Promoting Healthy Alternatives to LA’s Food Deserts

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In early February, Children’s Institute held a Family Health Fair in South Los Angeles with the goal of promoting simple ways to live a healthier life to the children and families CII serves. The event sought to expand access to preventative health care while making activities like visiting the dentist or eating plant-based meals more palatable.

Held at CII’s Figueroa Center and sponsored by the Herbalife Nutrition Foundation, the fair brought together 21 community organizations that spanned different health and wellness fields. Community partners like UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic, Benevolence Health Center Inc., and Dignity Health, offered free screenings for dental, vision and blood pressure. Zumba and yoga courses were held throughout the day and wellness tools like electric tooth brushes and fitness trackers were raffled off.

As the day progressed, the importance of regular medical and dental checkups was discussed, but many attendees, volunteers and community organizers kept coming back to one area that was crucial to preventative health and wellness – a balanced diet.

CII works to reduce food deserts in South LAVegan tamales were served by Claudia Lopez and her restaurant Mama’s International Tamales.

Justine Lawrence, Vice President of Head Start at CII, said South LA offers few options when it comes to healthy eating. She said fast food restaurants are often the only option in these neighborhoods and the impact takes a toll on families living in food deserts.

“If you drive around this community, you are going to be hard pressed to find a grocery store that has fresh food,” she said. “We have a lot of children coming into our program struggling with obesity.”

Large swaths of South LA are considered food deserts. The term, created in the 1990s, describes urban areas that lack grocery stores where residents can buy fresh foods like fruits and vegetables. The United States Department of Agriculture has released multiple studies showing that there are large parts of South LA where fast food or processed food are the only available options.

Ongoing studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention point to a clear connection between negative long-term health effects in areas where fresh food is limited. As a result, higher rates of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure have been reported in these areas.

If you drive around this community, you are going to be hard pressed to find a grocery store that has fresh food.

– Justin Lawrence, Vice President of Head Start at CII

Angel Gaines, Site Supervisor for Compton Early Head Start, said she personally struggled with high blood pressure. She grew up in South LA food deserts and didn’t start eating healthy until after join CII and learning about maintaining a balanced diet.

Gaines said an important part of working with children and families is encouraging a healthy lifestyle that includes fresh food. As Gaines promoted physical activity by leading Zumba and yoga courses at the Family Health Fair, she said families are often unaware of the potential negative consequences when they eat only processed foods.

“When we have high blood pressure or diabetes, it is usually caused by what we are eating,” she said.

Olga, who has been attending CII programs since her daughter Sophia was 3 months old, said she appreciated how CII promotes cost-effective ways to make healthy meals while living in food deserts. She said she was able to cook food that is healthy without abandoning family recipes tied to her own Hispanic heritage.

“It opens up a door for people who may not want just raw vegetables,” she said. “Tamales are part of our culture, but they can be vegetarian or vegan.”

Claudia Lopez took this philosophy and turned it into a business. Her restaurant, Mama’s International Tamales, was at the Family Health Fair serving vegan tamales with vegetarian sides.

CII shares alternatives to food deserts in South LAStaff from CII’s Early Childhood Education display healthy alternatives to chips and candy as after school snacks. 

“I felt our community needed more health-based food options,” she said. “It is easy to substitute healthier ingredients like jack fruit or stop cooking with lard.”

Lopez views her restaurant, located in MacArthur Park, as an opportunity to educate people on how cultural foods like tamales can stay delicious while also being healthy. She said people often try her tamales and say they are shocked it was vegan.

Edgar, a parent visiting the Family Health Fair with his three children, said he would have never guessed the food from Mama’s International Tamales were vegan. He said he was drawn to the tamales aroma at the food booth after only being at the fair for a few minutes.

As a parent, Aguila has noticed a positive shift toward healthier eating. He said it is easy as a parent in South LA to get into a routine of eating too much fast food. He was thankful to see cost effective balanced eating promoted by CII and other community organizations.

