Tagged With "Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors"
Blog Post
Advancing a Plan for Addressing Trauma and Building Resilience within L.A. County Systems (prnewswire.com)
Center for Collective Wisdom Releases Extensive Report Outlining Research and Recommendations First 5 LA, the California Community Foundation, The California Endowment, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation along with other local, state and nationally-recognized expert organizations today released a report to advance a comprehensive trauma and resiliency-informed approach in Los Angeles County . "Trauma is a serious health concern affecting many children and...
Blog Post
Aiming to Help Homeless, UCLA Residents Practice ‘Street Psychiatry’ (californiahealthreport.org)
New programs begun in the last two years at UCLA include a resident-faculty group focused on community psychiatry, as well as health-system and community mentorships. There are also new clinical electives for psychiatry residents at the Los Angeles County Jail and the county’s Office of Diversion and Reentry . The Diversion office was created by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors in 2015 to develop and implement alternatives to the criminal justice system for people with mental illness and...
Blog Post
Andi Fetzner joins the ACEs Connection Network as the Los Angeles Community Manager
Andi Fetzner MA, LAC joins the ACEs Connection Network as the Los Angeles Community Manager. A recent transplant to California from Arizona, Andi brings with her passion and expertise in training and social connecting. Her experience and education in Political Science and Psychology gives her a unique perspective on how ACEs Science will unfold as a social movement worldwide. Andi studied at Arizona State University (B.A.), University of Phoenix (M.A.), and is earning her PsyD through...
Blog Post
Assembly OK’s Bill to Expand ‘Gravely Disabled’ to Include Mental Illness (scvnews.com)
The California Assembly passed AB 1971 Wednesday, legislation which amends the state’s definition of “gravely disabled” to include medical treatment as a basic human need for those suffering from a serious mental illness, just as necessary to well-being as food, clothing or shelter. AB 1971 is sponsored by Los Angeles County, the Steinberg Institute, and the California Psychiatric Association. The bill passed with bipartisan support by a vote of 66-0. The proposal for the change in state law...
Blog Post
At $75,560, housing a prisoner in California now costs more than a year at Harvard (latimes.com)
The cost of imprisoning each of California’s 130,000 inmates is expected to reach a record $75,560 in the next year. Gov. Jerry Brown ’s spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1 includes a record $11.4 billion for the corrections department while also predicting that there will be 11,500 fewer inmates in four years because voters in November approved earlier releases for many inmates. The price for each inmate has doubled since 2005, even as court orders related to overcrowding...
Blog Post
Barger: Homelessness a critical issue in 2018 (signalscv.com)
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s office said the supervisor will remain focused on homelessness heading into 2018. Barger’s spokesman Tony Bell said this week that the county has had trouble working with the standard of care in connection with the state’s Lanterman Act and the homeless. “We’re looking at the definition of the gravely disabled,” he said. “A good percentage of the county’s homeless population are dealing with serious mental health problems. Allowing them to...
Blog Post
Barger to propose motion for mental health services efficiency (signalscv.com)
Looking to better track mental health resources in Los Angeles County, Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger will propose a motion to implement a new database for these services at the board's meeting Tuesday. Under Barger's motion, the Department of Mental Health would be ordered to work with the Department of Children and Family Services, among other county departments, to analyze the logistics of the county implementing a database to track mental health resources. Los Angeles County's...
Blog Post
Black students and families need more support — and they need it now. An unprecedented coalition dives in with a new LAUSD task force. [laschoolreport.com]
An unprecedented coalition of community members, educators, parents, and students at LA Unified have convened a new task force to urgently address why African-American youth continue to have the lowest test scores and why black students and families continue to feel ignored by the education system. Black students persist in having LA Unified’s highest rates of dropouts and suspensions. They are most likely to be identified as needing special education services, and they are least likely to...
