Established in 2018, the UCLA Pritzker Center has lived many lives–from our early days in Moore Hall, to acquiring our own office suite on campus, to moving entirely online throughout the pandemic, and now the joys of being on-campus with a hybrid presence throughout 2023. Through it all, adaptability has been a constant characteristic of the growth we have aspired toward at the UCLA Pritzker Center.

As we wrap 2023 and 5 full years at UCLA, we look back with gratitude and humility.  We look ahead with a reaffirmed commitment to the children and families at the core of our efforts. And, we look up to the partners and friends both on-campus and in the community who inspire, shape and support our work. Finally, we look around and see significant growth within our research, education and partnerships. In this spirit, take a look back at 2023 below! 

With many years before us, we are eager to welcome in future growth alongside each of you. Thank you for joining hands with us! Happy holidays!

In community,

The UCLA Pritzker Team

Blind removal is an exploratory practice designed to reduce racial bias in decision making when child welfare staff are determining whether to remove a child from their family following an investigation of alleged child abuse or neglect. Blind removal involves case workers presenting investigation results to a review committee with demographic and other information that may signal the family’s race or ethnicity removed (Pryce et al., 2018). Then without knowing the family’s race or ethnicity, the committee discusses the investigation results and recommends next steps for the family, such as remaining together with community-based services or separation of children from their parent(s) due to safety concerns.

With generous support from the Blue Shield Foundation of California, the UCLA Pritzker Center, in partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services Lancaster Regional Office and Valley Oasis, is conducting a study on child welfare and domestic violence in the Antelope Valley. 

The UCLA Pritzker Center research team is collecting the first round of data for our study on child welfare and domestic violence in the Antelope Valley. In September, we presented preliminary findings from our analysis of focus group data to our partners at the DCFS Lancaster Regional Office and Valley Oasis. Planning is underway for cross-system training, consultations, referral processes, and co-located services designed to promote safety and supported connections between parents, their children, and local service providers.

The UCLA Pritzker Center has been awarded a research grant to partner with the Transition-Age Youth Research & Evaluation Hub (TAY-Hub). The TAY-Hub seeks to improve policies and practices affecting TAY by monitoring outcomes and through applied research that is grounded in engagement with members of the child welfare services community, including those with lived experience of foster care. The UCLA Pritzker Center study investigates the barriers and facilitators to housing choice voucher access and maintenance among young adults who age out of foster care in Los Angeles. We will collect data from multiple perspectives by interviewing primarily Black and Latinx young adults as well as property managers and housing navigators. Findings will inform recommendations to improve young adult access to affordable housing after exiting foster care. The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation generously funded our subaward of nearly $40,000 to conduct this research. Our research team includes Todd M. Franke and Brenda A. Tully of the UCLA Pritzker Center and consultants Carmen Noyola and Lucero Noyola.

This event marked the launch of the UCLA Pritzker Center’s 5th year – a time of celebration and recommitment to our vision to prevent the need for foster care, reform the system as it exists today and to do so working hand in hand with our communities, and experts at UCLA and throughout Los Angeles County. 

Our Medical Student Researcher, Taylor Thaxton, placed 3rd in the research competition with her poster, "A Balancing Act: How Professionals in the Foster Care System Balance the Harm of Intimate Partner Violence with the Harm of Child Removal" at the University of California Community Health Conference, hosted at the UC Davis School of Medicine.

We celebrated our 5th Anniversary at the UCLA Botanical Garden. Joined by 150 of our friends and colleagues from across LA County and UCLA, we were honored to hear from UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and Tony Pritzker, President of the Anthony and Jeanne Pritzker Family Foundation.

As the UCLA Pritzker Center celebrated this joyous milestone, we reflected on the students, faculty, and members of the community whose efforts supported building a better and brighter future for those in the foster care system, championing equitable reform and ensuring that the next five years are even more impactful and promising than the last.

The UCLA Pritzker Center hosted a research roundtable highlighting the Center’s work and the contributions of our undergraduate, graduate, and PhD students. Student researchers presented findings and recommendations from our interdisciplinary studies investigating racial disproportionality and intersectional responses to domestic violence in child welfare, the lasting impact of COVID-19 and racial injustice on caregivers and youth, and fostering student success in college.

