Why Public Art? Why Now?
The Destination Crenshaw Creative Arts Fund, in partnership with the California Community Foundation, advances what will be the nation’s largest urban Black public art project, transforming 1.3 miles of Crenshaw Boulevard into a permanent cultural corridor grounded in reparative development.
At a time when federal arts funding is shrinking and cultural narratives are under pressure, this Fund ensures Black Los Angeles continues to author its own future. By supporting more than 100 Black artists, prioritizing local hiring, investing in environmental equity, and creating youth workforce pathways, the Creative Arts Fund powers public art that is visible, community-centered, and built to endure, strengthening cultural identity, economic opportunity, and collective resilience for generations to come. Click Here to learn more about this groundbreaking project
Art Is Not an Accent. It Is the Foundation.
From monumental sculptures to vibrant murals, Destination Crenshaw is a living tribute to the stories, triumphs, innovation, and enduring spirit of Black Los Angeles. Each commissioned work reflects the depth of Black creativity and cultural influence, not only in South LA, but around the world.
This collection brings together world-renowned Black Angelenos and visionary artists whose work has shaped contemporary art globally. Now, they are contributing to a landmark cultural corridor in the very community that shaped them. The result is a permanent, outdoor cultural showcase, bold, unapologetic, and groundbreaking, just like the community it honors.
But this is more than public art.
It is cultural preservation.
It is economic empowerment.
It is legacy in motion.
Destination Crenshaw Mission & Vision
Destination Crenshaw was born from a powerful community response to large-scale infrastructure development in South Los Angeles. As rail construction moved through the historic Crenshaw corridor, community leaders envisioned more than transit. They envisioned transformation without displacement. They envisioned ownership. Preservation. Celebration.
Our aim is to preserve, anchor, and uplift South LA’s Black culture and creative community. We enable Black cultural ownership and honor Black history by telling the story of Black Los Angeles and Crenshaw as the “Heart of Black LA.” Our mission is to build Black global cultural and economic platforms that allow Black artists and businesses to thrive. Click Here to learn more about our work!
When you give, you are investing in permanence.
You are investing in cultural ownership.
You are investing in the Heart of Black LA.
Make your gift today.
To make a secure, tax-deductible donation online, click on the button on this page. You may also send checks payable to the California Community Foundation, noting that the donation is for Destination Crenshaw Creative Arts Fund in the memo line. Checks should be mailed to:
California Community Foundation
717 W Temple St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Our Mission: To empower Southeast Los Angeles through the arts by closing resource gaps, expanding arts education, and establishing the SELA Cultural Center as a hub where local voices thrive.
The SELA Arts Foundation uplifts the region’s rich artistic traditions and invests in the people and places shaping its future. We work hand in hand with local artists, youth, and community partners to expand access to the arts and build lasting cultural infrastructure.
Our flagship initiative, the SELA Cultural Center, will be a world-class facility designed in collaboration with the community and led by local vision. When completed, the center will serve as a creative anchor for the region, providing arts education, performance venues, gallery space, and more. Through this vital work and physical improvements to our region, the Foundation works to close long-standing resource gaps, expanding access to arts education, and create spaces where local voices and talent can thrive.
At this critical stage, we are focused on building the foundation for sustainable growth, equitable access, and long-term impact. We believe that the artist’s voice is strongest when it is harmonized. By working together as a creative network, representing Southeast Los Angeles, we transformed from a scattered collection of individual artists into a formidable coalition. We are not just building a network; we are building a movement, and a Cultural Center.
You may also send checks payable to the California Community Foundation, noting that the donation is for SELA Arts Foundation. Checks should be mailed to:
California Community Foundation
717 W Temple St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Gloria Molina was an unparalleled woman of many talents and titles – a political trailblazer, Chicana activist, masterful policy maker, relentless political watchdog, dynamic artist, and a true Chingona. She was a passionate woman who dedicated her entire life and heart to Angelinos, particularly those on the Eastside.
