Helping Children and Parents in Downtown Los Angeles Build Community

Children's Bureau is the organization that first certified my wife and I to become foster parents a couple of decades ago. We are also adoptive parent mentors. I've had an association for many years and during the past few years, the nonprofit has invested more closely in the lives of families in downtown Los Angeles. The vision is to provide holistic services to improve the quality of life in a community. This particular article focuses on the purpose for Magnolia Place -- an inter-agency and public-private cooperative effort.

Parents struggling to find jobs and raise children in the apartments and tightly packed houses near downtown Los Angeles have a community resource on Magnolia Avenue in the West Adams district. It’s a coalition of parents, nonprofit organizations, and local businesses to improve the quality of life in this part of LA.

The Magnolia Place Community Initiative is only blocks from the Staples Center, LA Live, and the University of Southern California.

Early childhood education and fun events for parents beat down by stress are among the benefits to the moms and dads who use the facility sponsored by Children’s Bureau and several dozen nonprofit organizations.

Children’s Bureau recently had economist Rob Grunewald of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minnesota speak to a gathering of business leaders in support of early childhood education programs and the benefits offered.

He also said business leaders can play a vital role in developing community efforts like the Magnolia Place Community Initiative in Los Angeles which takes a long-term vision.

When a child is traumatized in infancy and the toddler years, there is a greatly increased risk for substance abuse, depression and heart disease as an adult, remarked Grunewald who quoted data from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.

Data shows that when children enter kindergarten, relative to their peers, is where they will likely stay into their adult years.

“The achievement gap starts young,” said Grunewald. “Dollars invested in human capital will pay off if invested before kindergarten.”

He referred to a study launched in the early 1960s, the High/Scope Study of Perry Preschool where 123 children from low-income families in Ypsilanti, Michigan and tracked them to age 40.

Kids were randomly selected to attend Perry. Results included nearly 70 percent of the children in the program group graduated high school on time compared to less than 50 percent of the students who were not in the program.

Grunewald said the benefit-to-cost ratio was $ 16 to $ 1 which calculates at an annual rate of return of 18 percent. Benefits include lower arrest rates, court costs, and costs to crime victims.

He pointed to other studies showing similar results.

Grunewald said lessons learned include investing in quality facilities and staff while respecting parents as the primary teachers of their children.

He also said business leaders can play a vital role in developing community efforts like the Magnolia Place Community Initiative in Los Angeles which takes a long-term vision.

Pan American Bank recently opened a banking center in the West Adams district. It’s the nation’s second oldest Latino-owned bank. In an article from the Scripps News Service, the Pan American Bank Technical Assistance Center now provides an ATM machine at the front of Magnolia Place Family Center, the initiative’s community hub, along with a service area inside the building.

Families in the community can get financial help and training, along with services to assist local customers and small businesses in the area.

“They’ve eliminated fees for checking, and are not requiring minimum balances,” said Alex Morales, executive director of Children’s Bureau. “They’re giving incentives like putting in $5 for every child who opens a bank account, so they really want to help the community.

This will reduce high fees charged by check cashing facilities that can keep users in a constant debt cycle.

Children’s Bureau would like communities nationwide to look at the Magnolia Place Initiative to replicate it in other cities that have neighborhoods considered “at risk.”

Read more on the Magnolia Place Community Initiative at www.all4kids.org.