“We raised our kids on McDonald’s for years, but now we’re more into cooking at home with kale, arugula and cauliflower,” he said. “Eating well is a big factor in growing up healthy and not getting sick.”

As many pointed out at the event, long-term success for South LA is continuing to expand the number of healthy food options while keeping costs low.

The average household income for neighborhoods in this area range between $33,000-$45,000 according to data published by the LA Times. Spending $10-$15 for a quick and healthy meal, which is often the cost in Santa Monica or West Hollywood, is not within the budgets of most residents in South LA.

Lakisha May, a field marketer for fast food startup Everytable, was offering up an example on how businesses can better serve residents of South LA food deserts and stay profitable. May said Everytable has a sliding scale for menu items. In South LA, Everytable items cost less than at their restaurants in other parts of the city where average incomes are higher.

For South LA to eat healthier, having affordable options will be crucial.

“It is different for people with less resources,” May said.

Thank you to event support from: Herbalife Nutrition Foundation; Mama’s International Tamales; CII Intensive Programs; LA Public Library; CII PowerUp!; CII Project Fatherhood; Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC; CII PABC; CII PFF, P&A; UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic; Eyeglass Store of OC; CII ERSEA; Benevolence Health Centers, Inc.; CII ECS; Dignity Health; Susan G. Komen; California WIC; Fun Dental 4 Kids; AltaMed.

Building Skills One Robot at a Time

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Students from Chaminade College Prep brought robotics back to CII’s PowerUp! after-school program last week in what will be a monthly program at the Otis Booth Campus. The series aims to expand involvement of fourth through seventh graders in STEAM subjects by partnering with eager high school robotic students ready to share their knowledge.

The PowerUp! program at CII works with children facing adversity in Los Angeles by providing curriculum and activities that will enable them to succeed in school, at home and in the community. When the students from Chaminade’s robotics team, called Eagle Engineering, visited PowerUp! in the fall to present about robotics competitions, the group saw potential for a longer-term partnership. This would include PowerUp! kids learning to build and code their own robots.

Through two fundraisers, Eagle Engineering raised enough money to start a robotics program at PowerUp!. They purchased kits for two different robots that came with software to program commands for the machines. With the purchases, the group committed to leading monthly classes for the remainder of the school year.

Chaminade and Childrens InstituteA student from Chaminade College Prep goes over direction with a CII client as they work to assemble the robotic kit.

At their first meeting, many of the kids had little to no experience writing program code for robot commands, but by the end of the class, the kids were celebrating as their newly built robots mastered new activities like wheeling around the room or picking up a water bottle with a mechanical arm.

Christina Gideon, Senior at Chaminade College Prep and Vice President of Business Operations with Eagle Engineering, said he appreciated the opportunity to share his experience in robotics with a younger generation.

“I like working with the kids and seeing where they need to learn more,” Gideon said. “It is definitely awesome to see how much they already know,” he said.

Two kids benefiting from Gideon’s guidance were fourth grader Hector and seventh grader Katheryn. After figuring out how to program movements on the robotic arm, Hector and Katheryn paused for a moment to figure out how to write code for the remote control.

There will be millions more jobs created in this field and we currently don’t have enough people for them.

-Tommy Smeltzer, Robotic Program Director at Chaminade College Prep

“It is kind of hard and frustrating,” Hector said.

Katheryn looked to Eagle Engineering Business Manager Yiwen Zhao who was standing nearby. He pointed to a section of the code that might be tripping the kids up. Hector and Kathryn swapped ideas and eventually typed in some code that worked.

Other students from Eagle Engineering helped guide the kids through physically assembling the robotic parts. At two tables, the kids spent time screwing together pieces and testing wheels.

Kaylee, a sixth grader, took a break from assembling the robots with fifth grader Matthew. Kaylee said she was having fun while building new skills she would use later in school. She said her code being used to make the robot move around the room was her favorite part.

