In response to Coronavirus (COVID-19), Children’s Institute is taking the following precautions to ensure the safety of the children and families we serve, as well as our staff. Our goal is to continue providing services, by phone or video whenever possible, even in these challenging times.

• In accordance with recommendations from the CDC, county and state officials, we are requiring the majority of our staff to work from home in order to maximize social distancing. Fewer employees at our locations reduces the risk for families and staff at our facilities.
• CII’s main sites (Otis Booth, Watts, Watts Civic Center, Rosecrans, Compton EHS, Long Beach, Figueroa and Wilmington) remain open with limited operations for the time-being.
• Now that LAUSD has announced school closures, we have temporarily closed our early education centers effective Monday, March 16, 2020.
  • We are moving to a virtual model to support continued learning, and we remain committed to ensuring the 2,500 children served in our early education programs receive access to nutritious meals during the week. Parents can pick up meals for their enrolled child or children at their usual site location between 11:30am-12:45pm Monday-Friday.
• Adhering to LAUSD and other districts’ policies, school-based programs are postponed.
• We have postponed our upcoming events (e.g., Volunteer Orientations, Professional Trainings, Mix & Mingle, Summit on Children Exposed to Violence and Plated) originally scheduled for March, April and May 2020.
• We are working with our funders to ensure we can comply with their guidelines while providing quality Behavioral Health & Wellness care remotely via HIPAA compliant video conferencing.

We are deeply committed to the children and families we serve, and we will do our best to assist wherever we can during these difficult times.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with questions during regular business hours at 213-385-5100.

For a list of free resources available to families, click here. 

For the latest information on staying safe, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website here.

Children’s Institute’s Project Fatherhood program recently hosted its 8^th annual Father-Daughter Tea, a special opportunity for fathers and daughters to spend time together in a memorable princess-themed setting.

Roughly 70 people attended the event at CII’s Otis Booth Campus in Echo Park. The dads are enrolled in Project Fatherhood where they learn skills to be active participants in their children’s lives while supporting one another through the program’s Men in Relationships Group.

As a long-time supporter of Father-Daughter Tea, the Junior League of Los Angeles (JLLA) brought 30 volunteers to Saturday’s event. In addition to helping out with the activities, the group provided floral center pieces, nail painting materials and pastries.

Edward Berumen, Senior Clinical Supervisor at Project Fatherhood, said the tea is designed so fathers spend valuable one on one time with their daughters. For many dads, the default is for the mom to take on parenting responsibilities with daughters. Berumen said the program encourages dads to take individual parenting roles with all of their children.

“The key to the event is providing an opportunity for fathers and daughters to interact in a way that can be replicated,” he said. “For many of the dads, this wasn’t something they’ve had the chance to do and we want them to feel like this can be a regular experience.”

While Project Fatherhood hosts other family events throughout the year, including a father-son event, Keith Parker, Director of Project Fatherhood, said there is something special about the interactions at the Father-Daughter Tea.

Anthony and his daughter Faith attended Saturday’s event where they enjoyed the photo booth and nail painting station.

“This event is about the excitement of seeing little girls creating memories with their fathers that they’ll look back on in 20-30 years from now and think about how they got spend one on one time with their dad,” he said.

Project Fatherhood client Anthony attended Saturday’s event with his daughter Faith. Anthony said he appreciates the events Project Fatherhood hosts during the year where he can bond with his children while connecting with other dads. He said his weekly Project Fatherhood group has taught him patience while also offering emotional support during challenging times.

Good+Foundation provided gift bags to each girl including cosmetic items.

“It means a lot to us for everyone to take the time out and create an event where I can sit down and have tea with my daughter,” he said as his daughter showed off her newly painted nails from the nearby manicure station run by JLLA.

In addition to JLLA’s support, Good+Foundation donated gift bags that were filled with makeup, hygiene items, and other special gifts for the girls and their fathers.

To learn more about Project Fatherhood, click here. View more event photos here.

Children’s Institute has received new funding to evaluate programs that support families impacted by generational trauma and community violence in South Los Angeles. Blue Shield of California Foundation has committed $300,000 to study the impact of our 2-Generation Neighborhood School Program at two early education sites over the next two years.

The funding is part of the foundation’s $9 million commitment to organizations across California. “We’re incredibly excited to support CII, which has been a cornerstone community service and is on the frontline of prevention, especially in communities experiencing enormous duress in this political and policy environment,” said Carolyn Wang Kong, Blue Shield of California Foundation Chief Program Director.

