MenuFriends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR)
WebsiteMission Statement
Founded in 1986, FoLAR is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to ensure an equitable, publicly accessible, and ecologically sustainable Los Angeles River by inspiring River stewardship through community engagement, education, advocacy, and thought leadership.
Description
The Los Angeles River is the birthplace of our region and was once the thriving, unifying water source for the people and wildlife of Los Angeles. But that connection and our collective history was severed when the River was encased in concrete and fenced in 1938. In an act of civil disobedience, poet activist Lewis MacAdams took the first steps to repair that severed connection in 1986 when he cut a hole in the chain link fence that obstructed Angelenos from their rightful River. He declared the River open to the people and swore to serve as its voice. And so, Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR) and the River Movement were born.
FoLAR has endeavored for over 30 years to restore community connection and natural ecology as the single largest unifying force on the River – educating, empowering, and mobilizing over 50,000 Angelenos to repair habitat and fight for the policies that will reclaim our collective right to a healthy, thriving, and equitably accessible Los Angeles River.
Program Details
FoLAR is credited as the pioneer of the River Movement. As the single largest unifying force on the River, we have educated, empowered, and mobilized over 50,000 Angelenos through our education, stewardship, and advocacy programs, which include the Great LA River CleanUp, the largest urban river stewardship event in the nation; Source to Sea, our outdoor, place-based education program which includes comprehensive, standards-based LA River curriculum that supports California Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards; the LA River Rover, our 38’ mobile River museum designed to educate the curious of all ages; our Summer Event Series, which brings Angelenos to the River for a variety of programs and activities; and Crack the Concrete, our signature advocacy campaign aimed at mobilizing underrepresented mid-River stakeholders in shaping current and future urban rewilding projects. This work impacts the hundreds of thousands of mostly low-income, underserved, and ethnically diverse community members living in River-adjacent, park-poor communities throughout LA.
