Volunteer Project Catalog
Koreatown Youth and Community Center
Join KYCC to clean up our neighborhood and make it more livable for our community members in recognition of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. This will be one of biggest clean up events of the year. We can't do it alone and need your help! Event Location: 760 S. Westmoreland Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90005 Parking: Street parking only. As always, public transit and carpooling is encouraged! Date/Time: Saturday, May 16th from 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Registration: ALL volunteers must register in advance. Sign up by scrolling to the bottom of this page and clicking "Volunteer" - please note this button will say "Fulfilled" when the event is full. Every year, KYCC removes thousands of bags of trash from our neighborhood to improve the quality of life for our residents, keeping trash out of our oceans and building a better Los Angeles. At this event, volunteers will work in small teams to beautify a designated part of our community. All tools and supplies are provided. Impact: Did you know? • Neighborhood beautification builds community pride and ownership and can improve the quality of life of the residents. When a person has a good quality of life, they are happier and relieved of many stressors related to their safety and well-being. • Neighborhood beautification can help attract new business, providing convenient local shopping and services, jobs to neighborhood residents, and contributing to street life and economic development. • Overall, community beautification is important because it makes a statement: someone cares about this place. Please be sure to wear comfortable clothes you don’t mind getting a little dirty, close-toed shoes, bring sun protection and a water bottle and be ready to make some change!
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Koreatown Youth and Community Center
Join KYCC to clean up our neighborhood and make it more livable for our community members in recognition of Earth Month! This is KYCC's biggest clean up events of the year. We can't do it alone and need your help! Event Location: 687 S. Hobart Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90005 Parking: Street parking only. As always, public transit and carpooling is encouraged! Date/Time: Saturday, April 25th from 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Registration: ALL volunteers must register in advance. Sign up by scrolling to the bottom of this page and clicking "Volunteer" - please note this button will say "Fulfilled" when the event is full. Every year, KYCC removes thousands of bags of trash from our neighborhood to improve the quality of life for our residents, keeping trash out of our oceans and building a better Los Angeles. At this event, volunteers will work in small teams to beautify a designated part of our community. All tools and supplies are provided. Impact: Did you know? • Neighborhood beautification builds community pride and ownership and can improve the quality of life of the residents. When a person has a good quality of life, they are happier and relieved of many stressors related to their safety and well-being. • Neighborhood beautification can help attract new business, providing convenient local shopping and services, jobs to neighborhood residents, and contributing to street life and economic development. • Overall, community beautification is important because it makes a statement: someone cares about this place. Please be sure to wear comfortable clothes you don’t mind getting a little dirty, close-toed shoes, bring sun protection and a water bottle and be ready to make some change!
How you can help:
Koreatown Youth and Community Center
In addition to all the services KYCC delivers in our community, we also know it's important to provide goods to ensure the day-to-day stability of our most vulnerable neighbors. If you'd like to join us in providing items directly to our community, we welcome you to lead your own item drive on behalf of KYCC and our families. As a note, we'd like to add that we generally prefer not to distribute used items, unless they are very gently used. Our needs may vary, but generally speaking we accept the following year-round: 1. Arts and craft supplies: Art materials and craft supplies for creative activities for our youth participants. 2. Toys: New or gently used toys and games for children of all ages 3. Raffle prizes: Donations of new, unused items suitable as prizes for fundraising raffles and events. 4. Outreach event giveaway items: Small gifts or promotional items to distribute at community outreach events and programs. 5. Hygiene items: Personal care products including toiletries, hygiene kits, and feminine hygiene products 6. Clothing: New or unworn clothing items for individuals of all ages for our housing program residents. 7. Household items: Essential household items such as kitchenware, appliances, furniture 8. Food and Snacks: Non-perishable food items, snacks, and beverages for food drives and programs. 9. School supplies: Backpacks, notebooks, rulers, etc. 10: Misc Items: We are open to donations pending appropriate use for KYCC programs and clients. Please contact us to see if we can accept your items. *KYCC accepts in-kind donations if they provide added benefit to the organization’s work and those we serve. We cannot accept all donations and have limited storage. KYCC reserves the right to decline items we cannot immediately distribute to our families. Items we are not accepting at this time: Books, masks, hand sanitizer.
