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LA2050 Blog

The votes are in, and once again, Angelenos showed up for their communities.

From the South Bay to the San Fernando Valley, from Santa Monica to the San Gabriel Valley, voters across Los Angeles County helped shape this year’s 

 by selecting the issues they believe matter most right now.

During the course of public voting, we received more than 110,000 votes from more than 17,000 voters. Your choices will directly shape the issue areas eligible for grant funding in the 2026 LA2050 Grants Challenge.

As a reminder, the top two issue areas in each of LA2050’s five goal categories become eligible for Goldhirsh Foundation funding through this year’s LA2050 Grants Challenge. This year the Goldhirsh Foundation is contributing $1 million in grant funding, and in collaboration with funding partners – see below – the anticipated pool is $3 million.

This year’s top 10 issue areas, as selected by Angelenos are:

Support for foster and systems-impacted youth

Access to tech and creative industry employment

There are also two additional sponsored issue areas:

For a deeper dive into the issue areas and their sponsors, 

The LA2050 Grants Challenge is powered not only by public participation, but also by a collaborative of philanthropic partners committed to backing the best ideas for Los Angeles.

This year, we’re thrilled the partnership includes these Los Angeles-area foundations and funders to maximize impact and support bold solutions across our region.

Together, this collaborative will help support ideas that respond directly to what Angelenos said are their top priorities in Los Angeles. 

Organizations selected through Part 1: Organization Screening were notified and invited to move on to Part 2: Funding Proposal, which opened on April 29th and closes on June 5th, 2026. Selected applicants will submit a specific program, project, or initiative aligned with one or more of this year’s eligible issue areas. Proposals will then be reviewed by external evaluators at SJPLA, the Goldhirsh Foundation, and funding partners, with grants announced in October 2026.

We’re so grateful to everyone who voted, shared, organized, posted, texted friends, and helped make this year’s public vote possible.

Thank you, Los Angeles! Your voice is what makes the LA2050 Grants Challenge community-guided, and your participation continues to shape a better future for our region.


These are the Issues Angelenos Chose, and the Funding Partners Providing Support

In collaboration with our funding partners, LA2050 is granting an estimated $3 million to the issues that LA cares about most.

The LA2050 Grants Challenge is an open call for ideas to make Los Angeles County the best place to connect, create, learn, live, and play. Since 2013, we’ve given more than $23 million in grants to local impact organizations and supported hundreds of winning ideas to make our region better for all.

During the voting period, more than 110,000 votes were cast by more than 17,000 Angelenos about what issues matter most to them – now, we’re looking for the best ideas to make an impact on those top-voted issue areas, as well as those sponsored by our funding partners.

Organizations selected through Part 1: Organization Screening, were notified and invited to move on to Part 2: Funding Proposal, which opened on April 29th and closes on June 5th, 2026. Selected applicants will submit a specific program, project, or initiative aligned with one or more of this year’s eligible issue areas. Proposals will then be reviewed by the Goldhirsh Foundation, funding partners, and external evaluators, with grants announced in late September 2026.

Curious if your organization’s work is a good fit? 

Below, take a deeper dive into the 12 issue areas open for grants this year and learn more about what we’re looking for.

[Keep in mind: we are defining each of these issue areas expansively. These descriptions are intended to spark imagination but do not capture all of the ideas that are eligible for submission. We invite you to be creative as you consider how your organization might impact one or more issue areas.]

Access to Tech and Creative Industry Employment 

Selected by voters, and sponsored by the Snap Foundation

Los Angeles is home to thriving tech and creative sectors but securing employment in those areas can be more difficult for some groups. We are looking for submissions that support access to tech and creative industry employment for groups that are traditionally underrepresented – including women, Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC), people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ Angelenos. This can be accomplished through internships, educational opportunities, training, networking, job placement, and more.

 Under this same umbrella, the Snap Foundation

is seeking ideas that will specifically develop pathways to employment in the creative economy for underrepresented youth in Los Angeles, ages 12 to 25. The creative economy encompasses architecture, arts and crafts, design, fashion, film, video, photography, music, performing arts, publishing, research and development, game design, advertising, engineering, TV/radio, and other fields that draw on human ingenuity.