Blog Post
Black Youth In Los Angeles County Face An ‘Accumulation Of Disadvantage’ [scienceblog.com]
By Science Blog, October 14, 2019 Black youth in Los Angeles County face an accumulation of disadvantage, undermining their academic, social and economic success and placing them at greater risk of structural disenfranchisement — not in school, not working and ensnared in the criminal justice system, according to a new study Beyond the Schoolhouse: Overcoming Challenges & Expanding Opportunity for Black Youth in Los Angeles County, released today by researchers at the UCLA Graduate...
Blog Post
Broadening Your Network and Identifying Partners for More Resilient, Healthier Communities
Who should you partner with to create lasting change through resilience in your community? The Building Community Resilience (BCR) initiative aims to address, prevent, and reduce the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adverse community environments (ACEs) on children’s health and wellbeing ( The “Pair of ACEs” ). An essential element of the successes of BCR’s five test sites around the country has been strategic collaborations. In your work to build resilience, identifying...
Blog Post
Changing Minds and Creating Trauma-Informed Communities Convenings - South and North
Last week, on two separate days in Los Angeles and in San Francisco, about 150 people (total) convened to listen and brainstorm about creating trauma-informed communities. Futures Without Violence, which is rolling out its Changing Minds campaign later this year, hosted both events. Some very interesting and important themes emerged from the two days: Residents with lived experiences should participate in the decision-making bodies of service providers and vested...
Blog Post
Community weighs in on plans to address homelessness (latimes.com)
Community members got their first chance Wednesday to weigh in on new plans by the city and county of Los Angeles to address the region's growing problem with homelessness. During two public hearings, advocates for the homeless praised the proposals while others pointed to gaps in the plans, including a lack of strategies to help women who are forced out of their homes because of domestic violence. The county's draft, released last week, proposed spending $150 million in county and state...
Blog Post
County officials have stepped up their interest in closing a major gap in L.A.'s homeless services: an estimated shortfall of over 2,000 shelter beds. (scpr.org)
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors is already considering converting a 170-bed winter shelter in the Sylmar Armory into a year-round homeless shelter. On Tuesday, they'll take up a proposal to study rapidly expanding shelters countywide. "We need to provide a comprehensive direction on how to move forward for each of our County-funded emergency shelters immediately," said Supervisors Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis in their joint motion. They went on to call for lower barriers for accessing...
Blog Post
County Plans To Expand Juvenile Justice Reforms (canyon-news.com)
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to expand juvenile diversion reforms on Tuesday, January 24 to keep kids out of the criminal justice system. The reforms should be seen as “delinquency prevention” rather than focusing on diversion which assumes that the kids are already part of the criminal justice system, urges criminal defense lawyer and probation commissioner Cyn Yamashiro. Dr. Robert Ross, CEO and president of the nonprofit health foundation California...
Blog Post
County supervisors create a new office that would help immigrants receive assistance (latimes.com)
The Office of Immigrant Affairs would provide a “one-stop shop” for those seeking help, according to a statement released by Supervisor Hilda Solis, who along with Supervisor Sheila Kuehl co-sponsored the motion creating the office. “I want to remind our communities that the county will continue to stand against hate and provide exceptional aid for our immigrant individuals,” Solis said in a statement. “This is one of the many steps we are taking towards protecting the immigrant communities...
Blog Post
County Supes Create Financial Safety Net for Millions of Low Income and Struggling Angelenos (citywatchla.org)
GUEST WORDS-- Since joining the LA County Board of Supervisors 18 months ago, I, along with my colleagues on the Board, have taken a series of steps to build prosperity and economic security for residents by raising the minimum wage and establishing programs to promote social enterprises, help small businesses thrive and prevent people from falling into homelessness when they encounter short-term financial crises, like the loss of a job or a catastrophic medical condition. Last week, the...
Blog Post
County to offer mobile shower facilities for homeless in East Pasadena, Whittier Narrows (sgvtribune.com)
Hugh Rossback knows the importance of a shower. While the homeless 50-year-old spends his nights near the intersection of Fair Oaks Avenue and California Boulevard in Pasadena, he is able to shower once a week when The Shower of Hope mobile shower facility operates behind Holy Family Church’s St. Joseph Center in South Pasadena. “It makes a huge difference,” Rossback said. “Aside from my immediate benefit, it helps in my interactions with others. Homeless people are not usually known to be...
