On June 10, Children’s Institute honored nearly 100 foster youth enrolled in our Individualized Transition Skills Program (ITSP) who are graduating high school and attending college this fall. The fifth annual Dream BIG celebration was virtual for the second year, just days before COVID-19 restrictions ended in California.

CII CEO Martine Singer opened the program by congratulating the graduates for overcoming significant obstacles in their lives.  And they have truly beat the odds: among 19-year olds participating in ITSP, 76 percent are continuing their studies, compared to just 53 percent nationwide.

One graduate spoke about the challenges she has overcome: “Moving a lot… has not been easy. I moved three times my senior year and almost 11 my freshman year… But this has helped me make decisions with my life.”

Keynote Johnny Hekker, punter for the LA Rams and friend of CII, spoke live from SoFi Stadium, saying, “Congratulations to you for all you have achieved; there’s nothing more beautiful than you guys prioritizing your education… you will be speaking at graduations just like this one day, I know it.”

 

 

 

 

High-energy Power 106 DJ Jonathan Q had another positive message:

 

 

 

 

A virtual yearbook scrolled as names were read aloud, followed by CII friend DJ Lani Love‘s live set. Being virtual didn’t hold anyone back from dancing up a storm!

To ensure a head start in the fall, each graduate received a dorm kit filled with supplies, all generously donated by one of CII’s wonderful support groups, The Colleagues.

A huge shout out goes to our amazing graduates and many thanks to our special guests and sponsors!

Given the profound personal loss and uncertainty so many have experienced over the last year, there is renewed attention to the importance of mental health and the groups most impacted by pandemic-related mental health issues. In fact, a 2020 study by Children’s Rights found that LGBTQ+ youth, in particular, experienced higher rates of mental health issues due to the toxic stress of living with discrimination and rejection during the pandemic. The subgroup of LGBTQ+ foster youth are no exception and they continue to be overrepresented in the child welfare system.

The Individualized Transition Skills Program (ITSP) team at Children’s Institute acknowledges that all of our youth transitioned to a virtual setting, creating added strain on their mental health. LGBTQ+ foster youth, in particular, were impacted by the loss of affirming relationships in schools, outdoor activities, clubs, and community LGBTQ+ youth organizations.

In response to this, the ITSP team created a support group during the pandemic called “The Bright Room” to provide LGBTQ+ youth with a much-needed safe space where they could have open discussions on different issues and share their experiences. The Bright Room has allowed our LGBTQ+ youth to feel heard, supported and acknowledged as they face barriers during the coming out process.

As an ITSP supervisor and part of the LGBTQ+ community, I found it important to have our ITSP team participate in an LGBTQ+ tool kit training during the pandemic. The training was geared towards service providers looking to provide more culturally relevant care for LGBTQ+ youth. The training augments the ITSP team’s efforts as we continue to provide support, resources, and training to our LGBTQ+ transition-age youth, who continue to face disparities.

As we celebrate PRIDE month, I want our youth to know that you all have so much potential and are so unique. Your paths may seem full of uncertainty but do not lose hope that life will get better. The biggest blessing is to be true to who you are and never doubt that you deserve everything the world has to offer. Always aspire, inspire and thrive as you move through your life.

Sincerely,

Stephani Collazo
ITSP Supervisor

CII hosted a national virtual conference on April 13 and 14, featuring a group of prestigious national leaders in trauma-informed care. Former CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone Anne Williams-Isom, and best-selling author Professor Ibram X. Kendi, our keynote speakers, spoke about advancing equity, especially in light of the pandemic and the racial awakening of the past year.

Now its ninth year, CII’s Trauma-Informed Care conference deepens knowledge of trauma-informed practices for professionals in mental health, child welfare, education and related fields.

On opening day, Anne Williams-Isom spoke on Community Approaches to Trauma and Healing, including personal reflections and wisdom from 25 years leading large, complex non-profits. She then facilitated a lively panel with Los Angeles County Office of Education Superintendent of Schools Dr. Debra Duardo; The Aspen Institute’s Associate Director, Network & Outreach, Ascend, Sarah Haight; and Minneapolis’ Northside Achievement Zone President & CEO Sondra Samuels.