Selected by voters, and sponsored by the Elbaz Family Foundation

It is likely no surprise that affordable housing and homelessness received more votes than any other issue area – now for the fifth year in a row. These programs, projects, or initiatives might focus on improving the quantity and quality of affordable housing, assisting vulnerable tenants, or providing support to unhoused individuals.

Community safety encompasses any work that protects people from harm of all kinds and allows them to feel safe. Submissions can support physical safety, such as policies that protect pedestrians and cyclists, or emotional safety, such as a program that deters bullying. This issue area includes not just the prevention of harassment, discrimination, and violence but also the active promotion of belonging, inclusion, and peace – from “know your rights” training to teaching about healthy relationships, building support systems for marginalized groups, and more.

Submissions are also open for the fifth time to the green space, park access, and trees issue area. We welcome any ideas that increase the availability of, expand equitable access to, or encourage more frequent use of these outdoor areas for all residents of Los Angeles. We also welcome ideas that inspire creative interaction with these spaces.

Selected by voters, and sponsored by a private funder

Access to comprehensive, high-quality health care is essential for individual thriving and overall community well-being. We are looking for proposals that connect Angelenos to mental and physical health services, especially those from uninsured and underinsured populations.

A private funder is particularly interested in applications under this category that focus on mental health, including efforts to address mental health needs and expand access to care and support.

The Los Angeles region can, and should, embrace immigrants and refugees. We are seeking submissions with ideas to protect their rights and provide holistic support, including access to housing, education, healthcare, legal services, and social, personal, and economic resources to help them thrive.

Addressing income inequality comes in many forms, whether directly offering resources to those who need them or implementing projects, programs, and initiatives that address the root causes in our communities. This might include supporting first-generation college students, providing jobs to individuals who have been incarcerated, or giving direct cash payments to low-income families.

Selected by voters, and sponsored by the Elbaz Family Foundation, Herb Alpert Foundation, and John N. Calley Foundation

High-quality K-12 STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) education is essential. Submissions to this issue area can take the form of school-based curriculum support, after-school program activities, extracurricular opportunities, or other initiatives that encourage school-age students to succeed in STEAM.

– Sponsored by the Brunswick Foundation

In collaboration with the Brunswick Foundation, we are seeking submissions that advance social justice across Los Angeles. Including efforts to address inequity, remove systemic barriers, and expand access to opportunity and well-being across communities. We welcome ideas that support more just outcomes through direct services, community organizing, advocacy, or systems change.

Loneliness is on the rise across the United States and has even been described as an epidemic. We are looking for ideas to decrease isolation, promote interdependence, and encourage communal care. Think intergenerational relationships, mutual aid hubs, neighbors coming together, or supporting individuals reentering after incarceration.

Support for Foster and Systems-Impacted Youth

We are also looking for submissions that focus on improving the well-being of youth ages 24 and under who have been impacted by the mental and behavioral health system, the child welfare system, the youth justice system, or other similar systems. We are open to all channels of support – academic, professional, social, legal, personal, and beyond.

– Sponsored by the R & S Kayne Foundation

In collaboration with the R & S Kayne Foundation, we are looking for proposals from organizations that foster economic inclusion through creating career pathways for NEET Youth (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) ages 18 to 26. There is added value if the proposal is for a program, project, or initiative that incorporates youth power, co-designing with and embracing the input of young people.

Reach out to us via email any time at connect@la2050.org.

Deep Dive: These 12 Issue Areas Are Open for Part 2 Proposals

The Goldhirsh Foundation’s LA2050 initiative is a 

 in the "Social Content Series-Non-Profit, Excellence" category for its 

 depicting the 2024 LA2050 Grantee Showcase. Thank you to the jury members of The Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, and congratulations to all of the other winners in various categories. ⁠

The Communicator Awards “honors work that transcends craft—work that made a lasting impact,” per the official site.

The 2026 edition of the Grants Challenge is, at the time of this writing, in the Part 2 application submissions period, now through June 5. 

For a list of other awards that Goldhirsh Foundation and LA2050 have received during the past few years, 

LA2050 Blog

LA2050 is a Communicator Awards Winner