Funding Project:
BGFS offers online film production programs and college mentorship to underserved schools and communities seeking to advance their female students' education and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts) abilities. Our programs foster the development of twenty-first-century STEAM skills in multimedia authorship, critical thinking, digital literacy, and technological decision-making so that students can confidently demonstrate technical filmmaking skills in their work and collaboration spaces. BGFS Camera Foundations Lab, one of our foundational programs, is an immersive introduction to the anatomy and operations of professional cinema camera systems as part of introducing students to film production and the professional roles available to them behind the camera. We request funds to serve more girls while increasing our footprint in the Los Angeles production community as a sustainable path toward equity efforts across the diverse media landscape.

Funding Project:
Project Access Resource Centers provides onsite computer labs for residents living in low-income communities. Access to free internet and printing services are critical to our residents who use the computer lab for a variety of reasons: adults to search and apply for jobs, youth to complete homework assignments and participate in STEM activities, and seniors to stay connected and engaged. Funding would allow us to replace older/broken computers at our Resource Centers.

Funding Project:
The Lakers Youth Foundation YOU Grant will support our upcoming Freedom Trail National Excursion to Atlanta, Selma, Montgomery, and Birmingham, exposing 20 Los Angeles high school students from the communities of Boyle Heights, Compton, Crenshaw, Watts, and Palmdale/Lancaster, to the American South, our nation's history of enslavement, and the Civil Rights movement. This week-long trip includes city, landmark, and museum tours, college campus visits, exposure to new foods (foodie eating), and a lot of fun and friendship-making. In addition, our students meet and spend several hours with Civil Rights icons throughout our time together. The Freedom Trail National Excursion is a transformational educational experience, highlighting the good, the bad, and the ugly in the continued fight for equality and equity for all.

Funding Project:
The SoLa I CAN Foundation is seeking support for its SoLa Technology and Entrepreneurship Center. The first-of-its-kind in Los Angeles, the center works to train and inspire the next generation of Black and brown technology professionals, entrepreneurs, and leaders from South LA - the largest tech access desert in LA County. Support from the Lakers Youth Foundation would go directly to supporting the cost of student enrollment and materials in the center’s four career pathways: 1) Technology; 2) Entrepreneurship; 3) Arts, Media and Entertainment; 4) Esports, Video Game Design and Production. 2022 was the center's first year of operation with 1,100 students served. This support would help the center reach its goal of serving 2,500 students in 2023.