Long Beach Day Nursery

Funding for this project is provided by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Urban and Community Forestry Program, that funds TreePeople to oversee the design and construction of school greening initiatives at two Childcare Centers in the Greater Los Angeles area. This project marks TreePeople’s first partnership with early education centers to transform them into greener and more sustainable environments with outdoor educational opportunities.

TreePeople will partner with the faculty, staff, and parent communities to conduct planning, engagement, campus design, construction, establishment care, and educational programming. Each site will receive campus enchancements which include hardscape conversion, the creation of native and edible gardens, new spaces for outdoor learning, installation of low-impact stormwater capture features, cooling shade trees, and low-water irrigation. Overall, these projects will increase outdoor equity for hundreds of children under the age of 5.

Long Beach Day Nursery was one of the first licensed child care programs in California. Serving low-income families since 1912, it now resides in a heavily concretized area with limited green space. TreePeople will revitalize this historic space by removing more than 14,000 square feet of nonfunctional turf and planting 500 native plants, and more than 25 trees. This initiative will create multiple outdoor learning and gathering spaces. The project focuses on improving shaded areas for better air quality, increasing outdoor educational spaces, and creating opportunities to engage early childhood faculty in nature-based learning. Revitalization efforts also aim to enhance the school environment through whole-family educational activities and volunteer events for the school community.