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Koreatown Youth and Community Center
As part of KYCC's K-Town Beautiful campaign to spruce up the neighborhood, we're launching a new way for our community members to pitch in - by leading your own event! You provide the date, time, location and volunteers and we'll make sure you have all the tools and supplies you need to make our community sparkle. As an event leader, you will be the point of contact on behalf of your group with KYCC. KYCC will work with you to schedule a cleanup event and provide you with all the tools (we'll need them back afterwards though!) to beautify our community, and we'll also pick up your full trash bags at the end of the event. Event leaders must be at least 18 years of age and your event must be scheduled at least two weeks in advance. In order to start the planning process, please follow the steps below: 1. Signing Up: You can sign up to request tools and supplies here (https://bit.ly/KYCCbloom), but please note that if you’d like to partner with KYCC, the location and council district needs to align with KYCC’s service boundaries, which includes all of Koreatown. Based on your selection, the request will be routed to the appropriate agency. 2. Event Confirmation: If your event is within the KYCC service area, we will reach out and confirm all the details of your request. 3. Tool Pick Up: We will coordinate the tool pickup while also providing all the necessary supplies and logistical support—at no cost! 4. Lead your Event: Show up at your designated location, beautify and have fun! We’ll pick up the trash after your event ends. Impact: Did you know? • Neighborhood beautification builds community pride and ownership and can improve the quality of life of the residents. When a person has a good quality of life, they are happier and relieved of many stressors related to their safety and well-being. • Neighborhood beautification can help attract new business, providing convenient local shopping and services, jobs to neighborhood residents, and contributing to street life and economic development. • Overall, community beautification is important because it makes a statement: someone cares about this place. Please remind your volunteers to wear comfortable clothes they don’t mind getting a little dirty, close-toed shoes, and bring sun protection and a water bottle. For questions, please reach out to Angelic Perez at aperez@kyccla.org or (213) 365-7400 Ext. 5415.
How you can help:
Koreatown Youth and Community Center
Join the Los Angeles Transition Age Youth Action Team (LA TAT) to be part of a statewide movement and become a shaker in your community in addressing mental health! If you are a transition age youth (TAY), ages 15-26 years old, in the Los Angeles County, passionate about mental health and creating impactful change, we encourage you to join the Los Angeles Transition Age Youth Action Team (LA TAT). LA TAT is a 10-month leadership program designed to empower TAY to use their lived experiences to address the unique needs of their community. In LA TAT, LAUSD students and alumni work together with the goal of furthering the reach of LAUSD's School Climate Bill of Rights to prevent bullying and increase mental health initiatives. Join LA TAT for: • Lend your voice, participate in Empowerment Circles to discuss your vision for mental health supports and services for youth in the community • Advocate for a mental health solution Build and enhance leadership skills Become a Certified Peer Specialist Learn about civic engagement and advocacy • Advocate for mental health services • Meet with stakeholders • Services hours and letters of recommendation • Make friends and learn about careers and opportunities from Mental Health Professionals Meetings and workshops are held weekly in person at 520 S La Fayette Pl #560 LA 90057 and via Zoom every Wednesday from 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. The program begins in August 2025. Enrollment will be open until all slots are full. Apply at: bit.ly/LATAT2526 For questions, please contact Karen Salas at ksalas@kyccla.org.
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Koreatown Youth and Community Center
Please note, since the 2025 tax season is over this program is currently only accepting previous VITA volunteers. We encourage all new volunteers to join us in November/December 2025 for our next series of trainings, with the new tax season starting in February 2026. The IRS-sponsored Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is a rewarding experience and a wonderful way to give back to your community. For each hour a volunteer contributes - $1,800 in refunds are brought back to your community. With your support, we can help more households with free VITA services. Our VITA program begins training in December, and operates seasonally from February - April every year. During our VITA season, we have the following positions available: Volunteer Intake Specialist - Assist taxpayers complete the Intake & Interview Sheet at the VITA site. These positions require the successful passing of both (1) Volunteer Standards of Conduct test and (2) Intake & Interview tests. Each test is 10 questions, open book, and about take 2-3 hours to complete. Expect 2-3 hours of studying and completing both tests. Volunteer Tax Preparer - Prepare simple tax returns on the IRS's Tax Slayer Software. This position requires the successful passing of (1) Volunteer Standards of Conduct, (2) Intake/Interview tests, and (3) either Basic, Advance, or Circular 230 tests. Expect 12-20 hours of studying and completing the tests. Our current tax season has begun and will be ending in mid-April 2024. Volunteers are welcome to join at any time during the tax season. All tests are self-paced and open book. Also, free tax preparation software is available to help you train. You can learn more about VITA here: https://www.volunteertaxprep.com/serve. Should you have any questions or if you would like to join please contact our VITA team at freetaxes@kyccla.org.
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Koreatown Youth and Community Center
YDAPP was established in September of 1996 by the High School Korean American Youth Leadership Program as a pilot community project. It has achieved milestone successes and became a permanent youth program since that time. The 10-month leadership program aims to empower high school students to create healthier communities through substance abuse awareness and prevention. Throughout the year, members will participate in weekly workshops that will focus on leadership skills, substance abuse prevention workshops, and community action. YDAPP aims to empower the youth to grow emotionally, socially and mentally through various opportunities and weekly meetings that will help them engage with their communities and one another. Meetings will be held every Thursday from 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. at the KYCC offices located a 520 S La Fayette Park Pl, Suite 560, Los Angeles, CA 90057 starting August 28th. To apply for our 2025-2026 term, please apply at https://form.jotform.com/251626528649164. Please contact Karen Salas at ksalas@kyccla.org with any questions.
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