Blog Post
Crisis Worsens for Homeless Women, Report Finds [ladowntownnews.com]
By Nicholas Slayton, Los Angeles Downtown News, February 5, 2020 Homelessness among women has increased in the last year, with 10,845 women experiencing homelessness in the City of Los Angeles, and more women experiencing homelessness for the first time, according to a new report from the Downtown Women’s Center. The Downtown Women’s Center, in partnership with the University of Southern California, unveiled the 2019 Los Angeles City Women’s Needs Assessment on Thursday, Jan. 30 at its...
Blog Post
Echo Conference 2017 Highlights
When Echo first announced the theme for this year’s conference – Social & Historical Trauma – some were worried about whether we could pull off an event built around such a difficult and sensitive topic. Yet we felt we had to tackle this subject since every year at our childhood trauma conference participants always raise the questions, “What about racism? What about community trauma and poverty? How do these things contribute to Adverse Childhood Experiences?” Kanwarpal Dhaliwal from...
Blog Post
Echo Conference Spotlight: Restorative Justice
This year’s conference has something for everyone! Opening the conference, Echo’s Co-Executive Directors will be joined by some very special guests, including Anne Hudson-Price, an attorney from Public Counsel. Anne will be speaking about the legal action taken by Public Counsel to bring trauma-informed services to Compton School District. “You have to address trauma in order to do anything about the achievement gap,” she says in this article . In addition to featuring the Public Counsel,...
Blog Post
An Upstream Approach: Using Data-Driven Home Visiting to Prevent Child Abuse (chronicleofsocialchange.org)
(Image Credit: pixgood.com) Today, Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors will vote on a motion to move 103 public health nurses from the Department of Children and Family Services to the Department of Public Health. While largely administrative, the development sets the nation’s largest child welfare system up for a much broader discussion about how public health strategies can help break the intergenerational cycles of abuse that result in preventable child maltreatment. If Los...
Blog Post
Facing Rising Homelessness, Los Angeles Adds Hundreds of Beds for Older Foster Youths [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
By Jeremy Loudenback, The Chronicle of Social Change, November 15, 2019 The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to boost housing options for transition-age foster youth at its meeting on Tuesday. Two separate investments totaling nearly $9.4 million will open up 237 transitional beds for foster youth at the greatest risk of homelessness over the next year. “Youth transitioning out of foster care have often experienced significant trauma throughout their young lives,” said...
Blog Post
Fed Up With Probation’s Ongoing Failure To Spend Juvenile Justice $ Millions On Proven Programs For LA County’s Kids, The Supes Make A Radical Move [witnessla.com]
On Tuesday afternoon, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a new motion that will put most of the power to choose how a large pot of state money gets spent into the hands of the county’s Juvenile Justice Coordinating Counsel (JJCC), a mostly unknown voting body that is crammed with youth experts and advocates. Prior to this shift, the funds were almost entirely controlled by LA County Probation, a situation that the board decided wasn’t working. “I find it unacceptable,” said...
Blog Post
First Phase of L.A. County’s Homeless Initiative to Start June 30 (chronicleofsocialchange.org)
Almost 47,000 individuals and families are homeless in Los Angeles County, according to the 2016 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, which was conducted by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) and released on May 4. That count shows a 6 percent rise in the county’s homeless population from 2015. The total in 2015 – 44,359 – showed a 12 percent surge from just two years prior. The 2015 results played a major role in pushing Los Angeles County to create a plan to address the...
Blog Post
Leadership Commitment to Creating a Trauma Informed Los Angeles County
The California Community Foundation , First 5 LA , The California Endowment and The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation sponsored a convening of leaders from county departments, philanthropic foundations and community organizations to discuss and learn how Los Angeles County could become a model for identifying and addressing trauma in children and families in a systematic way. The event was held at the California Community Foundation in Los Angeles. A full summary is available here:...