High rates of poverty and violent crime disproportionately plague areas of South LA where CII operates 28 Head Start and Early Head Start centers. CII’s 2-Generation Neighborhood Schools Program, also known as whole-child whole-family, began last fall at Ánimo College Preparatory Academy, Florence Griffith Joyner Elementary School and CII’s Jordan Downs Head Start in response to the needs of children and families living in poverty who face housing instability, inadequate healthcare, and exposure to trauma at home or in their communities – all of which all impact learning ability.

The central idea is to turn the early education center into a hub of services and supports for children and families. Services will be provided by CII and other partners such as food pantries, workforce development specialists, primary care providers and more.

The grant from Blue Shield will study the impact of the 2-Generation approach when it is expanded to CII’s Main Street and South Vermont early education centers.

Dr. Todd Sosna, Chief Program Officer at CII, said that most families who engage with CII have complex needs and as a result can benefit from multiple services. The concept behind this approach is that both children and parents are supported in a comprehensive manner, rather than focusing services on just one family member and just one area of need. CII believes enduring success involves the entire family by building on their strengths to support all areas of need.

“We are able to do this by coordinating services within CII and partnering with other agencies,” Dr. Sosna said. “Being more intentional around providing services to both children and parents is a strategic priority for CII, and the focus of ongoing efforts implemented throughout our agency.”

Children’s Institute is partnering with the US Census Bureau to ensure everyone in South Los Angeles participates in the official 2020 Census.

CII will be joining 50 groups that are identifying “hard-to-count” populations; historically, residents of low income neighborhoods, specifically children under five, are under-counted.

Ginger Lavender-Wilkerson is the Clinical Program Manager coordinating the census work at CII. She said it is crucial for neighborhoods like Watts to receive an accurate count because the census data will determine how funding is distributed for government-funded services like Medi-Cal, CalFresh and housing assistance.

In the past, for example, the Census didn’t necessarily capture all low income people living in large, multi-unit buildings, particularly those living with non-family members or multiple generations occupying a single unit. With five large housing developments and a median household income of $25,000, Watts is considered one of LA’s most challenging areas ahead of the 2020 Census.

With five large housing developments and a median household income of $25,000 per year, Watts is considered one of LA’s most challenging areas ahead of the 2020 Census.

“This project only happens once every 10 years and serves as the official record of who is counted in the United States.  The results will determine how resources will be allocated and who will receive critically important services,” Lavender-Wilkerson said.

Based out of CII’s Watts Campus, Lavender-Wilkerson heads team that includes Deborah Riddle, Senior Community Affairs Specialist, and Raul Aguirre, Community Affairs Specialist.

“We already provide a number of different services in this area – early childhood education, behavioral health and family supports — so we are uniquely qualified to coordinate outreach efforts,” Riddle said. “We are really focused on making sure kids are counted because one day they may need these services.”

Raul Aguirre, Community Affairs Specialist, will handle the face-to-face outreach by relying on contacts he has made through outreach work in and around Watts.

Riddle said CII will lean on its established network in South LA to hold 18 workshops with community members and make 500 attempts to engage residents in areas that are considered hard to count in and around Watts. The CII outreach team will also partner with US Census officials to create a self-service kiosk where residents can get information on how to register.

Aguirre, who works directly with families in Watts, will handle the face-to-face outreach by relying on his contacts living in housing developments. Census work is not new to Aguirre, who worked on Skid Row to count downtown LA’s homeless population for the last Census.

“Making sure census work is done accurately will help more children have access to important programs like Head Start,” he said. “These are the families I support every day, and I know how crucial these services are to their futures.”

CII has already started planning census outreach strategies and will start officially working with the community between February and May of this year.

Upcoming Census Meetings

• February 21^st – 6:30-7:30 pm
  Project Fatherhood Meeting
  Nickerson Gardens, 1590 East 114th Street, Los Angeles, California, 90059
• March 5^th – 8:15-9:00 am
  Florence Griffith Joyner: Neighborhood Schools Civic Engagement Meeting
  1963 E 103rd St, Los Angeles, California, 90002

If you would like more information on CII’s Census outreach, please contact Deborah Riddle, Senior Community Affairs Specialist.

