6 Community-Empowering Volunteer Opportunities in L.A.

By London Alexander

Volunteering is a fun and fulfilling way to offer aid to worthwhile causes like helping shelter pets find loving homes, improving the lives of children by mentoring underrepresented communities, providing food for the homeless, and so much more! Whether you’re looking to build a resume with work experience that will inspire your career goals, forge exciting friendships by meeting like-minded people, enhance confidence by learning new skills, or simply want to contribute your time and compassion to a local community, there are opportunities all over Los Angeles. It’s not always easy finding extra time to donate; however many organizations have flexible hours, offer in-person and virtual volunteering, and accept donations. Many nonprofits even have teen-specific opportunities that work with school schedules. Here are six organizations that are looking for volunteers to empower communities:

1. NKLA

Approximately 4.1 million dogs and cats are adopted from shelters in the U.S. each year. It’s thanks to the people who work and volunteer tirelessly at these sanctuaries that these adorable creatures get paired with warm homes and compassionate families. The animals that don’t get adopted are often euthanized due to overpopulation in shelters. Thankfully, there are many ways to aid in this crisis including fostering pets, adopting animals instead of going to a breeder, donating money to a shelter, or volunteering your time at a shelter or animal adoption event. Volunteers connect pets to their forever homes.

NKLA (No-Kill Los Angeles) is an amazing shelter helping to save the lives of homeless pets in Los Angeles by bringing together shelters, rescue groups, and animal welfare organizations along with passionate volunteers to help our four-legged friends. NKLA launched in 2012, taking a 56% save rate of animals up to 90% by 2020! The incredible sanctuary has achieved this by providing resources including low-cost spay/neuter services, behavior training, and advice on how to help stray animals. With so many animals to save, NKLA is always seeking volunteers for positions including hands-on opportunities with animals, help facilitating adoptions, and driving transport vans. Learn more about all the ways to help animals find loving homes here.

2. Girls Inc. of Los Angeles

Many volunteer opportunities have risen in Los Angeles to help combat the inequalities that young girls of color face including lack of educational resources and limited career pathways. Volunteers can help ensure equality for young girls and improve opportunities by guiding them toward “healthy, educated, and independent lives” through programs that offer mentorship, leadership, and educational courses. By volunteering to assist in classrooms, you can help combat bullying, harassment, violence, support mental health, and help advance reproductive health to minimize the inequities that young girls face. 

Girls Inc. of Los Angeles is an educational program that serves girls and youth identifying as female, 5-18 years old, who face intersecting systemic inequities. This organization focuses on mind and body programs that encourage girls to make positive choices for their bodies and emotional well-being, learning programs that promote critical skills, and connection programs that foster self-expression and sisterhood. Through these strategies, Girls Inc. pushes back on policies that limit the control young girls have of their own lives. The organization needs grades 1-8 classroom volunteers for 2-3 hours a day in West and South L.A. to support instructors. As a volunteer, you can help girls with activities and answer questions, participate in discussions, assist the instructor with attendance, be an extra set of eyes in the classroom, and overall become a positive role model for young girls. Help provide equal opportunities for young girls by checking out more details here.

3. Youth Pride Association

With the recent increase in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, organizations that provide queer education, advocate for youth, and create safe spaces for all identities are looking for volunteers. In the U.S., LGBTQ+ students are more than three times more likely to drop out of High School due to bullying, lower GPAs in comparison to their peers, and lack of self-esteem. With volunteer work, you can help counteract this by promoting and fostering acceptance of LGBTQ+ people in educational institutions through sponsoring virtual peer support groups, distributing Pride flags to increase representation, and supporting anti-discrimination policies promoting equity for the queer community.

The Youth Pride Association (YPA) is a nonprofit organization that addresses the alarming and substantial hardships LGBTQ+ youth face in schools. They believe that equitable access to education is a fundamental human right. YPA was established in early 2020 with the launch of their Acceptance Week Program which provides schools with an education plan that fosters an accepting and supportive campus. The following year saw the creation of the Virtual Peer Support Program to provide mentorship and the Model School Policy Initiative to ensure policy making provides for the unique needs of LGBTQ+ students. The volunteer opportunities for YPA are open to anyone LGBTQ-identifying and allies. Flexibility and training are provided in various departments including peer mentorship, social media coordination, policy analytics, group facilitating, and support for LGTBQ+ acceptance programs provided to schools. Interested in finding out more information? Check out their website here.

