Thanks to $788,938 from The California Natural Resources Agency’s Urban Greening Program, TreePeople is transforming Pacoima Middle School’s asphalt schoolyard into a more green, vibrant and healthy learning space. The Pacoima Living Schoolyards Project will bring native shade trees, shrubs, pollinator gardens, and outdoor nature-based education and play areas.
Pacoima Middle School is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) system and serves students from low-income, disadvantaged households in Pacoima. With three freeways, dense industrial areas, and a commercial airport, the Pacoima community and over 1,100 students at Pacoima Middle School have no immediate access to a park. They face tremendous barriers to accessing natural spaces in their neighborhood. The 23-acre campus is mostly covered by dark and impervious asphalt and is located next to the I-5 Freeway, with no trees or plantings to serve as a barrier to minimize noise and air pollution. The lack of shade and heat-radiating asphalt on the Pacoima Middle School’s campus makes it difficult for students to play outdoors safely, contributes to health issues, and degrades the environment.
This nature-based, multi-benefit project will remove about 13,000 square feet of asphalt at the school and replace it with ecologically diverse, low water use gardens and shade trees. Planting trees will reduce surface temperature by as much as 45 degrees.
Cindy Montanez, CEO of TreePeople said of trees: “Imagine that. They’re air conditioners – air conditioners that don’t use power or energy.”
These park-like green spaces are expected not only to reduce temperatures, but to improve public health and the students’ mental and physical well-being; all while contributing to improved ecological health and resilience of this park-poor community.
LAUSD school board president Kelly Gonez, whose son is part of the LAUSD system, reiterated the importance of projects like Pacoima Living schoolyards. “Here at L.A. Unified, the state’s largest school district, greening is a priority because the legacy unfortunately, as you can see, is concrete and asphalt and a contribution to extreme heat — rather than a contribution to community resilience,” said Gonez.
Construction will begin in early Spring 2023, with expected completion before the end of the year. The community has been, and will continue to be, included throughout this project through community planting events, community workshops, teacher workshops, and hands-on environmental service-learning projects. Through inclusive community engagement, the project will empower students and residents to act as stewards of their urban green spaces and forest. They will ensure that the project will be beneficial to Pacoima Middle School and its community for years to come.