On Oct. 17, champions of the Ballona Wetlands gathered for the Friends of Ballona Wetlands’ annual Moonlight on the Marsh Gala at Centerpointe Club in Playa Vista to help raise funds for the organization’s restoration and education programs and honor Carlyle Hall, the original lawyer who helped negotiate the protection of the 600-acre Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve.
Maybe even more amazing than receiving this year’s Ruth Lansford Legacy Award is the fact that 81-year-old Hall attended his own wedding ceremony the day before.
“It’s never too late, as they say,” Hall said. “We were married on Sept. 15, and the event was about a month later. It was a very happy time for me.” . . .
Kimberly Galindo was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at age 18. Although she had symptoms for over two years — abdominal and lower back pain and irregular periods — doctors dismissed her concerns, suggesting she had gastritis. Since her diagnosis, she has endured multiple surgeries and chemotherapy sessions, restless nights and difficult days. Throughout her journey, she found herself longing to connect with a supportive community, which she eventually found at Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation (SROCF), a nonprofit launched as a response to the issues Galindo was facing.
Photo by: Girl Squad Media
“I was a gynecological oncology nurse and took care of Sandy Rollman when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the age of 32,” explained Robin Cohen, CEO and co-founder of SROCF.
“Every day was a fight to keep her alive. While taking care of her, I learned a lot about the emotional toll of the disease and the lack of resources and support for women with ovarian cancer. After Sandy died, her sister and I started the organization and based it on what wasn’t available to Sandy at the time of her diagnosis.” . . .
As the chairman and president of The Goldhirsh Foundation, respectively, Benjamin Goldhirsh and Tara Roth have the capability to do extreme good in the world. Luckily for Los Angeles, in 2013 the foundation’s LA2050 initiative launched the LA2050 Grants Challenge, which has directed more than $23 million to local social impact organizations. This year, 55 Los Angeles organizations received $3.1 million in funding, and at Oct. 14’s LA2050 Grantee Showcase, the recipients were announced and celebrated at the SmogShoppe in Culver City.
From left to right: Kristen Paglia, Fox Foundation; Alexis Cabrera, 9 Dots; Jax Chaudhry, Project Invent; and Laura Fox, Fox Foundation.
“One of my favorite days of the year is the Grantee Showcase,” shared Roth. “In one day, I get to see all the people who are doing such incredible work, who are putting themselves out there and being true civic community servants in making Los Angeles better. What I love about the work is that not only do I get to see these incredible heroes, but I get to promote and amplify their work and connect them where I can. We have people going in to prisons to teach entrepreneurship. We have people greening spaces that were otherwise blighted spaces. I’m inspired and gratified that I get to participate in this in some way.”
The Grants Challenge consists of several stages. First, organization screening; second, Angelenos vote on the issues that matter most to them and determine the areas eligible for funding. Next, organizations selected through Part 1 are invited to submit funding proposals for a specific program, project or initiative that aligns with the top-voted issues. Those proposals are reviewed and recipients are chosen. . . .
On Oct. 15, around 235 unhoused people and their pets gathered in the Inner City Law Center (ICLC) parking lot for the seventh biannual Skid Row Community Connect Day. In partnership with the Los Angeles Central Providers Collaborative, ICLC invited housing organizations, medical teams, legal advocates and mental health professionals to deliver services to unhoused and low- income Skid Row community members.
The event is part of ICLC’s mission to serve the city’s most vulnerable: extremely low-income families struggling to stay housed in LA. Thirty percent of its clients are homeless, and 48% of its clients last year had annual household incomes under $10,000. In the simplest terms: The nonprofit, poverty law firm helps people who are very precariously housed try to hold on to their housing, and people on the streets try to find a pathway into housing.
UCLA School of Law graduate Nancy Mintie started ICLC in 1980. After moving to the Catholic Worker Soup Kitchen, also known as Hippie Kitchen, in the Skid Row neighborhood, she began providing legal services to people in the area. Cases ranged from eviction and habitability issues to securing benefits. . . .
In August 2022, Marymount California University closed its doors in Rancho Palos Verdes. The following month, its leadership launched Marymount Education Foundation (MEF) to support educational programs and scholarships. Just last month, Loyola Marymount University President Thomas Poon welcomed MEF Chairman of the Board/President Richard Edler, Archbishop of Los Angeles José H. Gomez, MEF Executive Director Robyn Jones and Superintendent of Catholic Schools Paul Escala to celebrate MEF’s largest ever grant — $5.57 million — to LMU’s Catholic High School Promise Program.
The grant will establish the Marymount Scholars Program, which will provide full financial support as well as access to faculty mentorship, career and professional development resources, stipends toward study abroad opportunities and funding for technology, laptops and books to 70-plus local students over the next four years. The students will be selected from qualified senior students from each of six participating high schools: Bishop Conaty-Our Lady of Loretto High School, Bishop Mora Salesian, Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary College Prep, Junípero Serra High School, St. Bernard College Prep and St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy.
