Literacy for Environmental Justice

What Literacy for Environmental Justice does

Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ) is a place-based 501(c)-style nonprofit founded in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, that promotes ecological health, environmental stewardship, and community development in Southeast San Francisco — primarily the Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhood. Its operations are anchored at the Candlestick Point Native Plant Nursery, an exclusive partnership site with California State Parks inside Candlestick Point State Recreation Area (CPSRA, California's first urban state park), plus a satellite nursery on Treasure Island, where LEJ propagates 30–40 native plant species from hyperlocal remnant San Francisco ecosystems for habitat restoration projects.

LEJ's program portfolio is structured around four primary offerings. The Eco-Apprentices program provides green-collar workforce development for 16–25 high-school, college, and transition-aged youth annually in urban greening, habitat restoration, native plant horticulture, drought-resistant landscaping, and living seawalls. The Eco-Adventures program delivers environmental education and outdoor recreation (kayaking, camping, plant walks, environmental justice tours) to youth ages 9–18, serving upwards of 600 low-income youth and young adults of color annually. The Eco-Steward Team-Building program packages nursery and restoration sites as half-day or full-day corporate volunteer experiences at a suggested $25 per participant for groups of 10–50. The legacy Bay Youth for the Environment (BYE) program, launched in 2004, established the native plant propagation pipeline that the current programs now carry forward, contributing to a landmark 34-acre wetland restoration at CPSRA. Production reached 60,000+ native plants in 2022 with a target of approximately 70,000.

LEJ's revenue is generated from a hybrid mix of foundation and corporate grants (including a $500,000 PG&E Corporation Foundation grant in 2025), individual donations and planned giving processed through Network for Good, earned income from commercial native plant nursery sales (headlined by the Yerba Buena Island redevelopment contract, the largest to date), and corporate team-building fees. Distribution runs through direct community programs in Southeast San Francisco, direct corporate outreach for team-building, public agency partnerships (California State Parks, SFUSD, San Francisco Recreation & Parks), and an online donation storefront. The organization has approximately 13 named staff led by Executive Director Dr. Hollis Pierce-Jenkins and Urban Greening Director Patrick Marley Rump, who brings 25+ years of restoration experience in the region.

Name

Literacy for Environmental Justice

Legal name

Literacy for Environmental Justice

Website

https://lejyouth.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Literacy for Environmental Justice is a San Francisco-based nonprofit that runs the Candlestick Point Native Plant Nursery and community programs to deliver environmental education, green-collar workforce training, and habitat restoration for low-income youth of color in Southeast San Francisco.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Environmental Stewardship and Habitat Restoration Services

NAICS

Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312), Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions (71219)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Agricultural Services (700), Agricultural Production-Crops (100)

akta.pro primary industry

Environmental Education & Outreach (BPAGAGAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems (BPAGAGAI), Environmental Justice & Community Environmental Health (BPAGAGAL)

Keywords

• Environmental stewardship
• Habitat restoration services
• Urban greening programs
• Green workforce training
• Native plant nursery

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundation and Government Grants: Funding from foundations (including PG&E Corporation Foundation) and government grants. LEJ received a $500,000 grant from PG&E Corporation Foundation in 2025 as part of environmental stewardship awards to five California organizations.
2. Individual Donations and Planned Giving: Individual donations from supporters, plus additional gift vehicles including matching gifts, stock or securities, Donor-Advised Funds, planned giving, charitable gift annuities, institutional development, and donated supplies or equipment. Processed through Network for Good.
3. Corporate Team-Building Program Fees: Suggested donation of $25 per participant for the Eco-Steward Team-Building Program. Programs are customizable for groups of 10-50 participants as full-day or half-day workdays at the Candlestick Point Native Plant Nursery, Treasure Island satellite, or CPSRA. Supports supplies, staff time, and programming costs.
4. Commercial Native Plant Nursery Sales: Sale of native plant stock grown at Candlestick Point Native Plant Nursery for habitat restoration projects throughout San Francisco and the Bay Area, including the largest plant contract to date with Yerba Buena Island redevelopment's public parks and landscaping.
5. Earned Income Contracts: Earned income from contracted restoration and plant production services for green infrastructure, climate-smart landscaping, and habitat restoration for commercial, public agency, and non-profit clients.
6. Fundraising Events: Community-hosted fundraising events where supporters raise funds for LEJ's mission of environmental stewardship and ecological health.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ) operates a Native Plant Nursery and ecosystem of community programs that promote ecological health, eco-literacy, and green-collar workforce development in Southeast San Francisco. It propagates hyper-local native plants for habitat restoration, runs youth education and apprenticeship programs (Eco-Adventures, Eco-Apprentices), and offers corporate team-building volunteer workdays at its nursery and restoration sites. The organization is funded through donations, foundation/government grants, earned income from plant sales, and corporate team-building program fees.

