Nonprofit Community Health Center Wins Federal Grant to Expand its Services to Children up to 3 Years of Age
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Michelle Stuffmann
mstuffmann@mednet.ucla.edu
(310) 664-7912
VENICE – (June 5, 2019) – Venice Family Clinic, a nonprofit community health center providing comprehensive health care to more than 27,000 people in need, announced today that it will more than double the number of children and families served through its Children First Early Head Start program after winning a five-year federal grant to expand the program’s services to parents and their children up to age 3.
Children First Early Head Start seeks to strengthen families and improve the lives of children by providing comprehensive health care, social services and community referrals. These services are designed to meet the needs of each child and family and include parent education, nutrition and dental services, child development and early childhood education, behavioral health and child health, safety and wellness.
Venice Family Clinic’s program provides these services at no cost to 180 children and families in Los Angeles who meet the U.S. poverty guidelines or have demonstrated needs for the services. With the new grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Head Start, Venice Family Clinic and its partners, Home Light Family Services and Venice Skills Center, will be able to serve 196 more.
The new grant funding will enable Venice Family Clinic and its partners to provide comprehensive Early Head Start services using both home-based and center-based models in the communities of Inglewood, Hawthorne, Holly Glen, Hyde Park, Lennox, View Park-Windsor Hills, Westchester and West Adams in the zip codes 90016, 90043, 90045, 90250, 90301, 90302, 90303, 90304 and 90305.
“We are so pleased to be awarded this grant because it will enable Venice Family Clinic to expand these critical services that help children get off to a great start in life,” said Venice Family Clinic CEO Elizabeth Benson Forer. “At Venice Family Clinic, our priority is delivering comprehensive care, and this includes addressing all the needs of a family, including educational assistance, parenting classes and more. By
working with families in need, beginning in pregnancy, we can ensure their children are healthier and better prepared for school and life.”
This program began at Venice Family Clinic in 1995 and is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as an extension of the Head Start Act.
“With our Children First Early Head Start program, Venice Family Clinic and its partners are promoting the health, safety and well-being of young children and their families by strengthening the bond between parent and child, empowering parents to understand their child’s development and helping them gain necessary skills to improve their families’ lives,” said Stacey Scarborough, director of the Venice Family Clinic’s Children First Early Head Start program. “Our studies have shown that children who have benefited from the Children First Early Head Start program do better in school and have better health outcomes because of the services they received and their parents’ involvement in the program.”
Venice Family Clinic’s mission is to provide quality primary health care to people in need. Launched in 1970, the Clinic has grown from a small storefront operation into the largest community health center on the Westside of Los Angeles. With the help of more than 1,300 volunteers, including nearly 400 physicians, it provides comprehensive medical, behavioral health, dental, substance use treatment, vision, child development, health education and health insurance enrollment services to more than 27,000 men, women and children annually through 12 sites in Venice, Santa Monica, Mar Vista, Inglewood and Culver City. For more information, visit venicefamilyclinic.org.