4. Downtown Women’s Center

There are many organizations that support homeless communities but only a few that focus on women and their disproportionate needs including assistance with skill development in order to get jobs, daycare services to care for their children while they work, and the unique healthcare concerns due to menstrual cycles and pregnancy. You can help this vulnerable community by volunteering your time to help them establish stability through housing programs, maintain good health by providing meals, and gather donations such as toiletries, clothing, and food. There are various opportunities to assist women on their journey out of homelessness through volunteer work.

The Downtown Women’s Center (DWC) is a Los Angeles organization that focuses on serving women experiencing homelessness. Their mission is to end homelessness for women in Los Angeles through housing, wellness, employment, and advocacy. The organization began as a friendship between an outreach worker and a woman experiencing homelessness more than 40 years ago. Now, with a Housing First approach and trauma-informed services, the DWC provides access to basic needs and resources such as meals, showers, restrooms, mail, laundry, and telephones. They also provide health and wellness services at their Trauma Recovery Center including counseling, medical care, and mental health services. None of this could be achieved without their 5,000 volunteers. The DWC positions include assisting in donation sorting, helping participants apply for work, checking in women in the Housing Program, and more. The opportunities include on-site, off-site, and remote. Due to serving an adult clientele, DWC only allows those under the age of 18 to volunteer off-site by making resource kits or holding a donation drive. For more detailed descriptions and hours of commitment, you can visit their website here.

5. Planned Parenthood

Reproductive health has developed into a focal point of political agendas in recent years. Access to reproductive healthcare and education has become limited since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. In order to continue providing a range of reproductive health care including Pap tests, HIV care, birth control, cancer screenings, and so much more, clinics rely on the involvement of volunteers to help reach women, men, and young people. Volunteers can assist those seeking medical care by ensuring that they feel safe and supported through community awareness events and fundraising to remove barriers to healthcare. They can also provide sexual health information to communities and advocate for the need of patient services in order to accommodate them in a safe and private manner.

Planned Parenthood Los Angeles (PPLA) is an important source for reproductive health that has provided access to healthcare and education for over 100 years! Their mission is to provide convenient and affordable access to reproductive healthcare services and sexual health information. With a national network of over 600 clinics, Planned Parenthood is made up of three areas: health services, education, and advocacy. There are many ways to support PPLA. Volunteer opportunities include administration, advocacy, education, and fundraising. For those unable to participate in person, there are other ways to help including providing donations, joining rallies and actions, or simply sharing your story about your experience with Planned Parenthood. PPLA matches the interest of volunteers with the agency’s needs and priorities. Once applied, they will discuss current openings followed by a background check for safety and a New Volunteer Orientation. Find out more about this awesome opportunity here.

6. Marine Mammal Care

Marine mammals play a crucial role in the food web and help balance the ocean’s ecosystem, not to mention that seals are adorable and have been dubbed “sea puppies” due to their playful and intelligent nature similar to dogs. However, these loveable creatures face threats including injuries caused by pollution, collisions with boats, and hunting. It’s important to take care of such precious animals by nursing them back to health through in-depth medical observation that involves monitoring changes in behavior, providing a clean and stress-free environment while they rehabilitate, supplying food when they can’t fend for themselves, researching conservation efforts to evolve treatment protocols, and offering community education to help create safe environments for these creatures. As a volunteer, you will help provide a safe haven for marine animals in Los Angeles County. 

Marine Mammal Care (MMC) is a nonprofit hospital for marine animals. The organization is the only year-round marine hospital that provides life-saving care for over 350 patients per year. You can even see some of their current sea lion patients here! MMC looks to inspire ocean conservation through marine animal rehabilitation to care for sea animals in need, education to promote awareness of the fragile ocean ecosystem, and research to understand the animal populations being treated. As a volunteer, you will have the option to work behind the scenes or more hands-on with the animals. Some of the available positions have an age requirement while others, including a monthly beach cleanup, are open to everyone. Opportunities include seasonal animal care, assistance with education, cashiering in the gift shop, or greeting guests entering the facility. You can find more ways that you can help sea puppies and other marine mammals here. 

There are many ways to volunteer with organizations that aid vulnerable communities. These opportunities are especially fulfilling when you find a cause that you connect with most. Whether your schedule is crammed with school and work or you have some free time during the summer, there are plenty of ways you can support the causes you care about. The donated time and dedication of volunteers like you are what empowers our community!