Gloria’s political career was a series of inspirational firsts – the first Latina Assembly member in California, the first Latina on the Los Angeles City Council, and the first Latina on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, where she represented the First District for over 20 years. Through this career of firsts, Gloria paved the way for many Latino political representatives who follow in her footsteps. Gloria was publicly known for keeping bureaucrats, developers and colleagues accountable, responsive and honest. She fought tirelessly and consistently for her constituents and community. Through her dedication to culture and the arts, we have her to thank for the development of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, a community hub where people gather to celebrate Latino culture and history; The Wellness Center at the Historic General Hospital that offers free programs and services focusing on improving the health and well-being of local residents; Gloria Molina Grand Park, a free and accessible community green space in Downtown LA (recently named in her honor in 2023); not to mention dozens of libraries, community centers and so much more. Click here to learn more about Gloria’s career.
After retirement from the Board of Supervisors in 2014, she committed her time to philanthropic efforts, including joining the Board of Directors of the California Community Foundation in which she served as Chair of the Board from 2021-2023. She supported many arts organizations in East Los Angeles, from local community theater, Casa 0101 to Self Help Graphics and Arts, an organization that fosters the creation and advancement of new art works by Chicana/o and Latino artists. She raised the bar for cultural institutions in Los Angeles, ensuring that LA Plaza expand its footprint and storytelling platform, ideating LA Cocina, a space dedicated to teaching and celebrating Mexican cuisine. Although we lost Gloria to cancer on May 14, 2023, her dedication and legacy to her community was nowhere near complete.
The Gloria Molina Legacy Fund will aim to keep her philanthropic and mission-driven passions alive, supporting causes that were not only important to her, but also important to her beloved family. Your generous support of this fund will provide grant opportunities for nonprofit organizations supporting children, families, arts education and equal opportunities for Angelinos and beyond.
To make a secure, tax-deductible donation online, click on the button below. You may also send checks payable to the California Community Foundation, noting that the donation is for Gloria Molina Legacy Fund in the memo line. Checks should be mailed to:
California Community Foundation
717 W Temple St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
R&S Kayne philanthropy catalyzes positive change through strategic investments in education, economic mobility, arts, and other meaningful initiatives. The R&S Kayne Fund is one way peer funders can join us and co-invest in people and collaborate with communities to empower positive change.
Through this website you can donate to the R&S Kayne Fund in support of initiatives in Aotearoa New Zealand or locally in Los Angeles. This includes Mangawhai Education Trust, Tara Iti Whānau Charitable Trust, Acorn Neurodiversity, and Graeme Dingle Foundation. For any aligned or pooled funding related to LA-based programs, please email hello [@] kaynefoundation [.] org to discuss further.
You may also send checks payable to the California Community Foundation, noting that the donation is for the R&S Kayne Fund. Please contact donorrelations [@] calfund [.] org to process a donation via wire or stock transfer.
Checks should be mailed to:
California Community Foundation
717 W Temple St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
For any questions about processing your contribution, please contact the Donor Relations team by emailing donorrelations [@] calfund [.] org.
Contributions to the California Community Foundation represent irrevocable gifts subject to the legal and fiduciary control of the foundation’s board of directors. This charge will appear on your credit card statement as a payment to “Calif Comm Fdn – CCF”. In addition, California Community Foundation incurs a third-party administrative fee of 2.7 percent for credit card contributions. The foundation will charge the fee directly to the individual fund.
The LA Arts Endowment Fund has been established by a $20 million transformative gift from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott, which will be used to sustain and strengthen the Los Angeles region’s arts ecosystem.
The Endowment will support small to mid-sized organizations that play vital roles in their communities. The creation of the Endowment is about ensuring the long-term sustainability of nonprofit arts organizations by strengthening the infrastructure of the arts in Los Angeles County for the future.
