This article by Terin Lee is part of a yearlong youth journalism cohort between The LA Local and the Koreatown Storytelling Program. With only five parks across 2.9 square miles, Koreatown ranks among the lowest in the county for green space per capita, making Seoul International Park a vital gathering place for sports, festivals, and community organizing.

This article by Santiago Mecinas is part of a yearlong youth journalism cohort between The LA Local and the Koreatown Storytelling Program. Nearly 95 years after it opened as a Warner Bros. movie house, The Wiltern still anchors the corner of Wilshire and Western, having survived closure, near-demolition, and decades of change to become one of LA’s most iconic live music venues.

This article by Rigoberto Lopez is part of a yearlong youth journalism cohort between The LA Local and the Koreatown Storytelling Program. The Bresee Foundation’s Generation2 program pairs high school students with older adults, teaching tech skills and building intergenerational friendships that help combat isolation.

KSP Program Associate Tony Morales led an oral history workshop at the LAPL’s Pio Pico-Koreatown Branch on Sept. 14, recording first-person accounts and teaching students the importance of documenting our history.

This summer, KSP welcomed back Cira Mejia, a Koreatown resident, 2023-2025 KSP alum, and intern who created the podcast series Notes from Koreatown and Que Podemos Hacer?. For her 2026-2027 Middlebury Climate Action Fellowship, she will create multiple KSP podcasts for our Land, Climate, and Environment cohort.

In the month of June, KSP Associate Tony Morales gave podcasts workshop to student leaders from Mentor for Change's Youth Advisory Board. Mentor for Change is a nonprofit mentoring youth to become leaders of change in their communities. 

This article by Joyce Kang is part of a yearlong youth journalism cohort between The LA Local and the Koreatown Storytelling Program. Rates of suicide are high in the Korean American community, and asking for help still carries a lot of shame. Joyce’s piece follows Soh Yun Park, who started a mental health warmline last year with her husband.

On Sunday, June 28, KSP welcomed environmental science educator Diana Martinez for an urban nature walk through K-Town. Our group met at Liberty Park, where we explored the Koreatown ecosystem together, from the land we inhabit to the wildlife living among us. Almost immediately, our group spotted three hawks! Diana located the birds of prey on top of the Radio Korea building, where they like to hunt.

On Saturday, June 13, KSP welcomed Lupita and Luz of Ohtli Yollotl Curanderismo Collective for an Indigenous Plant Medicine Workshop. The group gathered around a table displaying dried herbs and got hands-on with six healing plants: rose, lavender, chamomile, rosemary, basil, and lemon balm.

On Saturday, June 6, KSP partners Hanjik Kim and Lauren Kim from Hajo Holistic led a Korean herbal medicine workshop! The workshop began with an overview of Korean herbs and their various healing properties, and Hanjik also explained some of his own special herbal formulas.

Saturday, May 30, was a special day for KSP as we celebrated our amazing class of 2026! Hosted at the beautiful LA Local space, we celebrated graduates from each LA Local student journalism cohort, including Koreatown, Boyle Heights, and Inglewood & South LA.

On May 29th 2026, KSP Audio Producer Tony Morales led a workshop at Homies Unidos' 10th Annual Central American Youth Leadership Conference. Tony presented on the importance of oral history and cultural knowledge in an all-Spanish workshop titled "Nuestro Banco Cultural." More than 40 high school students from around Los Angeles attended the workshop. 

On May 2 and 16, UCLA art students and sisters Piper and Trixie Begler led a ceramics workshop series. During the first workshop, participants learned how to mold clay into their very own pieces including mugs, matcha bowls, plates, and more! After the pieces were fired, we then spent the second part of the workshop painting and adding finishing touches.

At this year’s Unwind Your Mind Youth Conference, KSP hosted a workshop titled “96 Story.” The workshop focused on teaching students the principles and approaches in oral history with the focus on our current project “96 Story.” This project is focused on documenting community responses to the current immigration enforcement happening around Los Angeles. Students had the opportunity to record one another and voice their concerns.

On Thursday, April 30, KSP program coordinator Dilan Askew led a workshop on portable altars! She walked us through sewing together various charms, fabrics, and keepsakes to create our very own portable altars. These can serve as portable shrines to support grounding, intention-setting, or spiritual connection.

On Thursday, April 23, Andrea Jimenez of Herb Club LA led a workshop on the medicinal uses of native plants. During the workshop, she taught us how to locate, how to use, and the properties of native plants.

In our latest RYSE workshop, we created tiny altars and memory boxes out of Altoid tins. Led by Piper, this workshop was all about piecing together memories, images, colors, and other elements into a portable package

Yesterday, we welcomed back our amazing partners Meztli Projects for a second arts workshop! This time, we learned native beading techniques, which we sewed onto various patches. They talked about beading as medicine, grounding, and an intentional practice.