“I enjoyed the whole thing because I learned new stuff about computer science,” she said.

Chaminade Prep CII RoboticsVice President of Eagle Engineering Christina Gideon looks over CII clients as they write code for the robots.

Robotics Program Director Tommy Smeltzer said students are motivated to partner with kids at CII. They believe they are making an investment in bringing more diversity to STEAM fields. He said any of these kids could pursue a career in a STEAM field.

“We can’t continue to fill important roles in STEAM if we are not pulling from a balanced swath of our population,” he said. “There will be millions more jobs created in this field and we currently don’t have enough people for them.”

In the last decade, there has been a growing emphasis on STEAM courses and careers. According to Pew Research Center, STEAM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics, has seen a 79% increase in job growth since 1990. The career field is expected to grow steadily over the next decade. That same Pew study also found that on average, STEAM careers make 26% more than similarly educated non-STEAM careers.

Nawal Salim, Experiential Learning Manager at CII who oversees PowerUp! programming, said a robotics partnership was a natural fit. As an after-school program that works with kids facing adversity and toxic stress in Los Angeles, the program helps to grow self-esteem while supporting kids as they cope with trauma.

We’re trying to keep kids motivated academically and find value in learning.

-Nawal Salim, Experiential Learning Manager at CII

In addition to robotics, the program has given kids access to lessons in yoga, electronic music production and ballet. While fun for the kids, each has a strong educational component.

“We’re trying to keep kids motivated academically and find value in learning,” she said. “They may not see the importance of math as a subject, but can understand its purpose while building a robot.”

While pleased with what will be accomplished with the robotics program, Salim said she is looking forward to future additions to PowerUp! that will bring other new experiences to the kids in the program.

Father-Daughter Tea is Steeped in Fun

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Project Fatherhood welcomed 35 families to CII’s Otis Booth campus on a rainy Saturday in February for the 7th annual Father-Daughter Tea. The princess-themed party included tea cup painting, manicures, frame decorating and tiaras.

The event celebrates the unique relationship between fathers and daughters, and is one of a dozen special programs that CII’s Project Fatherhood organizes each year.

The Junior League of Los Angeles has been a long-time sponsor of the Father-Daughter Tea. This year, the group sent 30 volunteers and donated the tea sets and picture frames.

Noemi Vasquez, Care Coordinator at Project Fatherhood and lead organizer of the event, said the Father-Daughter Tea is one of the most popular events each year.

“From the moment the girls get that tiara you see them feel special,” Vasquez said. “It’s amazing to watch the reactions of daughters being celebrated while also looking up to their fathers.”

Victor lost his dad at a young age while growing up in a gang-affiliated part of Los Angeles, and never thought he could have a close, supportive relationship with his own children. He said going to the event with his two daughters is like a dream come true.

“My 5-year-old daughter was so excited that she asked me to go out with her to buy a dress,” Victor said. “Just knowing that she will always remember special times like this makes me feel happy and blessed to be a dad.”

Jessie was also at the event with his five daughters. Taking a break from doing crafts, he said he appreciated Project Fatherhood and what the program has brought to his life. He said it was clear why this event, and Project Fatherhood as a whole, was so important to his own relationship with his kids.

“Project Fatherhood taught me to never give up on my children and to never let them down no matter how rough life gets,” he said. “I just love being a dad.”

Just knowing that she will always remember special times like this makes me feel happy and blessed to be a dad.

-Victor, Father enrolled in CII’s Project Fatherhood

Tracy Klein, Chair of the Done in a Day Committee for the Junior League of Los Angeles, said the group has been a long-time partner of CII and loves supporting the event.

“It is always one of the most anticipated Done in a Day events for our member volunteers, bringing us as much joy in participating as we hoped it brought the fathers and daughters who take part,” Klein said.

For Keith Parker, Director of Project Fatherhood, the event is an opportunity to advance the program’s goal of improving the connection between fathers and their daughters. Parker, who joined CII in November to oversee Project Fatherhood, strongly believes in the event.

