This November, we are thankful for you and your engagement with the UCLA Pritzker Center. Our events, research, and campus and community engagement are made better by the bright, caring and diverse individuals we join hands with to do this work day after day. Together, we thank you!

Check out our November recap—revisit Birthing Justice, learn about research news, explore events on campus, smile about the remarkable achievements of our students, and get inspired by ideas from our colleagues and friends at UCLA!

In community,

The UCLA Pritzker Center Team

The Birthing Justice Film Screening & Panel Discussion explored the intersection of reproductive justice and maternity care. Through this thought-provoking film and engaging discussion, we shed light on the challenges faced by Black birthing people during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum. The event featured a diverse panel of experts, including healthcare professionals, activists, and community leaders. Together, we discussed topics such as maternal health disparities, birthing rights, and the impact of systemic racism on childbirth experiences. The relationship between these topics and the child welfare system was emphasized.

L-R: Taylor Thaxton, UCLA Pritzker Center medical student researcher; Dr. Lisa A. Nicholas, UCLA Health OB/GYN; TaVia Wooley, EmpowerTHEM Executive Director; Shiré Wortham, Alliance for Children's Rights Social Worker; Adjoa Jones, LA Department of Public Health African American Infant/Maternal Mortality (AAIMM) Outreach & Engagement Director; and Monique N. Matthews, director of the film Birthing Justice

L-R: Shiré Wortham, Alliance for Children's Rights Social Worker; Adjoa Jones, LA Department of Public Health African American Infant/Maternal Mortality (AAIMM) Outreach & Engagement Director; and Monique N. Matthews, director of the film Birthing Justice

Kenyon Lee Whitman, PhD, Assistant Professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Faculty Affiliate of the UCLA Pritzker Center, presented findings from a study in collaboration with UCLA TIES for Families. The presentation, College Students with Foster Care History Navigating Two Pandemics: A Mixed-Methods Study on Campus Climate and Safety, was made during the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) 2023 annual conference in Minneapolis, MN in November.

Dr. Whitman shared the study findings showing that campus-based foster youth support programs served as the primary spaces of safety, connection, and support for foster youth attending college. Findings also revealed that postsecondary institutions missed opportunities to effectively respond to COVID-19 and the racial violence that was occurring. Findings from the paper further showed that COVID-19 and racial violence had an adverse impact on the health and safety of students with a history of foster care due to threats of racial discrimination and violence, and mental health challenges. Implications for campus policies and practices call for integrating trauma informed practices to better support students with a foster care history who might be navigating social-political crisis and/or personal crisis. The paper also calls for better campus infrastructure to better communicate with students when campus, regional, and national crises occur.

The UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families, UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools (CTS) and John Burton Advocates for Youth (JBAY) is finalizing a research project that captures the retrospective insights of foster youth on the state of K-12 education in California. Key findings from the analysis will help generate local, state and federal policy recommendations to promote meaningful youth-centered systems change across the state. The research team is hopeful this effort will help strengthen a movement for improving educational outcomes for foster youth in California who are more likely to be chronically absent, to be suspended, less likely to graduate from high school or to be prepared for college than their peers. 

We are happy to welcome Nancy Olivares, MPP to the UCLA Pritzker Center team! Nancy worked with us as a Graduate Student Researcher while earning her masters degree in public policy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Nancy is supporting our research efforts, field studies, student experience and community relations. Nancy brings unparalleled effervescence and professionalism to all that she does to serve children and families. Welcome, Nancy! 

"I'm grateful for the chance to have participated in the UC Chicanx/Latinx Leadership Summit! Being among a roomful of leaders who share common backgrounds was truly inspiring. The event offered an incredible opportunity to engage with numerous Latinx leaders and collaborate on crafting strategies aimed at fostering institutional change." — Ana Rivera

Kate Sequira/EdSource

Don Liebig/ASUCLA

The Los Angeles County Department of Youth Development (DYD) is hosting the Youth Development Summit 2023, an in-person gathering of youth, families, County Departments, and community partners. UCLA Pritzker Center undergraduate student researcher, Kahlila Williams, will be participating as a youth panelist at the event. Learn more and register for the event at the link below!

UCLA undergraduate students Erin O'Neil, fourth year Mathematics major, and Mia Meza, fourth year Nursing major

"Being part of the UCLA Pritzker Center team has allowed me and encouraged me to not only learn about the child welfare system, but to explore it and better!  I am constantly inspired by my colleagues the work we do. For example, the Courageous Conversations project found that hair hygiene is a critical issue in foster care, especially for Black youth. 

As a nursing student, I prioritize my patients' hygiene by treating them to what I like to call, "spa days" because feeling and looking good is so crucial to one’s well being. In this spirit, my roommate and I, who both have wavy to curly hair, applied for the ‘Take Flight grant." We won! We are now working with Day Owls backpack company and Rizo Curls to bring adequate hair care products to foster youth with wavy to kinky/coiled hair. 

Most importantly we hope to inspire others to continue to fight and expand this very crucial initiative because everyone deserves to feel beautiful and cared for!"

— Mia Meza, UCLA Pritzker Center Undergraduate Student Researcher