Created in response to a pressing need that persists today.

Founded by Mayor Bradley, LA Superintendent of Schools Leonard M. Britton & the Education Council. Carla Sanger is named as LA’s BEST Coordinator. Al Minturn is named as lead LAUSD Administrator overseeing LA’s BEST, with Debe Loxton serving as Youth Services Regional Director supervising LA’s BEST sites in South LA.

First private corporate donation of $500,000 from Kaiser Permanente.

Received the U.S. Conference of Mayors Outstanding Achievement Award in Education.

Celebrate Science Program & Dance and the Drill Team Showcase competition were launched.

LA’s BEST students performed with Michael Jackson in the Super Bowl XXVII Halftime Show at the Rose Bowl.

Carnegie Task Force on Learning in the Primary Grades, cited LA’s BEST as one of the five afterschool programs nationwide that takes responsibility for children’s learning and healthy development.

Helped write and advocate for AB326, the bill that earmarks $3.5 million statewide for school-based, before and after school child care. The bill passed and provided LA’s BEST with $1,087,182.

First Family Brunch Fundraising Event.

Debe Loxton’s title changed to Chief Operating Officer.

Received funds from the City of Los Angeles and special support from Mayor Riordan to launch a comprehensive Professional Development Project.

UCLA Center for the Study of Evaluation (CRESST) announced that LA’s BEST students demonstrate higher school attendance, higher English language adoptions rates and improved performance on standardized test in reading, math and language arts.

LAUSD’s Beyond the Bell Branch established to oversee all before and afterschool programs, including LA’s BEST.

Generous gifts from Eli Broad and others launched the After School Arts Program (ASAP).

The BEST Friends Board of young professionals was launched.

The BEST Fit department was founded, expanding programming focused on health, fitness and nutrition.

Department of Evaluation was founded to improve our capacity to measure success internally and partner with UCLA and other institutions to measure programmatic outcomes.

UCLA/CRESST study finds LA’s BEST students are 20% more likely to stay in school.

UCLA/CRESST research study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice showed that LA’s BEST students are 30% less likely to commit juvenile crime than their peers.

LA84 Foundation supported LA’s BEST softball, basketball, flag football and track and field programs.

With support from the Richard Riordan Foundation, the Digital Learning Department was launched.

NBA All Star Chris Paul and his CP3 Foundation co-hosted the annual LA’s BEST Health Festival.

New President & CEO Eric Gurna.

Debe Loxton received the California Expanded Learning Visionary Leadership Award from the California Department of Education (CDE) for dedicating her career to creating innovative expanded learning programs for children. Read the press release here.

Together with the California Afterschool Alliance (CA3), LA’s BEST successfully advocated to achieve the first increase to state funding for afterschool in over a decade.

Our Summer Learning Program expanded to serve more students across the City of thanks to additional investment from Mayor Eric Garcetti.

When schools closed for in-person teaching on March 14, 2020, we had to abruptly halt our robust enrichment programming and focus on meeting the community’s immediate needs and cultivating connections with our students, families and staff. We pivoted to supporting the LAUSD Beyond The Bell Grab & Go Food Distribution Centers; maintaining a connection between staff and students by creating online engagement via LA’s BEST Connects; and increasing staff training.

Throughout the pandemic, 950 LA’s BEST staff members bravely rose to the challenge of meeting the community’s most immediate needs. To combat hunger, LA’s BEST staff members worked on the frontlines — in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and its Beyond the Bell branch — to distribute free meals and supplies at Grab-and-Go Centers. This initiative provided food not only to LA’s BEST families, but to all members of the community. The Centers also provided critical connectivity and emotional support to all.

In late April 2021, LAUSD schools re-opened for in-person instruction. However, the optional hybrid model left many parents in need of additional care. In response, LA’s BEST rose to the challenge of caring for students whose families opted for them to stay on campus either before or after in-person instruction occurred.

During that expanded learning time, LA’s BEST staff supported students’ asynchronous online learning, and facilitated COVID-safe enrichment activities. With training centered on social-emotional growth and trauma-resilience, our frontline program staff provided students with much-needed emotional support.

In June 2021, LA’s BEST recognized that the most significant challenge this summer was to create a safe space for children to have fun and be social while learning. We operated as part of the Beyond the Bell program in support of LAUSD’s Summer of Learning 2021 and included themed enrichment and physical activities that nurtured student learning and wellness. Our Summer Program, as always, was completely free to families, enabling parents to return to work knowing their children were safely engaged.

Former Mayor Eric Garcetti, LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and prominent leaders in the education, government, philanthropic, and business sectors joined LA’s BEST at USC on August 24, 2022 to talk about the impact of afterschool on the future of Los Angeles.

As of January 2, 2024 Michele Broadnax became the new President & CEO, bringing with her over 25 years of experience in successfully designing and implementing fundraising, public relations, and program development initiatives for nonprofit, for-profit, and public institutions.