Product overview

Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ) operates a portfolio of community-based environmental programs in Southeast San Francisco rather than a single unified software product. Its core offering is the Candlestick Point Native Plant Nursery, which functions as both a habitat restoration nursery and a living classroom, feeding into the Eco-Apprentices workforce development program that trains youth in native plant propagation, habitat restoration, and environmental monitoring. The Eco-Adventures program extends LEJ's reach as an environmental education and outdoor recreation offering for younger youth (ages 9-18), while the Eco-Steward Team-Building program packages these assets (nursery sites, restoration areas at CPSRA) as corporate volunteer experiences. The legacy Bay Youth for the Environment (BYE) program established the native plant propagation pipeline and youth stewardship model that the current Eco-Apprentices program now carries forward.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Candlestick Point Native Plant Nursery: A program of LEJ that serves as a living classroom, center for green workforce development, and premier source for hyper-local native plants for habitat restoration in San Francisco.
• Eco-Apprentices
• Eco-Adventures
• Eco-Stewards Team-Building

Products and services

• Candlestick Point Native Plant Nursery Community native plant nursery at Candlestick Point State Recreation Area that propagates 30-40 native plant species from remnant San Francisco ecosystems for habitat restoration. Functions as a living classroom, green workforce development center, and source of hyper-local native plant stock, with a satellite nursery on Treasure Island serving the Yerba Buena Island redevelopment.
• Eco-Apprentices Green-collar workforce development program that prepares high-school, college, and transition-aged youth (ages 14-25) for entry into environmental fields through hands-on training in native plant propagation, habitat restoration, invasive species removal, environmental monitoring, soils analysis, GIS mapping, and environmental justice advocacy.
• Eco-Adventures Environmental education, service-learning, and outdoor recreation program for youth ages 9-18 in Southeast San Francisco. Activities include kayaking, camping trips, guided plant walks, environmental justice tours, overnight campouts, and habitat stewardship sessions delivered in collaboration with local teachers.
• Eco-Steward Team-Building Corporate and group volunteer program offering full-day or half-day workdays for groups of 10-50 participants at the Candlestick Point Native Plant Nursery, the Treasure Island satellite nursery, or Candlestick Point State Recreation Area. Activities include nursery maintenance, plant care, ecological restoration at Sunrise Point, and environmental justice tours, with a suggested donation of $25 per participant.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 60,000 native plants grown in 2022 for ecological restoration efforts at Sunrise Point, Heron's Head Park, Yosemite Slough, and Yerba Buena Island
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• California State ParksflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing flagship partnership for the operation of the Candlestick Point Native Plant Nursery and Community Garden as part of the California State Parks system. Supports habitat restoration at California's first urban state park, Candlestick Point State Recreation Area (CPSRA), enabling LEJ to advance environmental health, ecological stewardship, and community development in Southeast San Francisco.
• California State Parks FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for restoration of the native ecology of Candlestick Point State Recreation Area (CPSRA). Volunteers can sign up through California State Park Foundation to participate in habitat restoration activities including planting native plants, mulching, prepping areas for planting, and removing invasive species.
• San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPartnering with SFUSD and community-based organizations to provide paid internships to high school and young adults in pursuit of urban greening careers or environmental education. The Eco-Apprentices program specifically targets Southeastern District 10 neighborhoods (Bayview Hunters Point, Potrero Hill, Visitacion Valley).
• California Academy of SciencescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-host of the 2019 Bioblitz at Candlestick Point State Recreation Area, contributing scientific expertise and citizen science engagement. The Bioblitz produced 1,274 observations of 261 species.
• San Francisco Public Library Bayview BranchminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCommunity outreach partner for the 2019 Bioblitz at Candlestick Point State Recreation Area, helping engage local residents in citizen science activities.
• San Francisco Recreation & Parks DepartmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner agency referenced in Community Programs Coordinator Anton Benedicto's prior internship with the Youth Stewardship Program. LEJ also engages the agency for parks planning, development, advocacy, and stewardship collaboration across Bayview Hunters Point open spaces.
• Golden Gate Audubon SocietyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration partner with LEJ youth in collecting water quality data and conducting a wildlife census in Yosemite Slough and around Candlestick, supporting youth engagement in scientific environmental monitoring.
• San Francisco State UniversityminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerAcademic collaboration partner with LEJ youth for collecting water quality data in Yosemite Slough and conducting a wildlife census around Candlestick.
• Greenaction for Health and Environmental JusticeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity advocacy partner that organized a September 17, 2019 community protest at San Francisco City Hall demanding cleanup of the Hunters Point Shipyard Superfund Site, supported by LEJ.
• Bayview Hunters Point YMCAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing youth development partner. Jawanza Barial-Lumumba first got involved with LEJ through YouthIMPACT, a program within LEJ that met at the Embarcadero YMCA's computer lab. LEJ board member Jawanza Barial-Lumumba later worked at Bayview Hunters Point YMCA. Strong community and historical connections through shared youth programming.
• BMo'MAGIC (Public Defender's Office)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity partner where board member Vernon Haney serves, transforming collaboration into meaningful change for youth and families in Bayview and Southeast San Francisco.
• Slalom ConsultingminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerConsulting firm connected to LEJ through board members Preeti Smiles Arigala (Director for Enterprise Capabilities) and Amy Whittaker (Global Director for Nonprofit & Philanthropy), supporting mission-driven transformation and nonprofit capability building.
• PwCminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfessional services firm connected to LEJ through board member Huw Lester (Director in PwC's Trust Solutions practice), who also leads the San Francisco Environmental Inclusion Network.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Urban Tilth: Richmond, CA-based nonprofit combining urban agriculture, environmental justice, and youth leadership development. Highly comparable operating model to LEJ in the Bay Area, with a similar blend of on-the-ground food/land programs, paid youth apprenticeships, and community-led environmental stewardship.
• Acta Non Verba: Oakland-based youth urban agriculture and environmental education nonprofit operating farm sites with paid youth leadership. Closely comparable to LEJ's Eco-Apprentices program in its combination of place-based environmental education, youth workforce development, and underserved-community focus.
• Our City Forest: San Jose-based urban forestry nonprofit running a volunteer and corporate tree-planting engagement model, with similar volunteer-day and community-greening programming. Closely comparable on the urban-greening volunteer and corporate-team-building side of LEJ's work.

