L.A. Metro, L.A. County, SEED Foundation hold groundbreaking for SEED School of L.A. County in South Los Angeles

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (L.A. Metro), along with L.A. County and the SEED Foundation, broke ground on the Vermont Manchester Transit Priority Project, which aims to dramatically transform a dirt lot that has been blighted for nearly 30 years.

After acquiring the property through eminent domain in 2018, L.A. County, L.A. Metro and their partners are kicking off the first phase of the development: the SEED School of Los Angeles County (SEED LA), the state’s first public boarding high school. The second phase will include building 180 affordable apartments, an L.A. Metro Job and Innovation Center and community-serving retail stores.

“Our region’s transit system is undergoing a once-in-a-generation transformation — presenting an immense opportunity for Angelenos to take part in building a more connected, more sustainable, more prosperous future,” said Los Angeles Mayor and L.A. Metro Board Chair Eric Garcetti. “With Measure M, the Los Angeles area will see hundreds of thousands of new jobs in the decades ahead, and the SEED school will connect students to these possibilities and place them on a path to successful, long-lasting careers in the transportation industry.” 

SEED LA will focus on serving the most at-risk and resilient students from South L.A. and elsewhere in the county to prepare them for college and beyond. The 147,000-sqaure-foot campus will include 170 dorm rooms, 20 staff apartments, 20 classrooms, an art studio, science labs, a maker space lab, administration space, conference rooms, a gymnasium, a dining hall, outdoor recreation space, courtyards and a rooftop garden.

The inaugural class of SEED LA students will arrive in August 2022.

SEED LA’s five-day-a-week, 120-hour public boarding school model is built on giving students the “Gift of Time” to focus on their education in a stable, safe environment with a host of wrap-around support services. The SEED Foundation’s three boarding school campuses on the East Coast graduate students who enroll in college at a rate of 94 percent and go on to complete college at nearly four times the national rate for comparable low-income, first-generation students, says L.A. Metro.

Through a unique partnership with L.A. Metro and L.A. County, and with the support of cornerstone donors, SEED LA is not only committed to preparing students for college, but also exposing students to a range of professional careers within the broader transportation and infrastructure sectors. This will include interdisciplinary courses in STEM fields, a mentorship program connecting students to industry professionals, internships at L.A. Metro and with industry partners, and field trips both locally and globally to give students a deeper understanding and appreciation for infrastructure.

“All over this country, infrastructure projects are being designed, built and managed in underserved communities by people who are neither indigenous to these communities nor reflective of these communities’ demographics,” said L.A. Metro CEO Phillip A. Washington. “Investing in the education of underserved children of color will bring transformational change to both SEED LA students and the communities they will contribute to in the future.”

SEED LA will serve 400 students in grades 9-12 selected through an admissions lottery weighted to prioritize resilient youth such as students experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity, have an incarcerated family member, or have had contact with the foster care, child protection or juvenile justice system.

This development is taking place because the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors took the step of acquiring the 4.2-acre property at the corner of Vermont and Manchester Avenues through eminent domain in 2018. The dirt lot had been vacant since the 1992 civil unrest.

Improvements will be completed in two phases. The first phase will commence immediately, with utility upgrade work followed by the construction of the SEED LA campus on the northern side of the property. The second phase, located on the northeast corner of the property, is anticipated to begin in 2021. It will include 180 affordable apartments, 55,000-square feet of community-serving retail, a transit plaza and a Metro-operated Job and Innovation Center. The mixed-used project is being developed by Primestor, Bridge Housing and the Coalition for Responsible Community Development.