In this month's newsletter, we will recap highlights from the past month, share the latest updates on our research, celebrate our students and their outstanding accomplishments, and provide resources for inspiration and insight from our colleagues at UCLA. 

We hope to see you on 11/16 for our Birthing Justice event! Read on for more details! 

In community,

The UCLA Pritzker Center Team

Join us for our Birthing Justice film screening and panel discussion featuring Dr. Lisa Nicholas, TaVia Wooley, Shiré Wortham, Adjoa Jones, and director of Birthing Justice, Monique N. Matthews at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on November 16! Register at the link below by Friday, November 10.

The UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families welcomed Los Angeles County Third District Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath to the UCLA campus. The meet-and-greet in Murphy Hall was held to acquaint Supervisor Horvath with UCLA’s numerous experts in child and family related needs, to hear more about her goals as Supervisor, and to learn of ways the campus community can be supportive toward her policy agenda. 

In partnership with the Children's Institute (CII), the UCLA Pritzker Center hosted the 2023 Trauma-Informed Care Conference on Tuesday, September 26 at CII's Otis Booth Campus in Echo Park. The conference featured a conversation with California Surgeon General Diana Ramos, MD, and UCLA Professor of Psychiatry, Eraka Bath, MD, moderated by LAist Senior Reporter Mariana Dale, as well as keynote speaker, New York Times best-selling author of The Body Keeps the Score and trauma research pioneer, Bessel van der Kolk, MD. UCLA Pritzker Center undergraduate student researcher, Kahlila Williams, and doctoral researcher, Demontea Thompson, were among those invited to speak at the conference. 

"Homeboy Industries has created a remarkable community that fosters healing, growth, and empowerment for individuals who have been impacted by gangs or involved in the criminal justice system. The organization's commitment to providing second chances and breaking the cycle of violence is nothing short of inspiring. Throughout my time at Homeboy Industries, I had the privilege of witnessing the incredible impact they have had on countless lives. The comprehensive range of services they offer, including job training, mental health counseling, tattoo removal, and educational opportunities, truly sets them apart. The staff and volunteers at Homeboy Industries are dedicated, passionate, and skilled, ensuring that every individual who walks through their doors receives the support, guidance, and resources they need to thrive. The transformative power of this organization cannot be overstated. Homeboy Industries not only provides a second chance for these individuals, but it also fosters a sense of belonging and community that is often lacking in their lives. My visit to Homeboy Industries was a truly inspiring motivator to continue the work to advocate for similar resources for marginalized communities."

— Kahlila Williams, UCLA Pritzker Center Student Researcher

"This October, our team had the opportunity to volunteer at the Midnight Mission in Los Angeles. The Midnight Mission is a comprehensive homeless services provider and homeless shelter. One of their services is providing meals to homeless individuals in the Los Angeles area. We had the opportunity to help the incredible cooking staff make and serve lunch. Being in the community is an important aspect of our work, and we are thankful to the Midnight Mission for giving us the chance to connect with the Los Angeles community."

— Isabella Reina, UCLA Pritzker Center Student Researcher

To celebrate the return to campus and start of the academic year, the UCLA Pritzker Center hosted a Welcome Back dinner for students, staff, and campus partners at Plateia, located in the UCLA Luskin Conference Center. The Welcome Back Dinner fostered a sense of unity, excitement, and provided a space to reconnect and forge new connections among students, staff, and partners with delicious food and lively conversations. As we welcomed everyone back, the event set a positive tone for the upcoming academic year, reminding us all of the strong sense of community that defines UCLA. Welcome back, Bruins!

Founded in 1958, the J.B. and Emily Van Nuys Charities (VNC) has a long history of providing meaningful grants to organizations impacting the lives of Los Angeles County residents each year. The UCLA Pritzker Center has been a fortunate grantee since 2020. An early grant from Van Nuys Charities was the catalyst for significant research on the role of domestic violence in foster care. In furtherance of continuing our work at the intersection of child welfare and domestic violence, Van Nuys Charities recently renewed its support for the UCLA Pritzker Center with another generous grant. We are grateful to Van Nuys Charities for supporting this work and are proud to be among such esteemed grantees.

