Best Start STEM Family Fun Day

Discovery Cube Los Angeles is excited to introduce to the community a fun and educational program for community members in San Fernando Valley. Low-income families in San Fernando Valley do not have the space or resources to learn, play and interact with each other. Our program seeks to fulfill this need by serving 30 families in the course of one year. Best Start STEM Family Fun Day will be a 2-hour bi-weekly program that will take place at Discovery Cube Los Angeles on Saturdays. The program will teach topics related to STEM and environmental stewardship. Each program day will include a book reading, hands-on activity, followed by playtime at our museum. Each family will receive a copy of the books read and a backpack in preparation for school. At the end of this program, families will be given a certificate of completion during a celebration for their participation and achievement. Each family will receive a complimentary one-year family membership to both of our museum locations. We are also giving 4-ticket family package to each of the families to hand out to friends. We want to create a fun and safe learning environment while providing parents, grandparents, or guardians the opportunity to fully engage in their children’s learning and development.
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SFV Leadership Cooperative and Distribution

LA Baby Cooperative Presents: Our proposed series of events will be to provide mental health resources addressing concerns, such as postpartum and feelings of depression and/or anxiety. Our target audience is Indigenous Peoples, Migrants, Spanish Speaking Communities, Women, Moms, Parents, Children and Infants. The free events will be hosted by mental health professionals and those who have been in the position of helping the community heal through strategies of art, relationship building and trust building. Additionally, the events will be organized and ran by community members. Training will be provided to prepare the community for leadership roles and skills. Trainings include on how to manage an infant necessities distribution, along with the leadership training.  After each event, participants will receive free infant necessities, for their participation in the educational workshops. The project's intent is to help families go back to old traditions that do not exist in western culture. Uniting with communities to help uplift each other in various ways. Prioritizing relationship building, to bring back the comprehension that we all have a resource and capacity to do various things to help one another. Additionally, we are the leaders in our community, and we can take charge of our circumstances and our communities' circumstances through helping one another.
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Connecting Generations

Plaza Comunitaria Sinaloa presents: The Connecting Generations project will implement a digital literacy program that aims to increase access to education and address the gap in computer skills among parents. Our goal is to provide participants with the necessary skills to navigate technology while strengthening relationships between parents, teachers, and children. We seek to empower individuals and their families so that they can engage technology and the school system with confidence.
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Helping the Community

“Helping the Community” from Phoenix House is a parent led support group program facilitated by Phoenix House Staff to help parents connect with one another while learning about mental health, substance use, and parenting all while making connections with other parents and building longer term connections. Our goals are to help reduce the stigma of mental health and substance use, provide parenting support, education, and empower parents with the resources they need to support their families. The eight week curriculum will cover mental health and substance use education, reducing the stigma, stress management, mindfulness, anger management, parenting, resources, and a time to connect with others. Parents do best when they are provided with information, support, and a sense of belonging. Families will meet once a week for eight weeks over a meal and will be provided materials, transportation, and can earn incentives for participation. Parents will then be encouraged after to continue to maintain relationships with each other and build those natural supports in their communities. Phoenix House staff will be there throughout to educate, support and empower the parents. There will be 4 eight week sessions offered throughout the year at one per quarter.
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Bringing Families Together

The West Valley Family YMCA: Bringing Families Together program focuses on providing families with mental health support through a variety of different methods. Our goal is to address the mental health issues that families face, primarily parents who struggle with technology which causes anxiety and stress. We hope to be able to provide much needed resources to those families in the ways of workshops that educate parents on both technology and would provide tools to help their mental health. We will also help kids destress by creating classes specifically aimed to help alleviate the stress they may feel from school and tools to help cope with the stresses of being a kid and the world around them. By creating these opportunities for families in our communities, we hope to be part of the change to end the negative stigma surrounding mental health and provide the right tools for families to be successful with addressing their own mental health needs.
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Healing Talks

PUC Schools and Best Start present a community-based project: Healing Talks: which addresses the rising need for mental health support with a communal response to provide support through healing circles and education about mental health for the San Fernando Valley and surrounding communities. Our families across the San Fernando Valley have made it clear that the mental health system is overwhelmed, and opening Healing Talk Circles led by our community is our response. We will host and co-facilitate support groups with open dialogue for Women, Men, and Youth to provide community-run safe spaces for healing and wellness around mental health. In collaboration, we will provide well-being/ mental health education to our most at-risk communities providing tools for dealing with depression, anxiety, loss, coping mechanisms, well-being, and stress management as well as connecting community members to various resources. These community collaborations and conversations will reduce the stigma around mental health issues and access, allowing more community members to receive the support and tools they need to thrive, heal, and feel empowered. Through our collaborative efforts with the surrounding communities, leaders, and members, we hope to nourish and sustain an environment where individuals thrive and support one another to heal.
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Mental Health First Aid

The Child and Family Guidance Center will focus on Priority # 1 Mental Health and Emotional Well-being – Suicide Prevention, by implementing the Mental Health First Aid Awareness Program. Mental Health First Aid is an evidence-based training/ 8 hours certification course designed to give members of the community key skills to help an adolescent or adult who is developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis. Program goals is to minimize the stigma associated with mental health and reduce suicide with the final goal of the community well-being. We have the capacity to provide the training in English and Spanish. Participants will also have the opportunity to apply and become a Certified Instructor by the National Council of Behavioral Health to teach this course during and beyond the end of this project. We’ll provide community forums, every other month for participants to receive support and share their experiences conducting the Mental Health First Aid Course.
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Family Wellness Circles

The Village Family Services proposes to implement Family Wellness Circles; a program that will engage 75 parents in our free 3-week program providing support and education on best practices to improve the overall well-being of their children and families. The Family Wellness Circles program will provide mental health and well-being support and education to parents and children located in the San Fernando Valley. In our community, many families do not seek emotional well-being and mental health support due to stigma and its high cost. The Village Family Services offers families the opportunity to receive a stipend for each workshop they attend, participate in free support groups for parents who are struggling to address behavioral health challenges for their children and families and receive resources on low-cost emotional health support. The Village Family Services aims to improve the relationship between parents and their children by providing them with much-needed support services through the Family Wellness Circles program.
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Nature and Family Wellness

Champions in Service works toward improving the lives of underserved communities in the Northeast San Fernando Valley by providing intensive case management services. CIS recognizes the increased need for accessible and holistic mental health and well-being programs in our community. Champions in Service’s Nature and Family Wellness Program aims to improve the emotional well-being of parents and families by providing nature-based parenting and family support groups. These weekly support groups will focus on exercise, nutrition, nature, and mental wellness while providing socialization and family bonding opportunities. Accessibility plays a prominent role in seeking services. Therefore, transportation and childcare will be offered to reduce barriers for interested families. The nature-based component of the program also increases opportunities for families to practice wellness methods practiced in groups to be utilized on their own, such as in parks or their homes. Additionally, monthly field trips will provide exposure to natural spaces that families may not usually have access to. Through participation, our community will receive education and methods to increase wellness in an inviting, community-based environment.
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