In recognition of Pride Month, we hosted Pride Talk, a free training featuring two Dr. Erin Baroni from UCLA Health and Dr. Kerith Conron from the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute. We addressed anti-trans health legislation and health issues among trans youth, with an emphasis on the unique needs of youth in foster care. 

Thank you to DJ Lady Grey for giving us the opportunity to speak about the work of the UCLA Pritzker Center on your show at UCLA Radio!

Congratulations to our 2023 graduates: America Ramirez, Brittney Hun, Joseph Salahi-Chung, Laura Laura Liévano-Karim, Mary Sweetnam, Nancy Olivares, and Sophia Dsouza!

Members of the UCLA Pritzker Center team had the honor of visiting the Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court for a tour. Many thanks to the bench officers who hosted us in their courtrooms. 

Our team had the opportunity to volunteer at Midnight Mission in Los Angeles, a comprehensive homeless services provider and shelter, where we helped 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.

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.

UCLA Pritzker Center Executive Director, Taylor Dudley, began teaching PUB AFF 124, Child Welfare Policy in America, during the Fall quarter to 34 undergraduate students.

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 in the UCLA Luskin Conference Center. The dinner fostered a sense of unity, excitement, and provided a space to reconnect and forge new connections among the team with delicious food and lively conversations. 

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 offer support toward her policy agenda.

Our students and staff had the opportunity to visit Homeboy Industries, an organization that not only provides a second chance for individuals impacted by gangs or involved in the criminal justice system, but one that fosters a sense of belonging and community.

We hosted our Birthing Justice Film Screening and Panel Discussion about maternal health disparities, birthing rights, and the impact of systemic racism on childbirth experiences and the relationship between these topics and the child welfare system. Panelists included Dr. Lisa Nicholas, OB/GYN at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine; Shiré Wortham, social worker at Alliance for Children’s Rights; TaVia Wooley, executive director at EmpowerTHEM; Adjoa Jones, AAIMM Outreach & Engagement Director at the LA Department of Public Health; and Monique Matthews, director of Birthing Justice for an informative and incredible discussion, and our Charles Drew/DGSOM medical student, Taylor Thaxton!

In the spirit of the holidays and in celebration of our ongoing investment in the Antelope Valley, the UCLA Pritzker Center partnered with numerous community organizations for a toy giveaway. Thanks to our partners at Baby2Baby, UCLA TIEs for Families, and many personal friends, we provided over 500 toys to children at the LA County Department of Mental Health’s Annual Day of Giving hosted in Lancaster at the Sol Plaza Mall.

We are thrilled to announce Dr. Tyrone C. Howard, UCLA Professor of Education and UCLA Pritzker Center Director, was elected president of the American Education Research Association (AERA)!

Our doctoral researcher, Demontea Thompson, was one of the participants at the annual American Eduation Research Assocation (AERA) earlier this year in Chicago, where he presented 'Educational Journeys of Foster Youth in California: Preliminary Findings of a Statewide Study,' in a roundtable session.

In July, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion, authored by Supervisor Mitchell and co-authored by Supervisor Horvath, directing LA County’s departments and stakeholders to take the next steps toward building out the prevention infrastructure. This effort stemmed, in part, from the 2021 UCLA Pritzker Center report. Our team looks forward to ongoing participation in this initiative.

"Schools can play a role in helping to minimize the radicalization of young people by replacing hate with truth," UCLA professor of education and AERA President Tyrone Howard writes. "Teaching empathy and compassion instead of prejudice and violence. Creating more inclusive classrooms that honor and recognize diversity and belonging is key to reducing violence and hate."

From how student discipline affects preschool students to banning books that examine systemic racism, UCLA  Pritzker Center director and AERA President Tyrone C. Howard explains underreported and major education issues that disproportionately affect Black and brown students.

Tony Pritzker’s philanthropic support and visionary leadership have improved the physical landscape of the UCLA campus, empowered students and faculty, enhanced the reach of both science and art, and broadened Bruin horizons in countless ways. In celebration of his distinguished service, Pritzker was presented with the Fiat Lux Award, one of UCLA’s highest honors, at an Oct. 11 event at Pauley Pavilion that paid tribute to his remarkable, far-ranging Bruin legacy.

"California’s ‘failure to protect’ law allows child welfare agencies to take kids from households scarred by domestic violence. Advocates say the separation can worsen a family’s trauma."

CalMatters published an article that cited our May 2021 report, “Child Welfare and Domestic Violence: The Report on Intersection and Action.”