“Father-Daughter Tea is an opportunity for fathers to spend time with their daughters and work on ways to communicate with each other better,” he said.

Children's Institute Father Daughter TeaVolunteers from the Junior League of Los Angeles carry around trays of desserts to fathers and daughters as they enjoy the event.

While the Father-Daughter Tea is full of fun activities, the core purpose of the event is to educate and encourage dads to be involved in the lives of their children. This philosophy is central to the mission of the Project Fatherhood program at CII.

Started in 1996 by Dr. Hershel K. Swinger, Project Fatherhood ensures fathers who grow up facing adversity are given the tools, support and education to succeed when caring for their own children. Dr. Swinger believed fathers sometimes face barriers and challenges that can prevent them from fulfilling their parental duties. He wanted to create a space where fathers could openly share their love.

In the program, fathers gain access to a group support system, therapeutic activities, and discussions around healthier decision making in relationships.

At the time of the program’s creation, roughly 50 percent of children growing up in poverty lived with only their mother. Often, children who grow up in homes without fathers repeat the cycle with their own family.

A father poses with his daughter as they take a break from festivities at CII’s Father-Daughter Tea.

Edward Berumen, Senior Clinical Supervisor at Project Fatherhood, said Dr. Swinger saw the effects on children when a father is no longer present. With the right support, Dr. Swinger believed in Project Fatherhood’s ability to break the generational cycle of absent fathers. They could help them be present in their own child’s success.

“Fathers play an essential role in families and contribute to a child’s success in school and greater self-esteem,” said Edward Berumen, Program Supervisor, Project Fatherhood. “The focus of Project Fatherhood is to provide a space where fathers can openly share and affirm the love they have for their children.”

Over its 20-plus years, the program has worked with 15,000 fathers and 23,000 children across Los Angeles County.

Berumen said they also hold upwards of 12 events each year that give fathers time to bond with their kids. While the Father-Daughter Tea is all about the leading ladies in their lives, Project Fatherhood hosts softball games, group hikes and movie nights that aren’t gender specific.

“Each event is designed with activities that dads can replicate when they spend time with their kids at home,” Berumen said.

Children’s Institute’s Top Moments of 2018

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This month, we took a moment to pause and look back at a few highlights from Children’s Institute this past year. In 2018, we adopted an ambitious strategic plan that will double the number of children and families we serve over the next 10 years. As part of this strategic plan, we spent last year expanding services focused on supporting children and families facing adversity across Los Angeles. This included launching a new initiative in Watts supporting children and families exposed to gun violence. We also looked for ways to bring new experiences to kids in our programs like attending a theatre performance, camping or building their first bike.

Like previous years, our successes in 2018 were powered by the strong support of our greater LA community. Events were supported, attended and hosted by amazing volunteers and in-kind items were donated by local CII friends and businesses. The donors who fund crucial CII services continued to support our organization with a record number of gifts. We ended the year on a high note by raising almost $1 million at our inaugural Cape & Gown Gala on November 14 when we honored child advocates Beth & Bob Lowe along with Frank, Berta and Sam Gehry.

We’ve already started working to make an even bigger impact in 2019, and we’ll keep you updated along the way.

Supplied for Success

We celebrated our four year-old Head Start graduates with a back-to-school event ensuring a successful transition to kindergarten. The children received backpacks filled with school supplies provided by Age of Learning.

“It has always been our goal to achieve school readiness for our children and their families. The backpack donation ensures our children starting kindergarten have all the essentials,” says Justine Lawrence, Vice President of Head Start, CII.

The Healing Power of the Arts

Youth from our Individualized Transitional Skills Program  and Santee Education Complex were treated to a performance of Daniel Beaty’s “emergency” at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. The one-man show featured poetry, music and humor as Beaty played an array of characters coping with the effects of trauma. Read more about the event.