Each day, teachers inside Children’s Institute classrooms arrange a spread of fruit, vegetables and other healthy foods for preschool children to eat together as they break from a busy day of learning and playing. What may seem like a routine scene is actually a central program to CII that addresses the food challenges families in South Los Angeles face by promoting basic food education while also promoting affordable and healthy meal plans for families facing food insecurity.

For decades, South LA families have been eating too much processed and fast food that is often cheap, but lacks important nutrients. As a result, residents report significantly higher rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease compared to other parts of the city. Understanding the importance of a well-balanced diet, CII operates a nutrition program that is poised to expand healthy habits to thousands of families in 2020.

Having only one staff member six years ago, CII now has a team of four nutrition specialists led by Karissa Yu, Registered Dietitian. “We aim to empower parents to be agents of change in the home, prepare nutritious meals and instill good eating habits,” Yu said.

The nutrition program operates at each of CII’s 28 early childhood education sites where team members develop curriculum that introduces students to fruits and vegetables while showing them that nutritious foods can taste good and help them grow into people like their sports idols.

Julie Miranda, a Nutrition Specialist on Yu’s team, said visiting classrooms allow the team to also conduct health assessments. For children registering overweight or having high blood pressure, the team schedules time with family members to make recommendations on healthy meal plans.

Miranda said that eating habits are often influenced by generational routines along with what foods they can afford. So while grocery stores in South LA have increased the availability of fresh food, food education is key to eating healthier.

“A lot of our families come from generations of knowing only one way to cook and our school systems haven’t prioritized nutrition until recently so there’s a lot we can teach families,” Miranda said.

The team recommend nutritious family meals that are under $10 by keeping a list of affordable in-season items that are hardier and can keep kids full. The nutrition team also partners with organizations that address food insecurity and alert families when food is available for reduced prices or free.

“We want families to know there is support out there for them, because we know they want to support their own kids in healthy habits if given the right opportunities,” Miranda said.

CII has been able to build the nutrition program thanks to funding from groups like the Herbalife Nutrition Foundation. In addition to supporting the nutrition team, the foundation helps children gain hands on experience with growing vegetables and helps fund an annual nutrition fair for families.

“Our long-standing relationship with CII is built on our shared vision of a world where everyone has access to quality food and nutrition,” said Jenny Perez, Executive Director of the Herbalife Nutrition Foundation. “Partnerships with impactful community partners like CII is central to our focus of providing access to healthy foods, improving nutrition education, identifying sustainable food resources and raising awareness of the global crisis.”

If you are interested in supporting CII’s nutrition program through a donation or volunteer opportunity, please contact Soleil Delgadillo, Volunteer & Community Engagement Manager, here.

On January 30, Children’s Institute broke ground on a new Watts Campus designed pro bono by world-renowned architect  Frank Gehry. The new building will serve as a hub for South Los Angeles families and add an iconic landmark to the historic neighborhood. To celebrate the event, CII held a ceremony attended by 300 guests including Frank Gehry, LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and Councilmember Joe Buscaino.

The new building will house critical therapeutic programs, parenting workshops and after-school activities that will serve children and families affected by poverty and intergenerational trauma. The space will also feature a new headquarters for the Watts Gang Task Force and the LAPD Community Safety Partnership.

From left: Emada Tingirides, LAPD & Children’s Institute Trustee; Frank Gehry, Capital Architect; Bridget Gless Keller, Children’s Institute Trustee & Building Committee Chair.

“It is our intent that the building will be comforting and welcoming. I hope this building will serve and inspire children and families for generations to come,” said Gehry.

CII President & CEO Martine Singer said getting to the groundbreaking was a multi-year process, but everyone is thrilled with the outcome and excited for the building phase to commence.

“The new campus is a permanent commitment to the community of Watts, an architectural landmark and a critical resource for children and families,” Singer said. “The groundbreaking is the culmination of a lot of hard work, and we couldn’t be more excited to get started.”

LAPD Captain and CII Trustee Emada Tingirides is the commanding officer for the Southeast Division that includes Watts. Having been involved in the project from its earliest days, Capt. Tingirides said she is excited for the doors to open and add to the positive trajectory of South LA over the last decade.

“I think about driving down 103rd and looking up Success Avenue and seeing this beautiful building that represents hope, trust and passion,” she said. “I can’t wait to see the doors open.”

