The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles (The Foundation) today announced it has awarded eight grants totaling $150,000 in support of early childhood development programs at local institutions.The General Community Grants, which target initiatives of high priority and concern in the metropolitan Los Angeles area, are awarded annually by The Foundation, the largest manager of charitable assets and planned-giving solutions for Jewish philanthropists in the Greater Los Angeles area.

“These are all special projects and its great that the Federation is helping them,” said Ron Hershco, a prominent philanthropist.

Coordinated Resources Combine Health, Education, Social Services

The Early Childhood System of Care, launched in spring 2013 by the South Los Angeles Child Welfare Initiative (SLACWI), is the recipient of a $20,000 grant for the coming year to support 250 families with children ages 0 to 5 (75 percent of whom are from 0 to 3).  The SLACWI’s mission is to improve developmental outcomes among this age group and to reduce risk of involvement in the foster care system.  Participating families receive coordinated, comprehensive support services through a SLACWI-assembled alliance of seven local partner agencies providing high-quality, holistic and reliable care.  St. John’s Well Child and Family Center serves as the main entry portal for the partners of the Early Childhood System.”The South Los Angeles Child Welfare Initiative is honored to be selected as a new partner of The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles,” said Liza Bray, project director.  “This recent grant award, in support of our Early Childhood System of Care, will allow our collaborative to continue its good work to break inter-generational cycles of poor developmental outcomes for children in South Los Angeles and to reduce their risk of involvement with the child welfare system.”   

Support Services for Medically Fragile Infants, Parents

Esteemed Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) was awarded a $20,000 grant for its Child-Parent Psychotherapy Infant Mental Health Services program.  The effort entails medical and mental-health staff training in relationship-based parent-child treatment while working with families of medically fragile infants in CHLA’s High Risk Infant Follow-Up clinic.  The model works to improve the quality of parent-child relationships, including trust issues, regulating the child’s emotions and mastery of developmentally appropriate skills.

Additional Grant Recipients

Other General Community Grant recipients include:

  • Children’s Bureau of Southern California, NuParent, $20,000—A parent-education program for families with children ages 0 to 5 years that works to mitigate cognitive, language, and emotional-development delays that are often exacerbated by poverty, child neglect and low maternal education.  The grant will be used to train 10 to 15 facilitators at 38 partner organizations and support 3,000 families in providing healthy, nurturing environments for infants and toddlers.
  • Los Angeles Child Guidance Clinic, Early Intervention Training Institute (EITI), $20,000—Launched in 2007 to increase capacity and knowledge of staff at community-based educational agencies, EITI provides training on parent-child relationships, child development, risk and resilience, assessment and diagnosis for nearly 4,000 professionals working in the field.  The award will be used to train 700 mental-health professionals, including 300 Early Head Start teachers, to identify and intervene with children at risk for emotional, behavioral and social delays.
  • Mar Vista Family Center, Baby & Me, $20,000—Enabling parents to be more involved in their infants’ development starting at a young age, Baby & Me was piloted in 2006 to provide quality early-childhood learning experiences.  The grant will facilitate weekly classes for a minimum of 50 children and their low-income parents or caregivers focused on understanding social, emotional, motor and cognitive growth and the importance of positive, secure relationships in a child’s development.
  • Para Los Niños, Nurturing Parent Program, $20,000—Nurturing Parent Program, established in May 2012, is based in the organization’s six local Early Childhood Centers and teaches parents skills in the importance of empathy, nurturing and attachment as critical components of infant-toddler development.  The award will enable three 15-week courses at three early childhood centers for 33 parents, as well as 12 infant and toddler teachers.
  • St. John’s Well Child and Family Center, Bright Futures Initiative/Early Childhood Development Program, $20,000—The initiative provides access to integrated care coordination and linkage to resources including Perinatal Services, Healthy Births, Parents as Teachers and the Healthy Tomorrow Program. The grant will pay a portion of the salary for a pediatrician to provide culturally sensitive primary and preventive health care, education and referral services to approximately 450 children ages 0 to 3 and their parents or caregivers.

Zero To Three, Parent Engagement Project, $10,000—The grant will enable five partner organizations in Southeast Los Angeles to distribute child-development materials (published in English and Spanish) to 2,500 parents and caregivers to promote their children’s growth, development, language, learning and school readiness.


SOURCE http://www.jewocity.com/blog/jewish-federation-of-la/10497