Two Alliance College-Ready Public Schools students at a community garden in South LA. (Credit: LIIF)

A 400-square foot community garden located on the grounds of a south LA charter school run by Alliance College-Ready Public Schools is celebrating its first harvest with an event tomorrow.

The garden, which just opened this school year, is funded by the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) and Citi Foundation.

The first City Garden includes an athletic field and is located on the duel campuses of Alliance Renee & Meyer Luskin High School/Alliance College Ready Middle Academy 7. The garden is integrated into the science curriculum of the schools, according to a LIF spokesperson.

The garden also aims to “reduce food insecurity for students and improve health in south Los Angeles, where 25 percent of children live in poverty and 94 percent qualify for reduced price meals at school,” according to press release from LIIF.

The release also said the garden will provide “healthy food to students; an opportunity to teach students and their parents about cooking and gardening; and a new venue for health fairs and farmers markets. The field will create places to play and exercise and a new community gathering spot where none existed before. Together, they create a new hub of the neighborhood.”

At 10 a.m. tomorrow, Alliance parents, students and staff are planning to celebrate the garden’s first harvest with an event that will include performances by the Alliance Luskin Choir & Dance Group and Debbie Allen Dance Academy, remarks by Rep. Karen Bass, tours, cooking demonstrations, and ProCamps events with professional athletes DeAndre Jordan and Shannon Boxx.

(Photo via Kipp Empower Academy’s Facebook page)

KIPP LA Schools today announced plans to open nine additional campuses, nearly doubling its presence in south and east LA by 2020.

The high performing charter schools are part of the Knowledge Is Power Program,which runs 162 campuses, educating 58,000 students nationally. In LA, the organization currently operates 11 schools serving 4,000 elementary and middle school students in some of the city’s most downtrodden neighborhoods.

“The families in these communities are demanding access to an excellent college-preparatory public education for their children. KIPP LA’s growth will help meet that demand,” said Executive Director Marcia Aaron at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the organization’s new home.

The campus features 27 classrooms designed for KIPP’s blended learning model. That learning style has contributed toward an Academic Performance Index score of 991, making KIPP Empower the highest performing school in LA Unified and the 10th-best performing elementary school in California.

KIPP also operates three other schools in LA Unified that have earned API scores above 900; the state standard is 800

KIPP has not yet detailed plans for location of future campuses.

“Our teachers and staff will have the resources they need and our students will have access to world-class facilities, which enables us to keep our focus on academics,” said ICEF’s chief executive, Parker Hudnut. “Permanent facilities also demonstrate ICEF’s commitment to providing excellent neighborhood schools to the families in the surrounding community.” ICEF stands for Inner City Education Foundation.

Currently, ICEF’s View Park High School and Middle School are located at 5701 S. Crenshaw Blvd. ICEF plans to acquire the current property and expand the high school, using $10.5 million in tax-exempt bond funding through the California School Finance Authority. The middle school will be co-located for the 2013-14 school year at Crenshaw High School.

An additional $22 million in tax-exempt bond funding has been approved through the CSFA. This will allow ICEF to develop a permanent facility for the middle and elementary school. ICEF say it wants to complete this project for the start of the 2014-15 school year. For the 2013-14 school year, the elementary school will remain in its current locations.

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