When CII was developing the plans for a new Watts Campus, many long-time supporters jumped onto the project to help raise funding. Bridget Gless Keller, CII Trustee and Building Committee Chair, has supported the project from its inception while rallying friends and family to also pitch in.

“Ultimately today is not about logistics,” Gless Keller said. “It’s about how we built bridges in the community and delivered on a promise to Watts.”

The new campus, located on the corner of E. 102nd Street and Success Avenue, will cost $20 million and is scheduled to be completed in 2021.

Please continue to follow along as we provide updates on the project, and click here if you would like to join us in building the new campus.

On Saturday, Children’s Institute hosted the 25th Annual Winter Family Festival for hundreds of children and families at our Otis Booth Campus in Echo Park. The day featured holiday entertainment including a petting zoo, holiday arts & crafts and toy giveaways.

Children and families who attend Winter Family Festival are served at CII through services including preschool, counseling, parenting classes and more. The event is an opportunity for families to celebrate the holidays together and ensures kids who Santa might miss receive a toy.

Soleil Delgadillo, Volunteer & Community Engagement Manager at CII, said this event is extra special because it is representative of all CII programs where everyone works together to create a memorable experience for families.

“This event means a lot to our staff and families because we are making sure people feel supported and appreciated during this time of year,” she said. “We want our clients to know that we are providing more than just services. We are creating spaces where they can enjoy being families.”

Families bonded while they enjoyed lunch, decorated gingerbread cookies and designed holiday cards. The Grinch made a special appearance and Cali 93.9 played festival music as kids posed for photos with host Jessica Flores.

While the petting zoo and face painting were fan favorites, the biggest excitement came during the gift giveaways where LA-based toy company Spin Master gave out science kits and robotic dogs. Loyola Marymount University contributed more than 2,000 books and Grammy-nominated musician Billie Eilish donated signed merchandise for teens.

Winter Family Festival volunteers Channing Chantell and Matthew Duckworth helped distribute toys during the event. While distributing more than a thousand toys could get overwhelming at points, the two said there was so much joy and happiness from children and families.

“It’s been great to just see the smiles on their faces when they come up and pick a toy,” Duckworth said. “Being able to giving back is the true meaning of this time of year.”

The quality time at Winter Family Festival applied to staff as well. Dalila Rodriguez Alegria, Director of Education at CII, said the event gave CII staff the opportunity to connect with families outside of preschool or clinical settings to form stronger relationships.

“For me, this event shows a sense of community versus the day to day work we do in our classrooms,” she said. “The whole family is here and we get to see brothers, sisters and parents enjoying their time as one big group.”

Terry, a parent enrolled in CII’s Project Fatherhood program, attended Winter Family Festival with his children Kesai, age 12, Ky, 9, Kayja 6, Kahlil, 3 and Kaleena, 2. As the kids waited in line for the petting zoo, Terry said he looks forward to Winter Family Festival and getting to do everything together as a family.

“These are the memories we want as parents,” he said. “We appreciate everyone giving back and creating all of these activities where my kids get to enjoy the holidays.”

A special thank you to our volunteers and sponsors for supporting the Winter Family Festival: Baby2Baby, Billie Eilish, Bloomingdale’s, Boy Scouts of America, California Credit Union, California Medical Pharmacy, Freya Zhou Group, HCVT, LA Works, Loyola Marymount University, Loyola High School, Les Amies, MyWish4U, Spin Master, Thrive Causemetics, UCLA Latino Alumni Association and Young Storytellers.

See more event photos here.

As 2019 comes to a close, we looked back at a few of the highlights from the past year at CII. As with previous years, our success was powered by the support of our strong community of volunteers, donors and staff.

Father-Daughter Tea Honors Special Bonds

Project Fatherhood welcomed families to our Otis Booth campus for the 7th annual Father-Daughter Tea where the princess-themed party celebrated the relationship between fathers and daughters. Read more.

Promoting Healthy Alternatives to South LA’s Food Deserts

CII held a Family Health Fair in South LA that promoted healthier life choices for families. The event promoted access to preventative health care while encouraging nutritious meals. Read more.

Healing Childhood Trauma From Gun Violence in Watts

Since launching in the fall of 2018, our REACH TEAM spent this last year building important relationships in the Watts community and offering crucial support services to children exposed to gun violence. Read more.

