Starting in 1994 Liz led Venice Family Clinic’s growth from one clinic in Venice to a network of sites serving 45,000 people from the Santa Monica Mountains through the South Bay.
In her final year as CEO and Executive Director, Liz led the development of a new initiative that embodies and expands our comprehensive model of care. Launched in 2022, The Community Connection delivers quality health care, mental health care, and early childhood programming to children and families to ensure they have the tools to build healthy and successful lives. Programming happens across sites, with a hub at our new building in Inglewood.
Venice Family Clinic is a leading community health center in Los Angeles committed to addressing the physical and social factors that can hinder good health. Over 30 years ago the Clinic became a pioneer in children’s health when, as a health care provider, it began offering an early childhood development program. The Clinic has since established a model of care that integrates a network of primary health care sites with Early Head Start centers serving people from the Santa Monica Mountains through the South Bay. The services are designed for both children and their caregivers and are intended to build robust families and healthy adults.
The individuals served by the Clinic face a disproportionately higher risk of poor health outcomes. In FYE 2023, we delivered health care and child development services to 2,296 children aged 0-3 and 866 expectant parents, totaling 3,262 families. Of these, 86% reside below the federal poverty line, earning just $30,000 to sustain a family of four. Many endure substandard housing, struggle to secure steady employment (or juggle multiple jobs), and encounter various day-to-day challenges, fostering extreme stress during their child’s crucial developmental stages. The long-term repercussions of this trauma are evident in enduring health and economic disparities.
The Clinic, responding to the increasingly complex challenges confronting young families in Los Angeles, continually adapts and evolves through novel programs and community partnerships. A planning grant from The Tikun Olam Foundation in early 2020 enabled the Clinic to assess systemic inequities driving disparities in early childhood. After assembling a panel of patients and experts, and conducting extensive research, we crafted the blueprint for The Community Connection.
In January 2022, supported by a lead grant from the Tikun Olam Foundation, we launched this multi-pronged initiative, offering a continuum of care from pregnancy through a child’s first three years. Designed to foster emotional and economic resilience, the services target young families, aiming to break the cycle of poverty. Initially accessible to parents and children from birth through age three, plans for expansion to older children are underway as the program and funding develop. The Community Connection integrates medical, mental health, and early childhood wraparound services, while enhancing social capital in the Clinic’s neighborhoods and promoting economic opportunity and resilience for vulnerable families.
Family Care Teams: A multidisciplinary group of early childhood and medical experts coordinate all services to ensure families benefit from comprehensive care. Pediatricians, therapists, health educators, Early Head Start staff, case managers, UCLA residents, and others convene monthly to assess and offer recommendations for high-risk families facing destabilizing circumstances.
Doulas & Lactation Consultation: Integral to prenatal and postnatal care, doulas educate expectant parents about childbirth, provide psychosocial support, and offer referrals for complex medical or mental health issues. Certified lactation consultants assist parents in navigating feeding challenges.
Infant Mental Health Therapy: Initiated during the parent’s pregnancy and extending through the child’s third year, in-home therapy prepares mothers and fathers for parenthood and helps establish nurturing healthy, attuned parent-infant and parent-child bonds.
Playgroups: Facilitating early socialization for children and combating parental isolation, playgroups also educate parents about healthy child development and foster community connections.
Classes & Group Medical Visits: Classes cover parenting skills, child development, family relationships, chronic disease management, prevention, nutrition, and free produce distributions. Pre-natal services and access to clinicians and health educators extend beyond medical visits in classes that bring together pregnant parents and families with young children.
Adult Education & Job Training: Partnering with the Los Angeles Unified School District, we offer training for enhanced employment opportunities, focusing on health care and child development to assist families seeking stable, well-paying jobs with benefits and strengthening the workforce
The focal point of the initiative is a new health and wellness community center in Inglewood, an area of critical need within our region. Here, families will access medical, child development services, adult education and job training while forming connections with other families. Venice Family Clinic purchased The Crenshaw Children and Family Center in 2021, to serve as The Community Connection’s home post-renovation in 2025. To enhance accessibility, virtual programs and sessions will also be available at our 19 other clinical and Early Head Start sites, serving people from the Santa Monica Mountains through the South Bay.