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MISSION STATEMENT:

The mission of FAMLI  is to increase positive self-identity for Los Angeles at-risk youth through mentorship and programming in the arts, technology, and leadership development.

SERVICES/SUCCESSES:

FAMLI operates two tracks of programming in the Leimert Park and Westlake areas of Los Angeles. The afterschool programming track incorporates a nine-point curriculum developed by founder Torrence Brannon-Reese which teaches youth the importance of Family, Tolerance, Health, Civics, Career, Economics, Culture, Education and Personal Responsibility. The mentoring programming track (See A Man, Be A Man) utilizes a unique male mentoring model for at risk African-American males ages 10-18.  See A Man, Be A Man (SAMBAM) provides accomplished, professional, caring adult male mentors for youth who otherwise would not have access to this valuable relationship.

MISSION STATEMENT:

School on Wheels enhances educational opportunities for homeless children from kindergarten through twelfth grade.  The goal is to shrink the gaps in their education and provide them with the highest level of education possible.

SERVICES/SUCCESSES:

Hundreds of volunteers work one-on-one with children whose homelessness prevents them from getting the academic stability and help they desperately need. The heart of the School on Wheels’ programs is the volunteer tutors who come from all backgrounds and professions, with a shared goal: to reach out to a child, to teach, to mentor, and assist in their educational life.

WHY SCHOOL ON WHEELS IS A BRIGHT *

While School on Wheels serves homeless children, we know firsthand that the dedicated, caring, devoted tutors receive as much benefit from the collaboration as the students.  We treasure an organization that not only understands the value of partnership for all parties, but has created built-in sustainability in its model.  Head of the class!

MISSION STATEMENT:

Women in Non-Traditional Employment Roles (WINTER) was formed by a group of tradeswomen who wanted to extend opportunities to economically disadvantaged community women.  “Our mission is to encourage and support girls and women’s education, training, employment, and retention in high-wage, high-skill jobs.”

In September 2007, under the WINTER umbrella, Rosie the Riveter Charter High School was launched to champion the spirit of progressive education by providing a rigorous, standards-based secondary education.  In addition to core academic classes, students have a chance to explore the opportunities that community colleges offer such as auto repair and the culinary arts.  Additionally, students interested in the construction and public utilities industry are able to explore these career opportunities.  “Our students can ‘test drive a career’ so to speak, and learn about the skills and earning potential these careers offer.”

SERVICES/SUCCESSES:

Throughout its 15-year history, WINTER has promoted the employment of women in non-traditional labor markets by working primarily with two sectors:  poverty level women and youth who need progressive high school education, employment training and related assistance and the employers who might hire them.

Rosie the Riveter Charter High School helps “at-risk” (“at-promise”) students who have not succeeded in traditional public schools turn their lives around and become socially successful while achieving academic levels necessary for high school graduation and success in registered apprenticeships in the construction and building trades.  Rosie the Riveter principles include commitment to community transformation through education, life skills training, employment training, violence prevention strategies, and family advocacy.

WHY WINTER/ROSIE THE RIVETER IS A BRIGHT *

Because these forward-thinking folks understand that education, exposure and experience line the avenue to a happy, fulfilling life and career.  They are indefatigable in their mission to educate the most underserved girls and women and help them on the path to a gratifying and rewarding career and life.

MISSION STATEMENT:

P.S. Arts recruits, hires, underwrites and trains professional artists to develop curriculum and teach classes during the regular school day.  The organization works to educate and empower classroom teachers through arts-related workshops that demonstrate how to integrate creative expression and the arts into core academic subjects.

SERVICES/SUCCESSES:

The goals of P.S. Arts’ programs are to engage young minds, develop creative skills, improve observational powers, increase receptivity and develop problem solving abilities – all skills that serve children in their academic and personal development.  In addition, P.S. Arts programs help students develop grade-level appropriate concepts and skills in the arts, and help them identify connections between the arts and core subjects like language arts, social studies, math and science.

WHY P.S. ARTS IS A BRIGHT *

In a climate where the budget for arts programs in public schools is constantly slashed—if not entirely obliterated—P.S. Arts currently provides arts programs (including music, theatre/drama, dance, visual arts) to more than 11,000 students in the most underserved schools in Southern and Central California.  This organization supports schools whose students most require arts education to help create fair and equal access.  Encore, P.S. Arts!

MISSION STATEMENT:

The OUR HOUSE mission is to provide the community with grief support services, education, resources, and hope. For fifteen years, OUR HOUSE has helped thousands of grieving children, teens, and adults as they embark upon their journeys to hope and healing.

SERVICES/SUCCCESSES:

OUR HOUSE grief support groups create a warm environment of safety and comfort in which children, teens, and adults find the support they need from others who have also experienced the death of someone close. Led by highly trained volunteers, groups are age and relationship specific.  OUR HOUSE also offers grief support groups in local schools helping grieving children in low income, underserved areas of Los Angeles County.