Broad incumbents

• TreePeople: Los Angeles-based urban forestry and environmental education nonprofit with a much larger footprint, established corporate volunteer programs, and a long-running youth forestry program. Comparable as a broader-scale urban greening nonprofit with a volunteer/corporate engagement model similar to LEJ's Eco-Steward Team-Building.
• Groundwork USA: National network of independent "Groundwork" trusts running urban environmental restoration, youth engagement, and community greening programs across the US. Comparable as a broader umbrella for the place-based, trust-style urban restoration model that LEJ exemplifies at a single site.
• Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy: Large Bay Area nonprofit that partners with the National Park Service on habitat restoration, native plant nurseries, and volunteer engagement. Comparable on the parks-partnership, volunteer-day, and native plant nursery model at a much larger organizational scale.

Regional players

• Save The Bay: Bay Area's largest regional environmental nonprofit focused on San Francisco Bay wetland restoration, habitat policy, and volunteer stewardship. Comparable in the wetland and shoreline restoration domain, but with a regional policy/advocacy scope rather than LEJ's neighborhood-anchored model.

Emerging players

• The Watershed Project: Bay Area nonprofit focused on watershed restoration, native plant landscaping, and community-based environmental stewardship education. Comparable on native plant propagation and Bay Area watershed restoration, with partial overlap on community education.
• Ecology Center: Berkeley-based environmental education and urban sustainability nonprofit. Comparable on the environmental education, community programming, and urban sustainability advocacy side, though with less focus on physical habitat restoration than LEJ.

Others

• San Francisco Botanical Garden: San Francisco-based botanical garden and plant conservation institution at Strybing Arboretum. Adjacent rather than directly competitive: comparable in native/horticultural plant expertise and SF public-garden mission, but operates a permanent public-garden institution rather than a community-justice nursery.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/lej_ecostewards
• Facebookfacebook.com/LEJyouth
• Instagraminstagram.com/lej_ecostewards
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/literacy-for-environmental-justice

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Literacy for Environmental Justice