On Sept. 30, Poon and Edler sat side by side to sign the agreement, followed by a check presentation by Edler and Jones and a champagne toast. . . .
Marissa Montes, founding director of the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic, was born in Mexico and brought to the States as a child. What she — and her community — experienced growing up is what motivated her to do the work she does today. And today, she is in Mexico, meeting with Eduardo Osornio, the director of the Guadalajara office of LMU Loyola Law School’s Binational Migrant Advocacy Project (BMAP), which was launched a year ago to support migrants and families navigating immigration systems on both sides of the border.
Since high school, Montes knew she wanted to do immigrant rights work. As an undergrad, she worked at USC Gould School of Law Immigration Clinic. When it was time to choose a law school, she picked LMU Loyola Law School because of its focus on public interest and social justice work. At the time, it did not have an immigration clinic. Montes decided to start one. With the support of her mentor, Professor Kathleen Kim, Montes wrote up a fellowship project.
“Kim was the first person to educate me on the concept of community-based lawyering,” said Montes. “To switch up the power dynamic—instead of the attorney coming in and saying, this is what we want you to do. They listen to the community and are responsive to their needs. At the end of the day, the immigrant community better than any lawyer is going to know exactly how the laws impact them every day and often know the solutions.” . . .
Michelle Durand loves to travel — so much so that about five years ago, she started living nomadically. Possessing no permanent residence, she hops around from place to place. It seemed like the natural order of events for someone who is always seeking to learn from other people and things all the time. It is also what landed her in her current position of executive director of the LA-based nonprofit Youth Champions.
Photo by: Lyndon Arcega
Youth Champions provides paid personal growth internships to high school students (grades 10-12) in underserved communities. The 24-week program offers mentorship, career exposure and life-skills development while teaching financial literacy, leadership and critical thinking. Accepted students can earn up to $1,000 based on their participation in virtual workshops and in-person field trips.
“I recognize I am not the expert in everything,” Durand said, “but there are a lot of people out there who know a lot of things. I try to learn in different and unique ways, and so often it comes down to exposure. Just giving students exposure is important. For me, that resonated because I am big on exposing myself to ideas and concepts that I’ve never interacted with before.” . . .
The Ballona Wetlands is a source of great pride for locals — and also a bone of contention. Since 2003, when the state of California purchased the 577-acre ecological reserve, a variety of environmental groups have voiced their differing opinions about the best laid plans for its restoration. While everyone awaits the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (CDFW) revised environmental impact report (EIR), each group is trying to “move that needle a little bit,” said Walter Lamb, president of the nonprofit Ballona Wetlands Land Trust (BWLT) since 2012.
The Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve is divided into three areas — A, B and C — bordering Marina del Rey, Playa Vista and Playa del Rey. Nobody disagrees that it is home to native and migrating birds and native and invasive plants, and its benefits include absorbing carbon in the atmosphere and buffering coastal communities from flooding. The source of tension lies in how and how long it will take to restore the wetlands. CDFW’s initial EIR was published in 2017, certified in 2020 and struck down by a judge in 2023. It has yet to submit the revised version. . . .
Gary Walker attended local neighborhood council meetings, reported extensively on homelessness and, in his own words, was “one of the first reporters to report on the COVID-19 crisis and actually call it a pandemic.” He worked as a news reporter at The Argonaut from 2007 to 2020 and was “remarkably dedicated to his mission of covering local news stories both big and small,” said Joe Piasecki, editor at The Argonaut from 2013 to 2020.
Walker’s death was reported to the Department of Medical Examiner on July 10, 2026, by the Los Angeles Police Department. His cause of death was atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
“He worked long days and often kept vigil at public meetings late into the night in an effort to bring relevant local stories to local readers, despite the many challenges facing community journalism,” Piasecki shared. “Gary treated his job as a calling.” . . .
The ribbon cutting and grand opening of Umeya Apartments was a big day for Little Tokyo — and especially for Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC), which has spearheaded the affordable housing project since purchasing the Umeya Rice Cake Company factory in 2019. On Sept. 25, the community, business partners and politicians gathered to celebrate the new mixed-use development featuring 175 deeply affordable apartments that will soon house 300 people.
“This is what the future of Los Angeles looks like,” councilmember Ysabel Jurado of District 14 said. “Today we are opening 88 units of permanent supported housing for unhoused neighbors and 85 affordable homes for low-income families. But what we are really opening is a future rooted in stability, dignity and community. This is a testament to the vision, the perseverance and the heart of a community that knows exactly what it needs and has the courage to build it.” . . .