Speaking about racism, Dr. Duardo advised, “Having age-appropriate conversations on race with children should start early on. It’s important to acknowledge there are different colors and cultures and make that a positive thing.” And on healing and leadership, Ms. Samuels cautioned, “If we don’t transform our pain, we transmit it.”

On Day Two, Professor Ibram X. Kendi spoke on Equity & Trauma: Disproportionate Response, highlighting many of his teachings on anti-racism. Recognizing that this year has been particularly challenging for the nearly 500 attendees, Professor Kendi offered encouragement and guidance: “You may not be able to speak to your experiences facing anti-black racism or even trying to navigate the world as a black child or parent, but there are things you can do. You can learn the culture, the history and the experiences. The more you understand the folks you’re serving, the better support you’ll be able to provide.”

Ballmer Group’s Los Angeles Executive Director Nina Revoyr facilitated Professor Kendi’s keynote, which was followed by a panel with Pepperdine University’s Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Graduate School of Education and Psychology Dr, Daryl Rowe, President and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund, The Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, and California Community Foundation Senior Program Officer, Health Dr. Rosemary Veniegas, moderated by CII’s Vice President of Research, Evaluation and Reporting Amina Jones Fields.

Ms. Revoyr put a voice to the pain and frustration felt by providers given the events of the last year while commending their collective positive impact on the community. In closing, as the group turns to day-to-day responsibilities, Dr. Rowe encouraged, “Lean into your village… Lean into the resistance.”

Thank you to our partner and sponsors, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and the California Community Foundation.

             

This Teacher Appreciation Week we give giant, shiny gold stars to the more than 300 teachers, substitute teachers and home visitors at Children’s Institute! Last year was like no other and our early childhood educators supported kids and their families in remarkable ways, with passion and dedication through all the transitions of the pandemic. Amidst all the juggling and coordinating and lesson planning and safety training, they kept a positive attitude and made sure their students continued to experience the joy of learning without skipping a beat.

In March 2020, CII preschools serving 1,500 children across nearly 30 locations had transformed overnight into virtual early childhood education hubs. Throughout the year, teachers overhauled lesson plans and placed weekly calls to families while creating content for a weekly e-newsletter, specialized YouTube channel and learning app. Six months later, in September, they reopened 13 classrooms in 12 centers, and in April, they opened 11 more classrooms.

It’s an understatement to say this took Herculean effort. During Safer at Home, teachers frequently checked in, becoming key lifelines for identifying immediate needs and connecting families with free resources in their community for rent assistance, job placement, domestic violence reporting and much more. CII preschool sites were converted into distribution centers where staff handed out meals while items like diapers, formula, soap and other essentials were delivered directly to families.

When it came time to open, it wasn’t just back to business as usual. There were safety protocols and CDC guidelines to learn and follow. These affect daily routines, classroom set up, lesson planning, interactions with the children and the children’s interactions with each other. Disinfecting, cleaning and separating – providing each child with his/her own cubby and package of materials like crayons, which the whole classroom ordinarily shares, and monitoring play to make sure toys get cleaned before the next child takes a turn to play.

CII’s behavioral staff has been adapting as well – first to conducting virtual observations and then to getting extra training in our Conscious Discipline curriculum. They stepped in to help with the unique behavior and self-regulation challenges these changes and new learning environments have posed.

The teachers’ work had always been about much more than teaching but this year their dedication was extraordinary. Alongside their students and families, many have experienced tremendous personal loss and stress. But their work has never faltered and their students have been a source of pride and comfort. We are very grateful and excited to take time this week to celebrate each and every one of them.

Support the work of CII teachers by making a donation here.