31st Annual Colleagues Spring Luncheon Highlights Legacy of Giving Back

The Colleagues held their annual Spring Luncheon benefitting CII and honoring actress, author and philanthropist Marlo Thomas. Actor Henry Winkler introduced Thomas, and following the award ceremony, the audience was treated to a private fashion show of Oscar de la Renta’s Fall 2019 line. Read more.

Movie Night & Car Show Promotes STEAM Curriculum

More than 500 families and staff attended the 2nd Annual Movie Night & Car Show at CII’s Watts Campus in early May that prepared kids for success in school while encouraging group activities with families. Read more.

Appreciating Our Amazing Teachers

CII has 32 early childhood sites in LA that are staffed by 213 teachers and home visitors along with in-classroom parent volunteers. In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, we shared perspectives from teachers, volunteers and parents connected to these programs. Read more.

HBO Documentary FOSTER Features CII’s Family Preservation Program in Action

As part of National Foster Care Month, CII teamed up with Film Independent to co-present a screening of the new HBO documentary FOSTER at the ArcLight Hollywood. The documentary featured CII’s Family Preservation Program in action and the screening was followed by a panel discussion. Read more.

C.H.I.P.S. Annual Spring Luncheon Focused on Philanthropy & South LA

The C.H.I.P.S. held their annual Spring Luncheon benefitting CII where they honored the Watts Gang Task Force and philanthropists Alex Tuttle and Tiffany Tuttle.  Read more.

Community Connections Promoted Mental Wellness in Watts

Over 1,000 kids and their families joined CII for a family-friendly day of fun promoting the role of prevention, social support and connection in overall wellness. More than 50 providers, programs and services helped make the event a success. Read more.

Dream Big Graduation Caps Major Milestone for Foster Youth

CII celebrated foster youth from our Individualized Transition Skills Program (ITSP) at our 3rd Annual Dream Big Graduation. Speakers included Sean Anders, writer/director, Instant Family and Jessica Chandler, Children’s Social Worker, DCFS.
Read more.

Fatherhood Conference Brings Together Leaders

CII’s Project Fatherhood Program brought together 400 professionals at its annual Fatherhood Solutions Conference focusing on ways to increase fatherhood involvement in families. Read more.

Improving Support Through the Trauma-Informed Care Conference

CII gathered experts in the field of childhood trauma to discuss the latest research and best practices when it comes to providing trauma-informed care. Read more.

Designers Partner with CII to Build Bikes for Kids

CII’s annual Gears4Kids event partnered with 100 volunteers from some 20 architecture and design firms to taught kids how to build and ride a bike. Read more.

2^nd Annual Cape & Gown Gala

CII honored Netflix’s Channing Dungey and long-time supporters Bridget Gless Keller and Paul Keller at the 2nd Annual Cape & Gown Gala where $1.2 million was raised for CII’s early education, behavioral health and family strengthening programs. Read more.

Neighborhood Schools Initiative Invests in South LA

CII launched the Neighborhood Schools Initiative, which aims to support an entire school or preschool community with services for students, their families, teachers and administrators. CII will work in three schools in South LA that form a “feeder pattern,” which will support the same kids as they move from preschool through 12th grade. Read more.

Winter Family Festival Creates Lasting Memories

CII hosted the 25th annual Winter Family Festival for more than 2,500 children and family members that featured holiday entertainment, a petting zoo and winter crafts along with toy giveaways. Read more.

Hello,

My name is Raul and I’m a Parent Partner at Children’s Institute in Watts. In my role, I use my life experiences to support, engage and motivate families to achieve their goals. I wish CII’s services had been available when I was a child.

Growing up in South Central LA, it was normal for me and my brother to witness violence. Whether we were riding bikes or playing catch, it wasn’t unusual to hear gunshots, take cover, and then resume playing like nothing had happened. I remember walking around yellow police tape on my way to school, seeing dead bodies more than once, and witnessing domestic violence in our home.

Adults never talked about what was going on. I don’t remember anyone sitting me down and saying, “You shouldn’t go outside right now,” or “Maybe we should talk to someone about what you saw.” Instead, everyone acted like it wasn’t a big deal—it’s normal and it’s what happens in South Central.

I’ve made plenty of wrong turns myself and had to work very hard to overcome the trauma in my own life. But today, I feel so lucky to be a part of Children’s Institute where I am helping people from my community heal from trauma.