Blog Post
Historic Vote To Direct Millions In State Funding To LA’s Community-Based Youth Programs [witnessla.com]
On Monday, at an unexpectedly-packed meeting held at the City of Carson Community Center, the members of LA County’s Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council (JJCC) voted to pass a budget plan that many youth advocates are calling “historic.” The plan lays out how LA County will spend the approximately $28 to $31 million in Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act funds that Los Angeles receives each year from the State of California. Yet, the priorities embraced by this budget plan are...
Blog Post
Homelessness jumps 12% in L.A. County and 16% in the city; officials ‘stunned’ (latimes.com)
In a hard reality check for Los Angeles County’s multibillion-dollar hope of ending homelessness, officials reported Tuesday that the number of people living on the streets, in vehicles and in shelters increased by about 12% over last year. The annual point-in-time count, delivered to the Board of Supervisors, put the number of homeless people just shy of 59,000 countywide. Within the city of Los Angeles, the number soared to more than 36,000, a 16% increase. “At this point of unprecedented...
Blog Post
Homelessness jumps 12% in L.A. County and 16% in the city; officials ‘stunned’ (latimes.com)
In a hard reality check for Los Angeles County’s multibillion-dollar hope of ending homelessness, officials reported Tuesday that the number of people living on the streets, in vehicles and in shelters increased by about 12% over last year. The annual point-in-time count, delivered to the Board of Supervisors, put the number of homeless people just shy of 59,000 countywide. Within the city of Los Angeles, the number soared to more than 36,000, a 16% increase. “At this point of unprecedented...
Blog Post
Hope Springs Anew in Center for Los Angeles Foster Youth [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
A year and a half after Los Angeles County shut a pair of emergency shelters for hard-to-place foster youth, Astrid Heppenstall Heger is still working to find ways to reach the county’s “invisble children.” Last week, Heger’s Violence Intervention Program (VIP) opened the doors of the Leonard Hill Hope Center, a space that she hopes will help Los Angeles County’s most vulnerable foster youth – those who are at the highest risk of leaving county-run care and ending up homeless, being sexually...
Blog Post
In L.A., Nine in Ten Incarcerated Youth Have a Documented Mental Health Issue [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
By Jeremy Loudenback, The Chronicle of Social Change, June 12, 2019. After a new report found that more than 90 percent of youth in the county’s juvenile halls had an open mental health case, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors pledged to improve mental health care to justice-involved youth in county. That includes both more services for youth detained in the county’s juvenile detention facilities and more options to divert youth away from incarceration and into less restrictive...
Blog Post
Job Posting: Assistant Director/Lead Coach Trauma-Informed Schools Initiative, Deadline to apply 4/13/17
The Assistant Director position is a two-year grant funded position, with the potential for extension, with Los Angeles Education Partnership. This project is designed to support and implement a trauma-informed school environment in selected K-12 schools both within and outside of California through a partnership with Kaiser Permanente. A central component of this project’s approach to a trauma-informed school environment is to embed practices at each school that prioritize the wellness of...
Blog Post
Kentucky Eyed as Model for Reforming California’s Costly Bail System (timesofsandiego.com)
It's rare that a California lawmaker seeking a policy model to follow would turn to Kentucky. But with the Legislature on summer recess, that's precisely what Sen. Bob Hertzberg is doing. The mission: travel to the Bluegrass state to investigate how Kentucky gets its defendants awaiting trial to show up for court dates and keep them from committing crimes - all without locking them up. Civil rights advocates point to Kentucky as a shining example of reform, and Hertzberg, a Democrat who...
Blog Post
L.A. County and Planned Parenthood to Open 50 High School Sexual Health and Well-Being Centers [latimes.com]
By Sonali Kohli, Los Angeles Times, December 12, 2019 A high school senior decided recently that she wants to become sexually active with her boyfriend. But she is not yet comfortable talking to her mom about birth control and would be unable to get to a doctor’s appointment on her own. Instead, she walked over to the new well-being center at school during a free period. It was easy. Planned Parenthood runs a sexual healthcare clinic at Esteban Torres High School in East L.A. once a week.