OUR HOUSE is a leading provider of grief education, offering workshops, seminars, and in-service training to mental health and medical professionals, clergy, educators, and other members of the community who interact with bereaved families.

WHY OUR HOUSE IS A BRIGHT *

Death is part of a complete life cycle.  Being afraid or not addressing grief once you have lost someone will only magnify sadness, fear, isolation.  The staff at OUR HOUSE understands the absolute importance of grief counseling.  They are cheerful, devoted and caring. Everyone is there for the right reason. This is an inviting place to go and grieve the passing of a loved one. We need a place that provides tools, comfort and a safe place to share.  One of the key components is that OUR HOUSE is open to everyone and the groups are diverse. Socioeconomics disappear.  Truth and support persevere.

MISSION STATEMENT:

The basic philosophy of One Voice is simple:  each of us can make a difference and together we can create a community of caring to help those in need.  One Voice helps families living at poverty level within our community.  Their programs range from providing emergency relief services to families in immediate crisis to a scholars program designed to better the quality of people’s lives.

SERVICES/SUCCESSES:

One Voice has three key areas of programming:

The Scholars Program prepares and places low income inner city Los Angeles high school students in esteemed colleges throughout the United States such as Amherst, Brown, MIT, Wellesley, Yale, Swarthmore and Stanford.  100% of One Voice scholars gain admission to college and an impressive 95% graduate from college with 30% continuing on to graduate school.

The Holiday Food Program provides Christmas food baskets, books and toys to over 2,500 families (12,500 people) living in poverty in the Los Angeles community. Over 2,000 volunteers work together to personally package and distribute toys, books and food to deserving families.

The Family Assistance Programs are a diverse group of programs that reach out to help families living at poverty level in Los Angeles to improve their lives.

WHY ONE VOICE IS A BRIGHT *

Because true to their name and their founder’s, Susan Silbert, belief: one person can make a difference and many working together is One Voice.  Person by person, family by family, One Voice is helping change the cycle of poverty and improving lives for a new generation through caring assistance and providing access to education.  Yay, One Voice!

MISSION STATEMENT:

Fostering practices that awaken connection with self, others and the natural world.

Council, the practice of listening and speaking from the heart, is the core offering.

SERVICES/SUCCESSES:

The work of The Ojai Foundation began at the retreat center in Ojai where students are led on rites of passage retreats and adults participate in council trainings and transformational workshops. The retreat center in Ojai is a place of ceremony and contemplation and the practice of council is the central teaching.

WHY THE OJAI FOUNDATION IS A BRIGHT *

We deeply respect that council encourages people to share authentically, is inclusive and helps people work on their listening skills. We especially like that The Ojai Foundation is training teachers, administrators and parents making the work sustainable and accessible to many more students. Council is spreading throughout the world and there are currently more than 12,000 students in Los Angeles schools participating in councils every week.  Personally, both our Squid and Squash have council in their schools and have brought the council ceremony into family life.  Magnificent!

MISSION STATEMENT:

The organization’s core belief is that all children deserve an excellent education and in order for children to learn best, they need to have their social, emotional and physical needs met. The Foundation’s goal is to find innovative ways to provide a wide-range of learning based programs to as many of our underserved children as possible, catalyzing change in American education.

SERVICES/SUCCESSES:

In New Visions’ commitment to equity for underserved urban children and youth, it strives to create sustainable partnerships by launching and co-launching:

• - New Roads School
• - Charter Schools
• - Special programs focusing on specific underserved populations:
  • - Foster Youth (Fostering New Visions)
  • - Probation Youth (New Roads for New Visions)
  • - NVforLENZ (New Visions for Lennox Educational Neighborhood Zone)

Over the past 16 years, New Visions has launched schools that provide a more equitable access to educational excellence. The first was New Roads School in 1995, an independent school committed to economic and ethnic diversity in its student body.

With an expansion of its original mission of starting new independent schools, the Foundation partnered with Pueblo Nuevo, and with ExED, a specialized management firm, to design its first charter school’s site and curriculum. That new school became Camino Nuevo Charter Academy in 2000.

The Foundation continued to partner to launch more schools including Los Angeles Academy of Arts and Enterprise (LAAAE) in 2005 and New Village Charter High School in 2006 both serving low income, predominately at-risk student bodies. To further effect change, New Visions expanded its scope to include educational programs and social services.  In addition to academic excellence, all New Visions programs incorporate Founder Dr. Paul Cummins’ “five other solids”: environmental education, human development, the arts, physical education and community service.

WHY NEW VISIONS FOUNDATION IS A BRIGHT *

Never content to merely stand on past brilliant successes, Dr. Cummins and the New Visions Foundation constantly seek ways to improve access to learning, as well as forge new paths to education for those who most urgently require doors opened to opportunity.

The newest endeavor is The Herb Alpert Educational Village which provides a collaborative space that will foster partnership among non-profit organizations to promote educational innovation.  Through incubating and communicating educational ideas, village partners promote social justice, environmental sustainability and the arts such that all youth, and especially at-risk youth, can have access to an excellent education.  New Visions indeed!