This gift recognizes CCF for being a longstanding supporter of the arts in Los Angeles County and will allow CCF’s commitment to the arts to extend beyond our ability to simply meet this moment, by the creation of a permanent fund that will be able to address long-term systemic solutions for arts organizations in Los Angeles for years to come.
Support the Fellowship for Visual Artist (FVA) Program
Behind the beauty, emotion, or social commentary of any work of art is an artist. Since 1988, the California Community Foundation (CCF) has proudly supported the Fellowship for Visual Artists and provided more than $3 million in unrestricted funding to over 300 local artists. We invite you to support the FVA program and the unique ecosystem of talented artists in Los Angeles.
Why Invest in Artists?
With your support, you can provide stability and security to artists so they are able to pursue their art as a full-time career. Whether it allows an artist to pay for materials or working space, an investment in an FVA fellow is an investment in the rich arts culture of Los Angeles. Our artists must thrive if Los Angeles wants to remain one of the world’s great creative cities.
How Can I Support?
Donors interested in supporting the FVA program can contribute in the following ways:
Sponsor a Fellow
Provide funding criteria to CCF to sponsor an FVA fellow at $40,000. This is a unique opportunity to sponsor a fellow and support a specific art discipline, artist identity or community.
Become a Sustaining Member of the FVA Program
Provide general support at any amount to continue to strengthen the operations of the fellowship. With your support, you can provide stability and security to fellows so they can pursue their art full-time and access professional development opportunities.
Leave an Arts Legacy
Join CCF’s Arts Legacy Circle through a planned gift from your estate and enjoy acknowledgments on an ongoing basis in all FVA materials. Support the art disciplines, organizations, and programming you are most passionate about long into the future.
“The FVA has been life-changing for me, it not only funded my new ambitious project, but introduced me to an incredible group of LA artists, helped me think about how my paid work and my art practice might grow together, and most importantly offered me a sense of belonging to a community that values and nurtures the arts.”
At CCF, we believe Los Angeles is stronger and more vibrant when artists can pursue their passions. To learn more about how you can support the Fellowship for Visual Artists, please contact Erin Limlingan at elimlingan@calfund.org or 213-452-6285.
Behind the beauty, emotion, or social commentary of any work of art is an artist. Since 1988, the California Community Foundation (CCF) has proudly supported the Fellowship for Visual Artists and provided more than $3 million in unrestricted funding to over 300 local artists. We invite you to support the FVA program and the unique ecosystem of talented artists in Los Angeles.
Why Invest in Artists?
With your support, you can provide stability and security to artists so they are able to pursue their art as a full-time career. Whether it allows an artist to pay for materials or working space, an investment in an FVA fellow is an investment in the rich arts culture of Los Angeles. Our artists must thrive if Los Angeles wants to remain one of the world’s great creative cities.
How Can I Support?
Donors interested in supporting the FVA program can contribute in the following ways:
Sponsor a Fellow
Provide funding criteria to CCF to sponsor an FVA fellow at $40,000. This is a unique opportunity to sponsor a fellow and support a specific art discipline, artist identity or community.
Become a Sustaining Member of the FVA Program
Provide general support at any amount to continue to strengthen the operations of the fellowship. With your support, you can provide stability and security to fellows so they can pursue their art full-time and access professional development opportunities.
Leave an Arts Legacy
Join CCF’s Arts Legacy Circle through a planned gift from your estate and enjoy acknowledgments on an ongoing basis in all FVA materials. Support the art disciplines, organizations, and programming you are most passionate about long into the future.
“The FVA has been life-changing for me, it not only funded my new ambitious project, but introduced me to an incredible group of LA artists, helped me think about how my paid work and my art practice might grow together, and most importantly offered me a sense of belonging to a community that values and nurtures the arts.”
– Asher Hartman, 2022-23 FVA Fellow
At CCF, we believe Los Angeles is stronger and more vibrant when artists can pursue their passions. To learn more about how you can support the Fellowship for Visual Artists, please contact Erin Limlingan at elimlingan@calfund.org or 213-452-6285.
