Now that we have emerged unscathed by the wildfires, our next trial by the elements will be water.  

Due to the extreme weather conditions we are currently experiencing, our Ladera Lane campus will be closed today, and and there will be limited access to our Lambert Road campus. Our staff and faculty have made alternative arrangements for our students and guests to ensure everyone’s safety.

Thomas Fire update from Pacifica Graduate Institute
Wednesday, December 20, 2017 at 3:50 p.m.
Photos taken on Monday, December 18, 2017

Dear Pacifica Community,

Season’s greetings to all of you from Pacifica Graduate Institute. Throughout the last two weeks of wildfires in our region, which gratefully are now more contained, both of Pacifica’s campuses have remained free of harm, safe and completely intact. We remain very appreciative of your many expressions of concern, care and for your prayers; we also are deeply grateful to the brave, skillful fire-fighters who selflessly have protected so many properties with extraordinary diligence and perseverance.

Updates and current photos of the Lambert Road and Ladera Lane Campuses
Photos taken on Monday, December 19th at noon.

Yesterday, our local firefighters let a few senior staff members up to see our beloved Ladera Lane Campus at Pacifica Graduate Institute. We are pleased to report that Pacifica stands unharmed from the Thomas Fire. Our heroic firefighters stopped the fire at Romero Canyon, with spot fires less than a mile from Ladera Lane.

Thomas Fire update from Pacifica Graduate Institute
Tuesday, December 19, 2017 at 9:40 a.m.

Dear Pacifica Students,

Heartfelt greetings to you from Pacifica Graduate Institute. We are very grateful for your many expressions of prayers and caring. Throughout the wildfires, both of the Pacifica campuses have remained safe and fully intact.

We are looking forward to holding classes as scheduled beginning January on both Pacifica campuses. As usual, your academic program staff or faculty will be in touch with you prior to the first session of this new year.

Thomas Fire update from Pacifica Graduate Institute
Sunday, December 17, 2017 at 3:08 p.m.

Dear Community and Friends,

The past 11 days has been unique in Pacifica's history as our campuses have had to remain closed since Wednesday afternoon, December 6, due to the Thomas fire, which has threatened much of the local area. The sudden intensification of winds has made the job of fighting the fire much more difficult, yet through the remarkable efforts of the fire-fighters many residences have been saved—their skill, perseverance and generosity has been truly impressive to witness, we are most grateful to them. We join them in grieving the loss of Corey Iverson the young engineer and fire-fighter who tragically was killed during his work on the fire.

Thomas Fire update from Pacifica Graduate Institute
Monday, December 11, 2017 at 4:32 p.m.

Dear Pacifica Community and Friends,

This is an update on Pacifica Graduate Institute’s status during the state of emergency due to the Thomas wildfires. At the moment we remain closed until further notice; we are waiting for our campuses to be free of any danger. Both campus are free from harm, though there is significant amounts of ash in the area. Our email systems have been removed to safety so unfortunately email communication is currently unavailable. We are exploring ways to update our website. However, in the meantime if you need to be in contact with us, please respond via our social media channel and we will attempt to direct inquiries to appropriate staff.

Pacifica Update: Monday, December 11, 2017 at 2:07 pm

We are excited and honored to announce that Community Psychology, Liberation Psychology, and Ecopsychology Specialization doctoral student Harry Grammer has been named a CNN hero.

Harry is founder and president of New Earth, an Los Angeles based organization "provid[ing] youth with mentor-based creative arts and educational programs including poetry, music production, gardening, and fitness. New Earth currently serves 500 young people per week who are incarcerated in Los Angeles County detention facilities and placement homes and in the Orange County Juvenile Hall.

Upon release from incarceration, young people join our New Earth Arts & Leadership center in Culver City, CA where they receive career training, jobs, a fully accredited High School education program, mentorship, case management, nature expeditions, arts programming and wrap-around services that help them re-enter their communities with all the support and nurturing they need to make a successful transition." [1]

Please enjoy the two videos below, produced by CNN, featuring Harry Grammer.

You can also read more about Harry and his own story of being on probation in his youth, and how he came to found New Earth at pgiaa.org.

This article first appeared in the 2017 edition of Hearing Voices. Displacing Boundaries of Race and Politics of Space in Los Angeles by Alisa Orduna, Dissertation Student in the Community Psychology, Liberation Psychology, and Ecopsychology Specialization.

As the Mayor’s Director of Homelessness Policy, our City’s homeless community of 28,000 residents is my primary constituent base. For far too long, L.A. has addressed homelessness and poverty through policies of containment- isolating persons with severe mental illness, substance use disorder, sexual minorities, and African Americans – in “designated” spaces of the City. Homelessness and poverty were also addressed through therapeutic models that focused on assimilating the individual into a biased model of a “productive citizen” of society.

"...we are here becoming depth psychologists and doctors of stories and working with the soul of the world..."