Art as Healing. Soil as Sanctuary. A Global Peace Model.
Huma House is a 501.c3 healing-centered youth program in South Los Angeles. We us art therapy and garden healing to help young people ages 14–18 transform trauma into positive purpose. 66% of our team has lived through the cycle of incarceration and come out the other side. We cross gang lines in South LA through art, sunflowers, and shared meals. Our core is based upon he nonviolent philosophies of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, we focus on bringing peace to the streets of Los Angeles.
Our name comes from the Huma Bird of ancient Persian mythology — a creature that never lands, circling endlessly above the earth, guiding those below toward their own inner light. Like the Phoenix, the Huma sets itself ablaze and is reborn from the ashes. This story lives in every culture: the Sankofa of West Africa, the Quetzalcoatl of Aztec legend, the Phoenix of the West. We believe that those who have turned the ashes of their past into glittering light are the leaders this world needs right now. They carry what it takes to guide us across over a bridge of raging waters toward peace. Our work is to help young people see that light in themselves.
We put our hands in the earth to heal and recreate ourselves through art therapy to lead teens towards confidence, inspiration and connectivity.
Huma Heals
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Huma Heals 〰️
Deandre Powers, Leader in Huma House Youth Program at 41st and Budlong, Los Angeles
OUR LEADERS AND PROGRAM
Healing-Centered Youth Development in South Central Los Angeles
Huma House runs year-round programming out of a craftsman home in Vermont Square (90037). We have served 250+ youth backed by a team of 10 formerly incarcerated staff and contractors who bring 90+ years of combined experience in trauma healing and community engagement.
Our programs include the Huma Resilience Project, an 8-week after-school initiative integrating the Community Resilience Model (CRM) with painting, drumming, and collage. The Huma Garden Program offers monthly workshops for foster youth focused on land cultivation and nutrition. Each cohort enrolls 12 youth ages 14–18 who receive a $50 stipend and a hot meal every session. We employ people from the neighborhood like Deandre Powers to lead youth into their true gifts and power.
Sessions begin with de-escalation circles led by formerly incarcerated facilitators, followed by garden healing and art therapy. Our Program Director works directly with gang leaders — including the Black Pea Stones, Rolling 60s, Crips, and Bloods — to ensure youth can attend safely across rival territories. In one cohort, teenagers from the Crips and Bloods planted sunflowers side by side and made soap together. Gang lines didn't blur — they dissolved.
Huma lifts the leaders of a new era to speak.
The Youth Program
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Unique Approach
Our innovations are radically unlike anything that the private sector or public institutions have conjured. We pair violence prevention skills that are relevant in the streets with creative art and gardening workshops. This unique pairing results in high engagement and diversion away from incarceration
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Lived Experience
We have the authenticity and authority to work in partnership with our community. The program is designed by the founders and mentors who have experienced incarceration or who intimately understand the experience growing up in an environment with difficult obstacles
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In-depth Quality Care
Our mentors and volunteers provide consistency, stability, and individual care to each teen that comes through our program. We understand the full picture of each person’s situation when they enter and tailor the program to meet their interests
Huma House breaks the school to prison pipeline by harnessing the power of art
