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Los Angeles schools shouldn't only be places where students go to learn; they should also be community centers , after-school gathering spots and hubs for social services. That principle is better known nationally as the "community schools" model — and it's about to get the endorsement of a newly-formed, powerhouse coalition of labor unions, faith-based groups and social justice organizations who see it as a new organizing principle for the Los Angeles Unified School District. The coalition,...

More than 5,000 incidents of suicidal behavior were reported in Los Angeles Unified in the last school year, an exponential jump from the 255 reported in 2010-2011 when the district, California’s largest, began tracking such incidents. The cases were cited in the district’s latest Incident System Tracking Accountability Report , or iStar, an annual review of troubling incidents that occurred in district schools during the academic year. The list includes such things as injuries, accidents,...

For the second year in a row, Los Angeles reported the largest number of chronically homeless people in the nation — nearly 13,000 — and 95% of them live outdoors, in cars, tents and encampments, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s report to Congress released Wednesday. Los Angeles also topped the national register this year in homeless veterans — 2,700 — despite slashing the numbers by a third. It also recorded the most unaccompanied homeless youth — more...

On Tuesday, Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis will introduce a motion to create a five-year Initiative on Women and Girls in Los Angeles County government. It directs all 37 county departments to address the disproportionate disadvantages facing women and girls here. If it is enacted, the county would systematically review its activities and refocus resources in order to advance women’s opportunities. Such a comprehensive approach to promoting gender equality is unusual in the United...

“I didn’t know how to be a mom,” Lisa Galvan said. “I was used to being by myself. It was really hard for me to adjust and even for the kids to adjust because I never was around. So when I came back out [of rehab] they gave them back to me, and within a month I started using again.” By the time Galvan was 20, she had three children and had been using meth for seven years. She had been a drug addict for far longer than she’d been a mother, and when she tried to get sober, she found out she...

The two sisters just opened a safe haven for Compton residents affected by gun violence, which they're calling the The Yetunde Price Resource Center. The center’s mission hits close to home for the tennis stars: They were raised in Compton, California, and their sister, Yetunde Price, fell victim to gun violence in Compton in 2003. Serena Williams opened up about the trauma from the tragedy in 2009 and how therapy was vital in her recovery. The purpose of the center is simple: Community...

A new report from Children Now details wide disparities in children’s well-being across California’s 58 counties. The 2016–2017 California County Scorecard of Children’s Well-Being looks at a series of indicators organized around the three domains of child welfare and economic well-being; health; and education. The report provides a comparison over time for each of 28 indicators, as well as a breakdown by ethnicity on each data point for every county in the state. Children Now, an advocacy...

Even before receiving this email from Trauma Informed Los Angeles, I was having a conversation with my sister about how the Holidays remind me of the people who are no longer with us. The logical part of me knows that people cannot live forever, the emotional part of me is sad about the loss and even a little angry. Special Thanks to "Our House" and RANDI PEARLMAN WOLFSON, MA, LMFT, Clinical Coordinator of Adult Programs and Volunteer Trainings for sending this out. Grief and the Holidays...

I am excited to announce that ACEs Connection Network has partnered with the producers of the film, Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion. Their Pain . to host a FREE SCREENING of the film for our members. If you have been t hinking of hosting a screening of CAREgivers in your community or are interested in learning more about secondary traumatic stress and what to do about it, join our ACEs Connection Network for a FREE screening of this film and a virtual chat with the...

“If you haven’t any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.” - Bob Hope. They could have left the family home worth millions to their children or the Catholic church, but Bob and Dolores Hope didn’t. They left it to the homeless and the veterans of Los Angeles County to help shelter and feed struggling families at the bottom of the economic ladder - a million miles from where the Hopes lived at the top. Without any fanfare or press releases, the Hopes quietly took on...

Almost 12,000 people participated in Saturday’s 10th annual HomeWalk, setting a record, raising more than $1 million to help end homelessness, organizers said. Elise Buik, president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Eric Dickerson spoke before the 5- kilometer walk/run held at Grand Park for the first time. It was previously held in Exposition Park. The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation matched every $5,000 a person or team raised with another...

On a walk in the park, she fell face first and broke her nose. In the middle of the night, she tried to get to the bathroom but fell and crashed through closet doors. Multiple infections, along with heart and kidney disease, landed her in the hospital, where her dementia raged and she didn’t always recognize loved ones. My mother is in the waiting room now, the one we’re all headed to, millions and millions of boomers on the march. My father walked this way, too, before his death almost five...