CAP.LA

What CAP.LA does

CAP.LA (Community Action Project Los Angeles) is a multi-institutional research initiative that delivers free post-fire environmental testing and community studies to Los Angeles residents affected by the January 2025 Eaton and Palisades Fires. The initiative is funded by the R&S Kayne Foundation and administered by LMU StudyLA, a 501(c)(3) that issues grants to research partners; it brings together faculty and staff from UCLA (Sanjay Mohanty, Yifang Zhu), Loyola Marymount University (Brianne Gilbert, Fernando J. Guerra), Purdue University (Andrew J. Whelton, Caitlin Proctor), and Cal Poly Pomona (Mónica Palomo, legacy collaborator). All services are provided at no cost to participants, and the initiative operates without a commercial revenue model.

The initiative is organized into four research streams. CAP AIR is a real-time ambient air quality monitoring network deployed across the Pacific Palisades using QuantAQ sensors (developed by MIT and Aerodyne Research), streaming minute-by-minute PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 data to a public dashboard. The Soil Testing Program provides free in-yard sampling and laboratory analysis for more than a dozen metals (including lead, arsenic, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and lithium), with results aggregated by neighborhood via an ArcGIS map. The Pool Water Testing Study collected water from approximately 100 swimming pools across the Eaton and Palisades fire zones to measure heavy metals and semi-volatile organic compounds. The REBUILD community survey (April–June 2025) and Environmental Test Result Review Study capture household recovery experiences and assist property owners with third-party test interpretation.

From a go-to-market perspective, CAP.LA relies on community-led outreach: direct enrollment via cap.la, five in-person soil drop-off pop-ups in the first half of 2025 across Northern Pasadena and Altadena, webinars (LA Pools Study August 18, 2025; REBUILD September 20, 2025; Department of Angels August 25), and extensive earned media coverage (LA Times, NPR, Bloomberg, NY Times, USA Today, ABC7, LAist, Esri, The Atlantic). CAP.LA soil testing enrollment is currently closed, with active referrals routed to USC's CLEAN program for county-wide lead soil testing. Distribution is exclusively direct-to-consumer via the project website, pop-up events, and partner referrals; no commercial channels, resellers, or paid pricing tiers exist.

Name

CAP.LA

Legal name

Community Action Project Los Angeles (CAP.LA)

Website

https://cap.la

Company type

Private

Founded year

2025

Operating status

Operating

Short description

CAP.LA is a multi-university research initiative providing free post-fire soil, air, and water contamination testing for Los Angeles residents affected by the Eaton and Palisades Fires, funded by the R&S Kayne Foundation and administered by LMU StudyLA.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Environmental Testing and Disaster Recovery Research

NAICS

Testing Laboratories and Services (541380)

SIC

Services-Testing Laboratories (8734)

akta.pro primary industry

Wildfire Risk Assessment, Prevention & Suppression Services (IMAMAJAG)

Keywords

• Environmental testing services
• Wildfire recovery research
• Soil contamination testing
• Air quality monitoring
• Community disaster response

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundation grant funding: Core operations are funded by the R&S Kayne Foundation as the primary financial backer of the initiative.
2. Charitable donations via LMU: Additional funding solicited through donations directed to Loyola Marymount University's giving page; LMU StudyLA (501(c)(3)) serves as Administrative Lead and issues grants on behalf of CAP.LA to research partners. Donors may direct funds to the broader CAP.LA initiative or exclusively to the CAP AIR study.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

CAP.LA delivers free, evidence-based post-wildfire environmental testing and community research for Los Angeles residents and businesses affected by the January 2025 Eaton and Palisades Fires. Core offerings span four streams: real-time air quality monitoring (CAP AIR), residential soil contamination testing for heavy metals, a first-of-its-kind swimming pool water contamination study, and the REBUILD community survey combined with environmental test result review. All services are grant-funded and provided at no cost to participants through university-led research.

