Seeds of Peace: Peace Education Center

Green space, park access, and trees

Central LA

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

In times of increasing polarization, climate grief, and social fragmentation, many Los Angeles communities—especially immigrants, youth, and marginalized groups—lack access to spaces that nurture peace, safety, and rooted connection. The disconnection from land, cultural practices, and intergenerational wisdom creates emotional, ecological, and communal harm. Immigrant families face added layers of displacement and isolation, often without access to outdoor spaces that feel welcoming or healing. Our current systems address safety only through policing and enforcement—neglecting the deeper roots of disconnection. We believe community safety is more than the absence of violence—it is the presence of belonging, agency, and care. By reconnecting people to land, lineage, and each other through regenerative gardening and peace education, we can cultivate environments that restore wholeness, resilience, and hope.

The Seeds of Peace Education Center is a garden-based learning and healing space rooted at Ellume Gardens in Silver Lake, designed to cultivate belonging, ecological care, and community resilience. Grounded in ethno-ecological permaculture, indigenous native plant gardening, and regenerative gardening practices, this sanctuary offers weekly peace education workshops, seasonal community planting days, storytelling, and intergenerational healing dialogues. Participants—especially youth, immigrant families, and those excluded from traditional green spaces—will gather beneath fruit trees and native pollinators to explore topics like nonviolent communication, ancestral foodways, and environmental justice. The garden becomes the teacher, offering sensory engagement, rhythm, and restoration to nervous systems shaped by trauma, migration, and disconnection. Workshops will blend trauma-informed facilitation, civic engagement, and earth stewardship. Our monthly Circle in the Garden gatherings will offer space for reflection and cultural celebration, while “Know Your Rights” sessions will be gently woven into our curriculum to support immigrant empowerment. This grant will support the expansion of our programs, bilingual materials, stipends for facilitators, and space improvements to welcome more participants. We aim to create a replicable model where gardens become peace centers—living spaces for belonging, safety, and joy.

Success for us means gardens will no longer be seen as luxuries—but as sanctuaries of healing, belonging, and peacebuilding across Los Angeles. In our corner of Silver Lake, neighbors who once passed one another in silence will now gather under fruiting trees to share stories, tears, and laughter. Youth who once felt invisible will feel rooted in place, culture, and purpose. Elders will share ancestral wisdom, and immigrants will reclaim space not just to survive—but to thrive. As the Seeds of Peace Education Center blossoms, its model will be shared with other neighborhoods—transforming yards, vacant lots, and community spaces into peace gardens that feed the soil and the soul. With every workshop, circle, and planting day, we’re growing a culture of care. One where peace is lived, not just taught. One where healing is practiced in community, with the earth as guide and witness.