CII relies on our amazing network of volunteers year round but Volunteer Appreciation Week gives us a special opportunity to formally thank and recognize the dedicated individuals and corporations who support CII’s work and mission. Last fiscal year (ending July 30, 2020), almost 10,000 volunteers contributed more than an astonishing 100,000 hours of service plus resources to support the children and families in our programs. Over the last 12 months of the pandemic, the needs of our families have changed and intensified significantly, and even though we had to pause our in-person volunteering efforts, CII’s team of volunteers have shown up like never before:

Volunteer Groups

As our classrooms and after-school programs pivoted to distance learning overnight last March, our volunteer groups didn’t skip a beat. The Junior League of Los Angeles made their seasonal activities Zoom-friendly and guided children and their families through fun activities from the comfort and safety of their homes. Together, they baked pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving, made gooey Christmas slime, decorated cookies for Valentine’s Day, and read together during the Thrive Through Literacy event. Each virtual gathering featured a fun, educational element like playing a game or reading a story aloud. UCLA School of Dentistry’s American Student Dental Association: Pediatric and Teenage Outreach Committee gave a series of remote oral health presentations to our families in both English and Spanish. L.A. Works’ R.S.V.P volunteers made Cesar Chavez’s legacy come to life for CII children by creating coloring booklets to document history through art and crafts. And, as part of our collaboration with Downey Federal Credit Union, their staff hosted 11 virtual workshops on financial literacy for families and also donated food to families in crisis.

Individuals

As nimble as we were in transitioning to virtual services, hundreds of our individual volunteers also flexed their time and resources. Thanks to a generous grant from The Carl & Roberta Deutsch Foundation, we were thrilled to honor one of our extraordinary parent volunteers, Maria Orellana, with the HALO Award. See the video here.

Through our partnership with the 2020 Census campaign, twenty-three community volunteers including stand-outs Sherika Simms and Blanca Gonzales donated more than 7,600 hours to engage and educate community members on the importance of completing the Census. They led efforts around phone banking, door-to-door canvassing and virtual workshops, participated in community events, and were instrumental in strengthening our ties in the community. The wonderful DiNapoli family provided reading segments on YouTube for our virtual Winter Festival, and also donated $1,500 in toys and books to the event. Shangrila Rendon completed a jaw-dropping 23 Ironman-distance triathlons in 34 days and set a new World Record while raising funds for CII and donating running shoes to kids in our programs. There were several other examples of generosity at the holidays with our staff rallying their networks to donate their stimulus checks, as well as more toys and books for Winter Festival. Singer/songwriter Billie Eilish donated generously to Winter Festival as well.

Support and Fundraising Groups

We are always profoundly grateful to the volunteers in CII’s three fundraising support groups and this year was no exception. The Colleagues donated funds to purchase toys and games given out to families at Winter Festival. They are also sponsoring 90 dorm kits for our Individualized Transition Skills Program (ITSP) high school graduates to take to college; these will be handed out at their Dream BIG Graduation on June 10. C.H.I.P.S (Colleagues Helpers in Philanthropic Service) are providing 500 care packages to CII CalWORKs, ITSP, Innovations, Head Start and Project Fatherhood participants at our CII WORKS event in May. And Les Amies adopted our Incredible Years Parent Group, an interactive, virtual group focused on parenting skills and parent-child relationships that meets over 20 weeks. They create toy care packages to distribute to the children enrolled.

The UCLA Latino Alumni Association and a collaborative of Filmcraft L.A., Film Tools, Filmcraft Studio Gear, Production Gear Rentals, Quixote Studios, Illuminar, and Women In Media held toy drives bringing $1,000 and $3,700 worth of toys respectively to CII children and broad smiles to their faces. Loyola Marymount University donated $2,000 in in-kind goods such as diapers, strollers, newborn hygiene kits, toys and other essential items to help a baby thrive. The Onward Scholars Program of St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy’s middle schoolers raised funds to assemble 20 care boxes for our families. Each box included a blanket, socks, headsets, a reading book, a coloring book and box of colored pencils, and face masks.