Overview
The Thelma Pearl Howard Foundation was established at the California Community Foundation in 1994, named after Walt Disney’s housekeeper for 30 years. It provides support to projects or programs in Los Angeles County that focus on quality arts-based education enrichment activities for children in kindergarten through eighth grade.
Howard had great faith in the Disney’s, who gave her a few shares of Walt Disney Company stock for holiday and birthday presents. She held on to every share and eventually became a wealthy woman. She passed away on June 10, 1994, just days before her 80th birthday. Through her will, it was her wish that a fund be designated for disadvantaged children.
Because of her generosity, the Thelma Pearl Howard Foundation has awarded more than $4 million in grants. CCF, with the help of an independent board of directors, administers the annual grants. During FY2010, the Thelma Pearl Howard Foundation changed its open application process to an invitation-only process, in acknowledgment of its commitment to selected organizations.
The Thelma Pearl Howard Foundation funds Los Angeles County arts-education programs (dance, instrumental and vocal music, visual arts and dramatic arts) serving children in kindergarten through eighth grade. Awards for up to $60,000 over a two-year period will be made to art programs that result in at least one of the following: improved artistic skills, improved academic skills, or improved attitude and/or behaviors toward school.
While the preliminary Letter of Interest process is open to all, full applications are by invitation only.
Grants will be awarded in 2026 to outstanding Los Angeles County arts-education programs (visual, performing and language arts) serving children in kindergarten through eighth grade. Awards will be made to art programs that result in at least one of the following: improved artistic, or academic skills, and improved attitude and/or behaviors toward school.
To be eligible for funding, an applicant must:
- Be located in and serve Los Angeles County
- Serve disadvantaged K through 8th grade students*
- Be a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue code
The Thelma Pearl Howard Foundation has distinct preferences for:
- Programs that demonstrate meaningful and measurable results for participants
- Organizations where professional artists lead the programming and instruction
- Programs that have integration/relationships with the schools of participants
- Organizations with strong operational records as well as those with a growing maturity in their work
*Only programs specific to students in the K-8th grade range will be considered for this grant opportunity.
The California Community Foundation uses the IRS’s Database to verify your organization’s nonprofit status, and in some cases will use GuideStar to download Forms 990 and Audited Financial Statements. Please make sure that your organization’s biographic and financial information is updated and current with the IRS as well as on GuideStar.
For the 2026 grantmaking cycle the Thelma Pearl Howard Foundation has introduced a Letter of Interest process within the overall application review. The goal of the new process is for the committee to view prospective programs in advance and potentially allow more organizations to make an initial introduction.
This step will narrow the number of organizations invited to the full application, so that organizations completing the application are those with a more significant chance of receiving an award. We believe this will enhance capacity of our nonprofit partners to direct staff time toward fundraising that is most likely to result in funding, and we anticipate our LOI process will provide that opportunity.
Organizations will be notified by the beginning of March 2026 regarding invitation to the full application. Application period will be in March 2026. LOI submissions invited to full application will receive further detail regarding next steps.
The Thelma Pearl Howard Foundation Board is no longer accepting LOI submissions for the 2026-2028 grantmaking cycle. Please check back in December of 2027 to submit an LOI for the next grantmaking cycle.
If you have any questions, please reach out to the grants management team at grantsmanager@calfund.org.
Beautiful Friends and Extended Community,
June 12th, 2023 marks the fourth anniversary since a drunk driver took our precious Ruby and Hart from us. Since those horrific, earliest days we’ve been searching for the best way to honor their legacies of joy, empathy, and kindness through some form of lasting philanthropy. We’ve come to realize that many of their talents and interests, from Ruby’s art and short stories to Hart’s ridiculous improvised characters and love of acting, began in very early childhood with an activity that most of us take for granted: reading and being read to. Ruby and Hart’s full but far too short lives were profoundly enriched by stories and characters that fueled their imaginations and filled their hearts.