Blog Post
L.A. County needs something new in next probation chief: Guest commentary (dailynews.com)
Over the last week, five final candidates interviewed for the position of chief of the Los Angeles County Probation Department. This week, the County Board of Supervisors will choose the next chief in a closed session, without community input or insight. The new chief will be our seventh in 10 years. We represent organizations that work with youth who have been impacted by the probation and court systems in Los Angeles. Collectively, we have experienced the juvenile justice system...
Blog Post
L.A. County’s Latest Solution to Homelessness Is a Test of Compassion [CityLab.com]
California’s budding YIMBY movement is up for a real test. Under a new pilot program approved this week, Los Angeles County homeowners are being asked to literally open up their backyards to the homeless. The county’s board of supervisors gave the green light to the The Granny Flats Motion project on Tuesday, which would give homeowners up to $75,000 to build a backyard home—if they agree to rent it to a homeless family or individual. (For those who already have a unit to offer, the county...
Blog Post
L.A. County supervisors seeks state of emergency as homelessness ‘threatens’ services (dailynews.com)
(Image Credit: nationalartsprogram.com) The L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a motion to declare homelessness a humanitarian emergency in California. Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Sheila Kuehl sought the motion, saying the issue calls for more pressing attention, because of the increased health and safety risks to people living on the streets. The motion means the board will send a letter to the California state Assembly and Senate, asking them to...
Blog Post
L.A. County supervisors vote to expand sheriff's mental health teams (latimes.com)
The Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department has long had specially trained teams to de-escalate confrontations with people who have severe mental illness, but after two decades, the agency has struggled to deploy mental health responders at all times of day or night because of funding and staffing shortages. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors moved to fix that problem on Tuesday, voting unanimously to expand the number of employees assigned to the department’s Mental Evaluation...
Blog Post
L.A. County wants to help foster students avoid switching schools when they move homes (latimes.com)
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve a motion Tuesday that would help foster children avoid having to switch schools when they move to a new home. The motion would create a pilot program to provide transportation for the students to the schools they were attending before being moved. “Changing schools, along with changing homes, creates further upheaval for foster kids who have already experienced trauma and loss,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who introduced...
Blog Post
L.A. Rolls Out Plan To Better Support ‘Disconnected’ Youth (chronicleofsocialchange.org)
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a plan on Tuesday that seeks to reduce the number of “disconnected” youth in the county, especially foster youth and formerly incarcerated young people. The goal of the regional effort is to improve the educational, workforce, housing and well-being outcomes of youth ages 16 to 24. According to a recent report , about one in every six young people in Los Angeles County is not enrolled in school and are not working. That’s about 207,440...
Blog Post
LA County adopts Age-Friendly Action Plan to help seniors keep homes, deal with health issues and more (dailynews.com)
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a set of recommendations aimed at helping older adults keep their homes, deal with health problems and find ways to engage with other community members, as part of a broad initiative to improve their lives. The county’s Age-Friendly Action Plan offers ideas ranging from assistance with rent and repairs to mobile technology labs to train seniors. It suggests turning parks and libraries into age-and dementia-friendly centers where...
Blog Post
LA County Demographics of Homelessness Continuum of Care (lacounty.gov)
A Dynamic and Deepening Crisis That Demands Our Attention By Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas The Board of Supervisors’ most recent initiative set aside $4 million for teams of social workers and health professionals to go out into the streets of Skid Row and connect homeless single adults to housing and supportive services. Los Angeles County has half a million more very low-income households than available apartments so the typical monthly rent has skyrocketed 27 percent since...
