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Climate & Environment

Want to learn indoor gardening? LA City Council greenlights new hydroponics project

A close up of multiple heads of bright green and purple lettuce that's sticking out of a row of tall white towers.
Baby lettuce grows in a hydroponic tower in Santa Barbara.
(
George Rose
/
Getty Images
)

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Topline:

The L.A. City Council has approved funding for a project that will teach San Fernando Valley residents how to build and run a hydroponic system to grow food indoors and outdoors.

The details: Mid Valley Family YMCA will teach residents in Mission Hills, Panorama City and North Hills about hydroponic gardening, a process whereby plants grow in water instead of soil. The program will cover skills to build your own system and best practices for planting.

The money: The nonprofit will get nearly $390,000 to run the program. The money comes from funds already set aside for L.A. REPAIR, the city’s participatory budget program, which asked Angelenos in 2023 to vote on how to spend a pot of money. The designated neighborhoods are part of the Valley’s L.A. REPAIR Zone, designated neighborhoods impacted by structural and historic racism.

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The backstory: Mid Valley Family YMCA is stepping in because the original grantee dropped out recently. Another program is the works for urban farming.

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