In 1996, a group of mothers who wanted to improve Pacoima through beautification came together in a local school and formed the only environmental justice organization in the Northeast San Fernando Valley; Pacoima Beautiful (PB). Through grassroots community education and organizing PB initiated tree-plantings and community clean-ups. The mothers soon discovered that the need for improvement went beyond clean-ups and tree plantings as they began to research the local sources of pollution and the social and health impacts those sources were making on the people of the Northeast San Fernando Valley.