Board of Trustees

CII’s 25-member volunteer Board of Trustees is our guiding and governing body. The time they volunteer to provide oversight of our mission and work is invaluable and we owe each of them an enormous debt of gratitude for their varied and selfless contributions. This year, we especially recognize two members – Bridget Gless Keller and Lisa Baker Morgan. Bridget chairs our Watts Building Committee, which oversees every aspect of our new Building on Success campus, slated to open this fall. Lisa Baker Morgan, a Cordon-Bleu trained chef and author, is hosting a series of virtual cooking classes to raise funds for CII. Back for an encore after her successful October debut, Dinner in Paris showcases seasonal recipes and welcomes attendees into Lisa’s beautiful home kitchen as she guides them in making a delicious meal with her trademark humor and fun. To date, the classes have raised over $40,000.

On behalf of the CII staff and all our children and families, thank you so much to our amazing volunteers! We couldn’t do it without you.

We are delighted to announce that our $25.8 million Building on Success capital campaign closed early this month, nine years after it began. Raise a glass to all those involved in this massive, multi-year endeavor! We are deeply grateful to CII’s Board of Trustees, private individuals, foundations, and our beloved CII support groups who all contributed to the campaign:

Susan C. and Stephen E. Adamson The Ahmanson Foundation Raúl Alvarado Annenberg Foundation Ballmer Group Catherine and Robert Beyer Blossom Trustman Living Trust The C.H.I.P.S. California Community Foundation The Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation Carolina Herrera Adam and Allison Checchi Gabriel and Christine Chiu The Colleagues Mary Collins The Carl & Roberta Deutsch Foundation Chuck and Lauren Diamond The Eisner Foundation Hugh Evans The Fletcher Jones Foundation Stephanie Fox The Fran & Ray Stark Foundation Tom Gores The Gores Foundation Ahmad and Haleh Gramian The Harold McAlister Charitable Foundation

Marcia Wilson Hobbs Daryn McDonald Horton Johnny Carson Foundation Justin Dart Family Foundation Sally and Paul R. Kanin W. M. Keck Foundation Bridget Gless Keller and Paul Keller K. John Lee Leonetti O’Connell Family Foundation Les Amies Los Angeles Galaxy Foundation Mari and Patrick McAlister Meredith Corporations The Chris and Dick Newman Family The Otis Booth Foundation Steven H. Pokress The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation David and Barbara Rognlien The Rose Hills Foundation Todd and Jacqueline Rosen S. Mark Taper Foundation Marna and Rockwell Schnabel Judith K. Sherven and James Sniechowski SoCal Office Technologies Suzanne Marx and Dr. Gary Tearston Barbara Hale Thornhill Kathleen M. Vanderziel Weingart Foundation

Donations above reflect gifts of $2,500+.

It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic and our staff transitioned to working from home and providing so many services remotely. Our lives are forever changed by what we have experienced, and our hearts are with those who have suffered and experienced loss this past year.

Throughout it all, we have come together as an agency in remarkable ways and prioritized serving our families above all else.

Between mid-March 2020 and mid-March 2021:

We distributed a tremendous amount of PPE to keep ourselves and CII families safe:

• 18,440 face masks
• 47,184 ounces of hand sanitizer
• 192,600 individual disinfecting wipes
• 58,900 rubber gloves
• 5,110 face shields

• Our dedicated Mailroom Coordinator Oscar Tirado-Serrano put 12,000 miles on his CII van, delivering equipment and essential supplies to staff, clients and partners.
• On the flip side, as a group we drove about 1.1 million fewer miles for work than we did a year ago, reducing emissions significantly.
• Our 300 teachers, substitute teachers and home visitors, along with a large group of in-classroom parent volunteers, transformed CII preschools serving 2,200 children across nearly 30 locations to virtual classrooms overnight as Los Angeles shut down in March. We then transitioned back to safely re-open 13  preschool classrooms, thoroughly training staff on the new safety protocols. Next month, we’ll open seven more preschool classrooms, four toddler classrooms and one infant classroom.

• We distributed more than $1.7 million in assistance and supplies to CII families, which included gift cards for food, rent assistance, and in-kind donations of diapers, formula and clothing.

• We were awarded 57  grants totaling $22.15 million, including $1.4 million in COVID-19 relief.
• We raised $511,220 at three virtual fundraising events, with 473  households attending.

• We achieved our $25.8 million capital campaign goal for our new campus in Watts!