Product overview

CAP.LA (Community Action Project LA) is a single civic-action research initiative rather than a multi-module software platform. It operates as a coordinated portfolio of studies spanning four research streams—Air, Soil, Water, and Community—delivered through named sub-products: the CAP AIR ambient air quality monitoring network, the free Soil Testing Program (homeowner testing plus aggregated ArcGIS maps), the Pool Water Testing Study (~100 pools across Eaton and Palisades), and the REBUILD community survey. These sub-products are unified under the CAP.LA umbrella, share common funding from the R&S Kayne Foundation, and are jointly executed by researchers from UCLA, LMU, and Purdue University.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CAP AIR: An ambient air quality monitoring network deployed across the Palisades area, led by Dr. Yifang Zhu of UCLA, using QuantAQ sensors to track post-fire EPA criteria pollutants in real time.
• REBUILD Study (Recovery Efforts By Uniting Individuals, Listening, and Discovery)

Products and services

• CAP.LA (Community Action Project LA) overarching initiative Overall disaster recovery research initiative and civic-action platform funded by the R&S Kayne Foundation that brings together researchers from LMU, UCLA, and Purdue University to deliver data-informed post-fire recovery guidance to households and businesses in affected Los Angeles communities. Free of charge to participants.
• CAP AIR (Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Network) Real-time outdoor air quality monitoring network deployed across the Pacific Palisades using QuantAQ sensors developed by MIT and Aerodyne Research. Tracks EPA criteria pollutants including PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 with minute-by-minute data streaming to a public dashboard. Led by Dr. Yifang Zhu of UCLA.
• CAP.LA Residential Soil Testing Program Free in-yard soil sampling and laboratory analysis for more than a dozen metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, chromium including hexavalent chromium Cr(VI), and lithium) for homeowners in the Palisades and Eaton fire zones. Results are returned individually and aggregated/de-identified data mapped by neighborhood via an ArcGIS map. Led by Dr. Sanjay Mohanty of UCLA.
• CAP.LA Pool Water Testing Study First-of-its-kind swimming pool water testing study measuring heavy metals and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in approximately 100 pools across the Eaton and Palisades fire areas. Results delivered to participants. Led by Dr. Caitlin Proctor of Purdue University.
• REBUILD Survey (Recovery Efforts By Uniting Individuals, Listening, and Discovery) Online community survey capturing household experiences, needs, and perceptions related to post-fire recovery in Los Angeles. Conducted April–June 2025. Led by Dr. Andrew Whelton of Purdue University.
• Environmental Test Result Review Study Expert service assisting fire-affected property owners with reviewing third-party environmental testing results, identifying improper testing methods by contractors, and flagging incorrect chemical safety standards used for comparison. Led by Dr. Andrew Whelton of Purdue University.

Quantifiable outcome

• ~100 swimming pools sampled and tested for heavy metals and SVOCs across Eaton and Palisades fire areas
• +3 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

