will be [Price’s] last four years,” De Leon said at one point in the conversation, the transcript of which the LA Times published in full. “That eventually becomes a Latino seat.” 

Erin Aubry Kaplan, a writer and columnist who traces her family’s roots to South Central, told The LA Local that because District 9 has historically voted for a Black candidate, there is some anxiety amongst Black voters about losing Black representation in Los Angeles. 

“I would hope that whoever wins, will carry the interest of Black folk forward,” she said.

Manuel Pastor, a USC professor and co-author of “South Central Dreams: Finding Home and Community in South LA,” told The LA Local that traditionally, voters are older. While District 9 is now home to a younger, immigrant community, they may not vote at the same rate as older generations, and undocumented residents are ineligible to vote.  

Pastor said it’s likely for this reason that the current District 9 candidates are not emphasizing being Latino but are modeling their campaigns after other city leaders and focusing on Black-Latino solidarity. 

“Just because the demographics have changed, doesn’t mean that the voting population has changed,” Pastor said.  

Here’s what the candidates say about the transformation of District 9

Chris Martin, one of the two Black candidates who campaigned for the seat but did not qualify for the ballot, said he believes the city’s Black elected officials should have supported Black candidates in the race. Martin said he will challenge the city clerk’s decision on his nomination petition in court. 

“The story of Black political power in the city of Los Angeles is dying,” Martin said. “I felt like I had a good chance of keeping it alive.” 

When Gilbert Lindsay became the first Black person elected to Los Angeles City Council in 1963, it gave the residents of the predominantly Black District 9 someone who understood the challenges they faced living in South Central.

Michelle Washington, the other Black candidate who also did not qualify, did not respond to a request for comment.Price, the current District 9 councilmember, endorsed his deputy Jose Ugarte in the race and wrote in a statement that this election is about solidarity. 

“As a Black man who has served a majority-Latino district, I know that progress in South Central has always come from Black and Brown families moving forward together,” Price wrote. “We’ve had to fight harder for housing, safety, opportunity and the basic investments every neighborhood deserves. And when we’ve made gains, it’s because we stood united.”  

Five of the six candidates who qualified for the ballot told The LA Local that not having a Black candidate on the ballot doesn’t diminish the place of the district’s Black community. (Candidate Jorge Hernandez Rosas did not return requests for comment.) 

“It has always been a Black community and will always be a Black community. This isn’t about a passing of the baton or one community taking over another. It’s about building a solidarity movement,” Estuardo Mazariegos said. 

Elmer Roldan, who carries endorsements from LA Mayor Karen Bass and City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, said the district needs a councilmember who won’t leave anyone behind.“We have to avoid at all costs contributing to Black erasure and Black displacement,” Roldan said.

Ugarte said that the major quality of life problems — like dirty streets and broken street lights — affecting the neighborhood’s Black and brown communities haven’t changed since he was a child living in the district. 

“The same issues are still here,” he said. 

Here’s what happens next

If you haven’t registered to vote and you want to receive a vote-by-mail ballot, you must register to vote by May 18.

Results from the primary election will be certified by July 2. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidates will move on to the general election on Nov. 3, according to the City Clerk’s website. 

The winner of District 9 will begin a four-year term Dec. 14.

The L.A. County Medical Examiner has released the cause of death for Emily Beutner, the daughter of former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner.

The 22-year-old died from the effects of a combination of drugs, including two linked to the opioid known as kratom — mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine — according to the statement released by the medical examiner Friday.

A county health official told our partner CBS L.A. that kratom products are sometimes sold as natural remedies but are illegal and unsafe.

The other two substances cited as causes of death were quetiapine and mirtazapine — the former is an antipsychotic medication, and the latter is used to treat depression, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The former Loyola Marymount University student was found alone and suffering from medical distress by L.A. County Fire Department personnel shortly after midnight in a field by a highway in Palmdale on Jan. 6. She was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead soon after.

After his daughter's death, Beutner dropped out of the L.A. mayoral race.

The Medical Examiner said the manner of death was ruled a suicide.

Resources

If You Need Immediate Help

• If you or someone you know is in crisis and need immediate help, call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or go here for online chat.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a crisis, you can dial the mental health lifeline at 988.

Additional resources