The new Watts campus grew from this

to this

• While many companies were forced to pause on recruiting or downsize, we hired 264 staff members.
• We gathered for 11  Virtual Town Hall staff meetings.
• 10,518 attendees participated in 293 trainings held during the pandemic, all but 5 of which were virtual. This includes teacher and Office of Equity trainings, as well as those offered to our community partners.
• And finally… collectively, we spent 4,245,869 minutes on Zoom! And these were just the Zoom meetings initiated on CII accounts. Imagine how many more minutes we spent on Zoom meetings initiated by outside groups, not to mention on MS Teams meetings!

With mass vaccine distribution underway and COVID-19 cases subsiding, there’s a light at the end of this very dark tunnel. We have a lot of work to do but are hopeful that this next year will be brighter. Remember to stay the course and continue to follow COVID-19 safety guidelines.

Several staff members who were vaccinated shared their experiences with the rest of us at our February Virtual Town Hall. This special meeting focused on the vaccine – we wanted to answer staff questions and clear up confusion and misconceptions. First, we showed this video produced by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health explaining how the vaccine works. Then two doctors from Cedars-Sinai answered staff questions: Dr. Karen Youmbi, Associate Director of the Outpatient Pharmacies, and Dr. Rachel Zabner, who is board-certified in infectious diseases.

       

This Q&A was yet another example of our multi-faceted partnership with Cedars. Cedars has given CII nearly half a million dollars over the last four years, funding everything from mental health services, groceries and Family Flex Funds for parents of children enrolled in our programs to training for CII’s Early Childhood Education staff, Salesforce implementation, our web-based care coordination system, and our Office of Equity. We all learned a lot, and we hope to host something similar for CII families soon.

Minnie Barton was the first woman probation officer in Los Angeles and a fierce advocate of women and children in need. In 1906, she founded Children’s Institute – then called The Big Sister League.

Having moved to LA with her husband in 1905, she was struck by the obstacles facing indigent women who were getting left behind as the city grew. She started volunteering with LAPD, eventually becoming Chief Woman Probation and Parole Officer. She helped women who were discharged from jail to find work, sometimes keeping them in her own home until they had made other arrangements. She appealed to City Council to help; when denied, she founded The Big Sister League, expanding to help women who had come to the city looking for opportunity and had run out of money.

Ultimately, she also operated two homes, the Minnie Barton Home, a halfway in West Adams and the Bide-A-Sweet Home in Boyle Heights for unmarried pregnant women. Later in her life, she established a Valley camp for older women on her private property in what is now Sunland.

Minnie was highly sought-after as a speaker to women’s clubs and community groups. She had three sons of her own and died in 1946. The Big Sister League was renamed Children’s Institute when it moved to New Hampshire Ave in 1980.

A plaque in the Fern Dell picnic area in Griffith Park commemorates Minnie’s life of service. Read more about CII’s remarkable founder here and here.

On February 22, chef, author and CII Trustee Lisa Baker Morgan launched our three-part 2021 Dinner in Paris cooking series, back for an encore after her successful October class. Chef Lisa guided nearly 100 participants through making a delicious cheese soufflé and winter greens citrus salad, teaching culinary tips and tricks along the way with her trademark humor and fun. She put the virtual attendees at ease in creating this potentially intimidating dish and even busted the myth that stomping by your oven deflates your soufflé.

Amelia Ceja and Ceja Vineyards provided Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to complement the meal, and one lucky participant received a MacKenzie-Childs 3-qt. sauté pan generously donated by our event sponsor, Neiman Marcus.

The February class raised $23,000 for CII’s programs. Our next two classes are Monday, April 19 (fish and spring vegetables) and Monday, May 17 (refreshing summer favorites). Both are held 5:00-6:30pm PST via Zoom. Sign up here.

Many thanks to Chef Lisa for generously hosting these classes and to our event sponsors: Sommelier level – Dr. Jennifer Linehan Kutrieh and Tarek Kutrieh, Neiman Marcus; and Friend of CII level – The Kallick Family, Katie and Rick Lewis, Carey and Tim Romer, Martine Singer.