Supporting Children Exposed to Gun Violence

We launched a new initiative in partnership with the LA City Attorney’s Office and LAPD to support children in Watts who have been exposed to gun violence. The REACH TEAM ensures children and families in Watts receive appropriate and timely crisis intervention and support services through Children’s Institute and partner organizations. Read more about the partnership.

Gears for Kids

Our annual Gears for Kids event went off without a hitch thanks to our partners at Haworth.  Partners from 24 major design firms built bikes with kids from our Power-Up after-school program. Each kid got to take their bike home at the end of the day. In-N-Out Burger sent a food truck keeping our kids and volunteers energized.

Happy Campers

We held our 8th annual Camp Booth retreat at Booth Ranches in Fresno where kids got to spend time in nature and build camaraderie. Youth got to see a movie under the stars, interact with horses and make s’mores. Camp Booth was hosted by former board member and longtime supporter Loren Booth.

UCLA Career Day Opens Horizons for Youth

Our Power Up after-school program youth joined us for our first College & Career Day. The event was hosted by the UCLA Latino Alumni Association. Kids created resumes and figured out the skills they will need to make their dream jobs a reality. UCLA students and alumni also spoke to the kids about their unique college and career paths.

Cape & Gown Gala Raises $1.3 million for Services

Children’s Institute welcomed 400 guests to the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows in Santa Monica to honor Beth & Bob Lowe and Frank, Berta and Sam Gehry at the first ever Cape & Gown Gala. The event raised close to $1 million for Children’s Institute’s programs. Read more about this successful event.

Early Head Start Expands to Compton

CII opened its first Early Head Start Program in Compton. Serving 140 infants and toddlers, the program provides crucial services to set kids up for future success. To celebrate the grand opening, CII invited kids, families and community members to an event with food and music.

A New Home in Long Beach

The day after we celebrated the new Compton Early Head Start, CII headed further south to celebrate the grand opening of our Long Beach center. The award-winning 20,000 square foot hub was designed by DSH // architecture.

Winter Family Festival Spreads Holiday Cheer

In December, we hosted our annual Winter Family Festival. The event opened our Otis Booth Campus to more than 2,500 children and families. The day included special holiday moments for kids including storytelling, arts and crafts and cupcake decorating. There was also an obstacle course and lots of giveaways for children and families who take part in CII’s programs.

Working as a Team

More than 30 CII staff members finished up the year by completing in the rigorous LASpartan Race. With several stunning displays of teamwork, the group pushed the limits as they climbed over barriers and swung through rope courses to finish as a team. Those who compete in Spartan races demonstrate a camaraderie towards other participants, embrace the challenge of the unknown and set out to prove they can accomplish difficult things. Mission accomplished.

Want to learn more about CII?

Read our 2018 Annual Report and Impact Report.

Make a difference in the lives of children and families exposed to adversity and poverty by making an end-of-year donation this holiday season.

 

For One Employee, the Holidays are a Full-Time Job

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Having served as the President & CEO’s Executive Assistant for seven years, leading holiday decorating at Children’s Institute was not originally in Josh Pleiness’ job description. When a contractor fell through for decorating the Otis Booth Campus five years ago, Josh jumped at the opportunity.

It doesn’t take much time talking to Josh to realize he loves the holidays. He puts up three different trees at home and has so many decorations personally, he needs a separate storage unit. This December, he wrapped up another year decorating the Otis Booth Campus as well as the Long Beach, Watts, Burton Green and Mid-Wilshire campuses.

“There’s always something going on in my head,” he said. “I do thoroughly enjoy holiday decorating, but everything I do stresses me out sometimes.”

Josh described both of his parents as creative and being the original inspiration for his enthusiasm for the holidays. He fondly remembers his family bonding over putting ornaments on trees and stringing garland.

Growing up with one parent in the military, he got to experience how different regions celebrated. He spent time in Florida, Germany, Michigan and Alaska. When he got his degree in interior design and interior decoration from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, he saw an opportunity to apply those skills to holiday decorating.

