Our academic partnerships have made it possible to take local action on the SDGs in L.A. They have been a force multiplier for that progress, and an opportunity to introduce the City’s work to undergraduate and graduate students from various universities. Through these partnerships, student’s findings have and will continue to help the City in implementing policies inclusive of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The project teams play a key role in assisting the City to identify gaps in aligning plans and practices while highlighting cross-cutting issue areas for mobilizing multi-stakeholder partnerships. Over 100 undergraduate and graduate students have been engaged in the SDG localization efforts in Los Angeles to date.
2021 Interns
The 2021 Interns support the writing and publication of L.A.'s second Voluntary Local Review and updates to the City's SDG Data Reporting Platform.
2020 Cohort
The Summer 2020 SDG Project Team brought together a cohort of 54 students from Occidental College, Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California, and Pomona College. The summer student cohort sought to produce a series of deliverables demonstrating how the SDGs can be mobilized in city government through nine different projects.
Project Team 1 - LGBTQIA+ Data Inclusivity
Project Team 2 - Student Housing Insecurity and Educational Outcomes
Project Team 3 - SDG Activities Index and Community Storytelling
Project Team 4 - Biodiversity in Los Angeles
Project Team 5 - Housing Insecurity Journey Map
Project Team 6 - Equitable Street Asset Investments
Project Team 7 - Healthy Indoor Environments
Project Team 9 - Community Development Block Grants
Project Team 13 - Veterans Success
2020 Interns
2019 Interns
Our team of 2019 SDG Interns was instrumental in furthering the work of the Summer 2018 Cohort. Through their efforts, the City of L.A. can now map City programs, policies, and initiatives from the Office of Mayor Garcetti and various City Departments to the SDG goals. The interns also played a strategic role in the development of the City's first VLR, the SDG website and data reporting platform.
2018 Cohort
The Summer 2018 SDG Project Team brought together a cohort of 18 interns from Occidental College, Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, University of California Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California. The summer student cohort sought to produce a series of deliverables demonstrating how the SDG framework could inform implementation of the City’s sustainability and resiliency initiatives. The Summer 2018 SDG Cohort provided multi-sector findings, along with recommendations on revised targets for L.A., and a focused look at SDG 13 and climate change.