Pursuant to Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell's 2021 motion, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) has completed the Blind Removal pilot. The UCLA Pritzker Center is now analyzing administrative data, and will soon collect final data through surveys and interviews from involved social workers and staff. We look forward to taking a closer look at their experiences to inform future efforts to reduce racial disproportionality in foster care. In partnership with DCFS, our report will be released in Spring 2024! 

Kenyon Lee Whitman, PhD; Matthew A. Ruderman, PhD; Vanessa Perez; Jill Waterman, PhD; Todd Franke, PhD; Audra K. Langley, PhD

The emergence of COVID-19 created a global health crisis and disproportionately affected minoritized communities. Simultaneously, protests and anti-racist uprisings against police violence occurred worldwide. This mixed-methods study examined how a group of racially diverse resource parents navigated the twin pandemics. 

We are thrilled to welcome Laura Liévano-Karim, PhD back to the UCLA Pritzker Center as a postdoctoral research fellow! Dr. Liévano-Karim worked with the Center as a Graduate Student Researcher from 2020 through June 2023. She was instrumental in our early research on domestic violence in LA County, the report on county-wide barriers to addressing racial disproportionality in child-serving departments, and the Courageous Conversations research that identified the unique resources needed to provide racially responsible care to Black youth living in the foster system. We congratulate Dr. Liévano-Karim on her June 2023 graduation from UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs with a PhD in Social Welfare. Welcome back, Dr. Liévano-Karim!

In this webinar, Laura Liévano-Karim, PhD presents her doctoral dissertation in partnership with Juanfe NGO in Colombia, South America. In her doctoral thesis project, a participatory action research (PAR) initiative, Laura and four teenage mothers, as co-researchers, designed two evidence-based context-specific violence prevention programs to implement at the two Juanfe NGO sites in Medellín and Cartagena, two cities in Colombia. Together as a research collective, the research team collected qualitative data that included 50 interviews and 8 focus group discussions, in which a total of 90 people participated. 

Conversaremos sobre la prevención de violencia, específicamente contra madres adolescentes en Cartagena y Medellín. Conoceremos iniciativas y soluciones a estos problemas sociales mediante investigación-acción participativa para prevenir la violencia.

We will talk about the prevention of violence, specifically against teenage mothers in Cartagena and Medellín. We will learn about initiatives and solutions to these social problems through participatory action research to prevent violence.

"When working to curate art for this exhibition, there were three words that we wanted to showcase: Health, Wellness, and Family. From walls and walls of archived art to choose from, each piece was meticulously chosen specifically to display those themes." — Self Help Graphics & Art Youth Committee

Meticulously curated by the Youth Committee from Self Help Graphics & Art, we are proud to showcase artwork inspired by the themes of Health, Wellness, and Family in our UCLA Pritzker Center Office!

Campus briefing on Oct. 6 for Horvath, the youngest woman to serve on the County Board of Supervisors, showcased UCLA expertise and partnerships in support of children and families. 

"In partnership with numerous campus experts serving children and families, a roundtable discussion with campus experts from intersecting disciplines, touched upon topics such as child welfare, foster care, juvenile justice, child health, and education. Supervisor Horvath also awarded the UCLA Pritzker Center with a certificate of commendation on behalf of the LA County Board of Supervisors, in recognition of the center’s work supporting children, youth, and families throughout Los Angeles County."

Image courtesy of Allison Shelley for EDUimages

Image courtesy of John Raoux/AP

The UCLA Pritzker Center is excited to welcome our newest student staff! Claudia joins us as a dual-degree Graduate Student Researcher from the UCLA Luskin Social Welfare program and UCLA Fielding School Public Health program. Ellis joins us as an Undergraduate Capstone student from UCLA Luskin! Our team is thankful to have Claudia and Ellis joining us to push forward our research and projects.

By Sonali Kohli

Girls of color have always been on the front lines of the fight for equal rights—to vote, to learn, to live—even when they are the last to benefit from the outcomes of their work. In Don’t Wait, journalist Sonali Kohli follows three teenager’s’ efforts to make their communities safer, healthier places, highlights what propelled the teenagers into their activism to their experiences organizing, and incorporates Q&As with important lessons from activists who have led the way.

Don't Wait features UCLA Pritzker Center Student Researcher Kahlila Williams as one of the teenage activists.