“It is all about families being together and spending time together.”

At CII, Josh sees an extra level of importance in his work. The decorations are a chance for the children and families served at CII to feel togetherness during the holidays. For many, past Decembers may have been a difficult or even traumatic time. Josh’s work helps provide a backdrop for happier memories and experiences.

“It is all about families being together and spending time together,” he said.

Josh remembers one year when a boy around the age of six had just come out of a therapy room. He was in a program that works with school-aged children, and clearly upset about something. He had just been crying. Josh invited him over to help him put the ornaments on the tree. Josh said he joined him in decorating for quite some time and the boy was eventually laughing at the end of it.

Experiences like these motivate Josh to go above and beyond simply pulling decorations out of storage and putting them up. Last year, he built a giant dreidel from scratch. A previous year he noticed the paint chipping off the ornaments so he carefully hand painted them to stay within budget and ensure everything looked perfect.

Knowing that the end of the year can be a stressful month for many staff, Josh sees the decoration as an opportunity to bring happiness to staff who may be feeling stretched. He said staff will often approach him and say how much they appreciate the decorations. It is something many look forward to during this time of year.

While Josh’s dream would be to one day design and decorate the holiday celebration at the White House, he is happy knowing how many people appreciate his work at CII. Josh jokingly said the only downside to all of his work is that it eventually must come down.

“If it were up to me, I’d leave it up all year,” he said.

Camp Booth Brings the Outdoors to Los Angeles Kids

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Now in its 8th year, Camp Booth is an annual camping trip for youth in our school aged programs held at Booth Ranches near Fresno. The weekend retreat is made possible by former board member and longtime supporter Loren Booth.

The trip started as a way to expose children to new experiences in nature with their peers. The impact of poverty and childhood adversity can limit opportunities for weekend outings like camping, and research shows that the development and growth experienced by youth on weekend outings can be transformative.

With bags packed, youth prepared to head north for a weekend in nature on Friday, October 5.

CII’s Watts Campus served as base camp. After being dropped off by family members, each camper was assigned a blue, green, red or pink t-shirt, which designated each child’s specific team for the weekend. Aside from a few siblings, most of the kids going to Camp Booth did not know each other at the beginning of the weekend.

Nestled in California’s Central Valley, Booth Ranch is near a picturesque river. Serving as a commercial citrus grove, the ranch also has horses and cattle. The campers, who had never been to a ranch before, had numerous questions about horses, livestock and fishing.

Along with the sights, a full schedule of activities ensured youth would get the most out of their weekend. A few of the highlights included petting horses, catching fish on the Booth Ranch pond and making s’mores by a campfire.

“I liked meeting the horses because I have never been that close to a horse,” one youth said at the end of the weekend.

Finding ways to overcome challenges

In addition to being a lot of fun, each of the activities helped the children learn and grow. Campers were split into four different groups where they learned to work together. Activities like catch, kiss and release fishing taught patience and an obstacle course showed perseverance.

One activity that was especially memorable for youth involved passing around a glowing soccer ball. On the first night, campers took turns with the ball as they shared their biggest fears for the weekend. Kids said they worried about things like missing home, not making friends and encountering bears. The campers then wrote down their fears and threw them into the campfire.

On the last night, they took the same ball and shared their highlights from camp. As many passed around the ball, they noticed the fears they had going into camp never happened.  Campers got to experience firsthand the importance of overcoming fears to have meaningful experiences.

Allison Reidy, CII’s Development Coordinator and Camp Booth counselor, said it was great to see how kids grew over the weekend. She said some of youth were very shy to start the weekend while others were overly energetic.

“As the weekend progressed, the girls started to open up and make friends while the boys seemed to behave and listen to their counselors,” she said. “Above all, they got to be free and enjoy being kids.”

Learn more about CII programs that support school-aged children.