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

• UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-lead research partner. UCLA's Sanjay Mohanty (Civil and Environmental Engineering) leads soil sampling, methodology, and analysis; UCLA's Yifang Zhu (Environmental Health Sciences) leads the CAP AIR ambient air quality monitoring network in the Palisades.
• Loyola Marymount University (LMU)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerLMU's Center for the Study of Los Angeles (StudyLA) is the CAP.LA Administrative Lead with 501(c)(3) status and issues grants to research partners. Brianne Gilbert (Managing Director of StudyLA) and Fernando J. Guerra (founding director of StudyLA) lead research initiatives and process donations.
• Purdue UniversityflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-lead research partner. Andrew J. Whelton (Civil Construction, Environmental and Ecological Engineering; founder of the Center for Plumbing Safety) leads the Environmental Test Result Review Study and the REBUILD community survey; Caitlin Proctor leads pool water sampling and analysis.
• Cal Poly PomonaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLegacy collaborator. Mónica Palomo (Civil Engineering) contributes expertise in natural treatment systems, urban soils quality, engineering outreach, and service learning.
• USC CLEAN (USC Public Exchange soil testing program)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorReferral partner for ongoing soil testing. After CAP.LA enrollment closed, residents seeking soil testing are referred to USC's CLEAN program, which provides free lead testing across Los Angeles County using similar equipment and methods.
• QuantAQcoreTechnology or IntegrationSensor technology provider for the CAP AIR network. QuantAQ monitors (developed by MIT and Aerodyne Research) are deployed throughout the Pacific Palisades to measure EPA criteria pollutants post-fire with minute-by-minute streaming.
• Caltech PHOENIXminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInspirational model for the CAP AIR monitoring network and listed as an allied resource on the CAP.LA website.
• Department of AngelsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCo-hosted the 'Connecting the Science: Soil, Dust, Air & Water After the Fires' webinar on August 25, 2025, where CAP.LA presented findings.
• Heal the Bay (Ash to Action)minorOthersAllied organization listed on the CAP.LA Resources page as a related evidence-based initiative for community recovery support.
• County of Los Angeles Public HealthminorOthersReferenced on the CAP.LA Resources page; provides the post-fire assessment plan for the region.
• L.A. Fire HEALTH StudyminorOthersAllied research initiative listed on the CAP.LA Resources page.
• Eaton Fire Residents United (EFRU)minorOthersCommunity advocacy group listed on the CAP.LA Resources page as an allied initiative.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Pure Earth: International nonprofit conducting soil and environmental contamination testing and remediation in low-income communities — operates a comparable 'free testing + data-driven remediation' model globally, with similar research-to-action positioning though in a different geographic and toxicology context.
• L.A. Fire HEALTH Study: A Keck School of Medicine / USC post-fire public-health cohort study examining respiratory, cardiovascular, and mental-health outcomes in fire-affected Angelenos — operates in the same disaster response window and shares affected residents, making it a parallel rather than competing research initiative.
• Heal the Bay (Ash to Action): Heal the Bay's Ash to Action initiative runs post-fire water-quality and beach-health monitoring across the LA region and is cross-listed as an allied CAP.LA resource — covering overlapping environmental testing ground for a similar fire-affected constituency.

Broad incumbents

• UC ANR Cooperative Extension: University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources extension programs provide wildfire soil-impact and home-recovery guidance to California residents at much broader geographic and topic scale — an established institutional alternative that could absorb some of CAP.LA's outreach role over time.
• Eurofins Environment Testing: Global environmental testing laboratory network that performs the underlying soil, water, and air analyses that CAP.LA research teams consume at lab scale — a backend service provider and indirect peer through shared scientific methodology rather than direct end-user competition.
• AECOM Environment: Large environmental engineering and consulting firm that conducts post-fire contamination assessment, hazardous-materials testing, and remediation oversight for public agencies and insurers — represents the commercial-scale, fee-for-service model against which CAP.LA's free academic offering is differentiated.
• Caltech PHOENIX: Caltech's PHOENIX distributed air-quality sensor network served as the explicit architectural model for CAP.LA's CAP AIR deployment in the Pacific Palisades — comparable technology and mission (real-time neighborhood air quality), but at broader geographic and institutional scale as a Caltech-led program.

Others

• Department of Angels: Co-host with CAP.LA of the 'Connecting the Science: Soil, Dust, Air & Water After the Fires' webinar (August 25, 2025) — a civic-tech and community-resilience nonprofit that mobilizes technical volunteers for disaster response, sharing outreach channels and audience with CAP.LA.
• Eaton Fire Residents United (EFRU): Community advocacy organization representing Eaton Fire survivors — listed as a CAP.LA allied resource and addresses overlapping information, advocacy, and resource-navigation needs of the same fire-affected population, though focused on policy and casework rather than environmental testing.

Direct peers

• USC CLEAN (USC Public Exchange): USC's Community Testing, Land, Environment, Air and Neighborhoods program provides free lead soil testing across Los Angeles County and now receives direct referrals from CAP.LA once its enrollment closed — the closest functional replacement and an explicit downstream-of-CAP.LA alternative for residents.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about CAP.LA