Our caring, compassionate services support families struggling from the effects of community violence and poverty. These families have witnessed many of the things my brother and I experienced growing up, but thanks to Children’s Institute, we are able to help by offering trauma-informed early education, behavioral health and family strengthening services.

This year, partner with us to create a new normal for South Los Angeles. When we invest in kids, we lift up the whole community. With your help, change is possible.

Happy Holidays,

Support life-changing services for children and families with an end of year donation this holiday season.

Kristine Hovhannisyan and David Lou have a clear strategy when it comes to innovation within the finance department at Children’s Institute. While it is common for many professionals to look at innovation as an opportunity to make their own lives easier, Hovhannisyan, Accounts Payable Supervisor, and Lou, Accountant, often make extra investments in innovating financial procedures to make work easier for all CII staff.

To them, finance can play a crucial role in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of nonprofits with limited capacity and budgets by innovating in ways that allow staff to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time on their core roles working with clients.

“We continue to try and introduce new ways to make sure the processes are easier for us and our staff,” Hovhannisyan said. “We want to make sure checks are sent faster, grant dollars go further, and staff reimbursements are processed more quickly.”

As a CII Value, Innovation is essential to the current and future success of serving children and families across Los Angeles. CII has played a crucial role for more than 100 years because staff at all level have embraced innovative practices that contributed to increasing the quality and quantity of CII’s work.

For many CII staff, their interaction with finance is limited to communication around vendor payments or expense reports. Behind the scenes, Hovhannisyan, Lou, and the 17 other members of the team, handle every dollar and cent of CII’s $83 million annual budget that keeps the organization functioning for nearly 1,000 staff and 26,000 clients.

Lou, who was hired by CII right out of college, said innovation can mean finding a financial solution to spreading grant dollars further, which then leads to the Early Childhood Education program enrolling more families or Behavioral Health & Wellness serving a larger number of clients. With the preschool right next-door, the results of this hard work can sometimes be right outside their window.

“I realized right away how big of an impact CII has and how important it is to have a functioning finance team,” Lou said. “Finance is where the budget starts, and if we’re doing our work inefficiently, we won’t be able to provide clients with what they need.”

Hovhannisyan, who has held multiple finance roles at different nonprofits before coming to CII, said it can be common for nonprofit finance teams to avoid innovation out of complacency, but this approach can hurt the long-term health and culture of an organization. While it takes more effort upfront, incremental improvements keeps an organization on a constant positive trajectory where financial support in always improving for clients and staff.

“We continue to try and introduce new ways to make sure the processes are easier for us and our staff. We want to make sure checks are sent faster, grant dollars go further, and staff reimbursements are processed more quickly,”

– Kristine Hovhannisyan, Accounts Payable Supervisor

A recent example the two shared was around staff compensation for mileage. Hovhannisyan and Lou said they are currently working on a system that tracks mileage in real time so staff no longer need to enter trips into Concur, which doesn’t always capture longer routes that Waze or Google Maps takes drivers on to avoid traffic.

Eliz Hovsepian, Vice President of Finance, said that Hovhannisyan and Lou approach their work with an eagerness and openness to partner on innovative ideas across all departments so they can understand concerns and answer any questions as they develop a solution that works for everybody.

“Both Kristine and David take the initiative to partner with their colleagues to provide insight and innovation in creating better systems, processes, trainings and support for the entire agency,” she said. “This isn’t an easy task and they come into the office every day with a smile and great attitude.”

Terry Kim, Director of Government Relations & Advocacy, said she noticed almost immediately that CII’s finance team treated innovation as a top priority. Kim, who worked at a nonprofit in New York City before joining CII, said she was used to handwriting expenses and stapling receipts to pieces of paper, which could be a slower and cumbersome process compared to using Concur.

Kim added that the finance team, especially Lou, was willing to hop on the phone and talk through the different technology features so she could better utilize them.

“David was accessible and patient,” Kim said. “He walked me through all of the details.”

This type of availability is important to Hovhannisyan and Lou, who take every opportunity they can to meet new staff. From their perspective, each new opportunity gives them insight into a different CII team or person, which can lead to new ideas about where they can innovate next.

“When we have the chance, we try and call someone instead of emailing so we can better understand their questions and concerns,” Hovhannisyan said. “We look forward to every opportunity to leave our department and get to know the rest of CII.”