Blog Post
LA County Dept of Mental Health Director on homelessness, schools, jails and more (scpr.org)
Dr. Jonathan Sherin leads the largest Mental Health department in the nation and its challenges are deep and wide-ranging. Mental health challenges related to homelessness in Los Angeles, including the plan to convert a mental health facility in Canoga Park into transitional housing for the homeless and the Mental Health Department’s visits to a homeless encampment in Whittier The closure of “board-and-care” homes The plan to replace the Men’s Central Jail in Downtown with a mental health...
Blog Post
LA County expands funding for families in crisis (sgvtribune.com)
The Board of Supervisors voted today to allow dollars once designated for permanent housing to be spent on “crisis housing” to get families off the street until longer-term solutions can be found. Supervisor Janice Hahn recommended creating more flexibility in the way housing dollars are used. With a vacancy rate of less than 2 percent in some cities in Los Angeles County, it can take on average three to nine months to find permanent housing for eligible homeless families. To read more of...
Blog Post
LA County exploring a system of 'battle buddies' helping other veterans (scpr.org)
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has taken a step toward creating a new peer support network to better connect local veterans to housing and services. On Tuesday, the board approved a motion asking the Los Angeles County Health Agency, the L.A. Homeless Services Authority, and other agencies to team up with the VA and veteran-focused nonprofits to create a plan for establishing a “veteran peer access network” in L.A. County. According to the motion introduced by Supervisors Mark...
Blog Post
LA County funding boost would let more kids enjoy local parks: Guest commentary (dailybreeze.com)
(Image: A 2013 file photo shows Little League players from Lennox running sprints during practice at Jim Thorpe park in Hawthorne.) When I was growing up in Hawthorne, there was a spot along the 105 Freeway we called “the dirt field.” The freeway cut off access to the few parks we had in our neighborhood, so my friends and I just hung out in the dirt field — nothing more than a tiny dirt vacant lot. It was our ballfield, our playground and our place to just be kids. I cherish the memories of...
Blog Post
LA county leaders green-light construction of new mental health center in Valley (dailynews.com)
A $14.5 million project that will expand mental health services in the San Fernando Valley was approved unanimously Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The proposed new building will include outpatient mental health services, mostly for children, a waiting area, reception area, business offices, counseling/therapy rooms, and group therapy rooms, among other spaces. " The San Fernando Mental Health Center project will enhance the County's ability to provide mental health...
Blog Post
LA County leaders greenlight effort to pay homeowners to house the homeless (dailynews.com)
A pilot program that pays some Los Angeles County homeowners to build a second dwelling on their property to house homeless people was approved with a 4-0 vote Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors. Homeowners in unincorporated communities who qualify can receive up to $75,000 to build a second dwelling in areas zoned for such structures, while others may get $50,000 to update and legalize an existing dwelling. The program was introduced last year as part of Los Angeles County's set of 47...
Blog Post
LA County leaders support $1.2 billion ballot measure to help homeless (dailynews.com)
Los Angeles County supervisors approved a resolution Tuesday to support the city’s property tax bond measure that, if passed by voters in November, is expected to raise about $1.2 billion to build supportive housing for the homeless. Known as Proposition H, the measure would allow for a new property tax on both residential and commercial properties in the city of Los Angeles. For example, a $1 million home would be taxed about $40 to $80 a year with the new fee, according to city analysts.
Blog Post
LA County leaders vote to support plan to protect undocumented youth (sgvtribune.com)
Continuing their response to President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed crackdown on illegal immigration , the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a trio of motions Tuesday in support of a federal comprehensive immigration plan and related programs that protect youth. The bipartisan motions were introduced by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Kathryn Barger, who have disagreed in recent weeks on actions that seek to protect immigrants who face deportation. “These young people were...
Blog Post
LA County opens review of bail system that hurts the poor (scpr.org)
In a move long sought by civil rights activists, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Wednesday ordered a comprehensive review of the county’s bail system. In a move long sought by civil rights activists, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Wednesday ordered a comprehensive review of the county’s bail system. “Getting out on bail correlates much more to a person’s ability to pay, than to any likelihood of appearing in court or relative risk to the safety of the public,”...