Since publishing her first childrens’ novel, Gail has had the privilege of working with Writers and Artists Across the Country, an incredible organization that brings authors of childrens’ literature into underserved schools across the nation. Authors give their time, and WAAC provides every child with their own copy of the author’s book. Gail has seen firsthand the excitement that her visits have brought, and the way students’ beautiful faces light up when they’re given their very own copy to take home. Your donations will go toward sending authors into underserved schools all over the country with giant boxes of books, each of which will contain a Ruby and Hart Foundation bookplate. Students will be able to experience the joy of writing their name in their very own book.
Our goal is to raise $250,000 dollars so The Ruby and Hart Foundation can become a fully endowed fund that can meaningfully contribute to WAAC and organizations like it in perpetuity. We’re doing this under the umbrella of the California Community Fund. Please help us fulfill this ambitious and meaningful goal by giving generously. All details as to how to make fully tax-deductible contributions and learn how WAAC fulfills their extraordinary mission can be found below.
With love and gratitude, Gail & Colin
You may also send checks payable to the California Community Foundation, noting that the donation is for The Ruby & Hart Foundation. Checks should be mailed to:
California Community Foundation
717 W Temple St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Contributions to the California Community Foundation represent irrevocable gifts subject to the legal and fiduciary control of the foundation’s board of directors. This charge will appear on your credit card statement as a payment to “Calif Comm Fdn – CCF”. In addition, California Community Foundation incurs a third-party administrative fee of 2.7 percent for credit card contributions. The foundation will charge the fee directly to the individual fund.
In Support Of
Ocean Conservation, Music and Military/Veterans
Robert K. Wrede, Esq. (Bob to friends and Rob to family) was passionate about music, the ocean and veterans. He reveled in telling stories about attending the Metropolitan Opera as a boy and knew the libretto of every major work. He surfed, kayaked and dove the majority of his life and continued boogie boarding until his early 70s. Rob was committed to veterans’ causes. He was a Captain in the Army, 82nd Airborne, graduate of Valley Forge Military Academy and attended Cornell Law School as a veteran.
Rob had exceptional oratory skills and thrived in his chosen career as a trial attorney representing international corporations, professionals, actors and entertainment executives with zeal. His deep, robust voice and physique made him a force to reckon with in the courtroom.
Later in his career Rob shifted from “warrior” to “peacemaker.” He was awarded the first Master In Laws degree (L.L.M.) at the prestigious Strauss Institute of Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine Law School where he was an adjunct professor. As he grew older and wiser, he found he was extremely adept at resolving matters via mediation and reconciliation. It was not unusual for him to arrive home and report that the plaintiff and defendant were hugging one another at the end of the day.
Rob is survived by his wife Ranlyn Tilley Hill Wrede and their children Kendrick Randolph Wrede and Kendlyn Mercedes Wrede; and his adult children Christian Kendrick Wrede (Jason Szabo) and Suzanne Wrede, their mother Joan De Flumeri Wrede and his and Joan’s grandson Bastian Wrede. Rob believed each of his family members to be extraordinary. He was openly proud of them.
Robert Kendrick Wrede, aged 83, passed on June 24, 2023 as the sounds of classical music and opera hung suspended in the air.
Contributions will support Ocean Conservation, Music and Veterans in the places he lived, had friends, and returned to again and again. (Los Angeles/Santa Monica, Marin County, Ithaca and Sun Valley).
You may also send checks payable to the California Community Foundation, noting that the donation is for the Robert K. Wrede Memorial Fund. Checks should be mailed to:
California Community Foundation
717 W Temple St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Contributions to the California Community Foundation represent irrevocable gifts subject to the legal and fiduciary control of the foundation’s board of directors. This charge will appear on your credit card statement as a payment to “Calif Comm Fdn – CCF”. In addition, California Community Foundation incurs a third-party administrative fee of 2.7 percent for credit card contributions. The foundation will charge the fee directly to the individual fund.