What comes to mind when we think of motherhood? Most probably think unconditional love, bonding, and unparalleled joy (with a dollop of sleep deprivation thrown in for good measure.) But that Hallmark version is elusive for some mothers who see that promise of joy slipping through their grasp no matter how hard they try not to let go.

Postpartum depression is a serious issue for one in six new mothers in Los Angeles, but too often goes undiagnosed. Working to bring the issue out of the shadows is a project called Maternal Mental Health Now, a network created about a decade ago.

Los Angeles attorney Kimberly Wong struggled for years with severe postpartum depression. Though she had a partner, was surrounded by friends and family, and had both resources and health insurance, her condition still went undiagnosed due to well-meaning but uninformed providers. Wong eventually did receive the help she needed. But her experience led to the realization that if diagnosis was that difficult for her, despite her resources and privilege, what was it like for those more vulnerable than she? She sought a way to take action.

Wong made cold calls to various departments within LA County to find out if anything was being done locally to address maternal mental health. Cynthia Harding MPH, who was the head of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health at the time, told Wong that postpartum depression was one of the department’s top concerns, but there didn’t seem to be an organization spearheading the effort. Harding offered Wong a meeting space if she could round up a group of stakeholders and volunteers to brainstorm a model for an organization.

The Los Angeles County Perinatal Mental Health Task Force grew out of that effort, bringing together researchers, providers, hospitals and clinics from both private and public sectors. Responding to the fact that a full 53% of women are not screened for depression at post-partum check-ups, the task force embarked on an education campaign called “Speak Up When You’re Down,” which included the distribution of pamphlets designed to encourage women to seek help if they are having symptoms of postpartum depression. Printed in both English and Spanish, they were made available throughout the county’s hospitals, clinics and child development centers.

In 2009, the task force joined Community Partners and brought on its current executive director, clinical psychologist Caron Post. “Our relationship with Community Partners has been fantastic. We get so much help in so many realms, from high-level strategic thinking to billing, budgeting and contract management. Everyone is helpful and does a lot of good for us,” said Post.

With a name change to Maternal Mental Health NOW, the project is now the leading collaborative in the country that provides training and technical assistance consultations for healthcare and community-based organizations on the screening and treatment of postpartum depression. Thousands of pediatricians, obstetricians, family doctors, midwives, doulas, early childhood education providers, promotoras and mental health providers have been trained by the organization either in person or online through their training institute. Thanks to their advocacy efforts, in 2010 the state of California declared the month of May as Perinatal Depression Awareness Month. Their work also spans into advocacy, public awareness and stigma reduction. It’s the public awareness component that remains closest to Post’s heart.

“It was very upsetting to recognize the disparities that exist in the world and in our city in terms of having access to (needed) help…To see all of those factors play out in women’s and young children’s lives is heartbreaking and motivating to try to do something about it.”

One of MMHN’s groundbreaking efforts is the creation of the Los Angeles County Maternal Mental Health Resource Directory. The first of its kind, the online directory provides lists of providers who have been trained to recognize and respond to women experiencing postpartum depression and anxiety. In addition, every year around Mother’s Day MMHN holds a family festival where mothers can receive some pampering, like manicures and massages, and kids can dive into face painting or arts and crafts, and other activities for the whole family. It’s a relaxed environment for also offering MMHN resources and facilitated workshops to help moms and dads recognize the signs indicating professional help is needed, and to know that they’re not alone.

“Seeing how treatable these conditions are, and seeing a woman who has recovered share her story to help another mom who is struggling, is most meaningful for me,” said Post. “The power of these women’s stories is what keeps me going.”

The month of May has been declared by the state of California as Perinatal Depression Awareness Month due to Maternal Mental Health NOW’s advocacy efforts. 

Community Partners Board Chair Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro moderates panelists Regina Freer, professor and chair of the Politics Department at Occidental College; Dora Leong Gallo, president & CEO, A Community of Friends; and Community Partners board member Victor De la Cruz, partner, Manatt, Phelps, Phillips, LLP.

It’s doubtful that few Angelenos were surprised when the results of the recent Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count revealed that the number of people living on the streets in one of the most prosperous cities in the country had grown. But that the increase was a full 16 percent up from last year, bringing the region’s total number of people living unhoused to 60,000 was a stunning revelation that prompted some powerful indictments of city leaders.

Here at Community Partners our board members, along with staff, recently heard from a panel of experts on the issues contributing to the housing crisis here in Los Angeles. Regina Freer, professor and chair of the Politics Department at Occidental College; Dora Leong Gallo, president & CEO, A Community of Friends; and Community Partners board member Victor De la Cruz, partner, Manatt, Phelps, Phillips, LLP explored the many complex and contradicting forces contributing to today’s crisis, expertly moderated by board chair Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro. Among those forces:

• the historic ‘redlining’ practices that placed limitations on where people of color could live
• fallout from Prop 13 that artificially holds down property taxes
• well-intentioned environmental policies that severely slow and limit development
• NIMBY-ist resistance to density and supportive housing
• displacement from gentrification
• an idealized vision of LA as a sprawling region of low-density single-family homes

While all three panelists came from differing perspectives, all three agreed the current system of housing and development in Los Angeles is wholly dysfunctional and in need of new cross-sector alliances.

The whole discussion was one small step in keeping our team informed about an increasingly dire issue, one that a handful of Community Partners projects and initiatives are currently addressing with a variety of different approaches. Through our work as a civic intermediary, Community Partners is working with LAHSA (the Los Angeles Housing Services Authority) to provide capacity building training to some of its grantees, strengthening their ability to expand and take on new contracts and larger grants made available through the passage of Measure HHH. Another seven projects addressing issues related to homelessness operate under our fiscal sponsorship program, including:

Hospice for Individuals Experiencing Homelessness

Project leaders are working to bridge a specific gap in the homeless healthcare safety net: meeting the needs of terminally ill individuals living unhoused. Currently in the exploratory phase, the goal will be to create a unique facility devoted to providing compassionate, quality hospice care focusing on respect, honor, and dignity. Eventually, the project leaders, who all have extensive experience in healthcare and social services, envision a scalable and adaptable model suitablefor replication statewide.

Safe Parking LA

With some 16,500 people sleeping in their cars on any given night, providing opportunities for safe overnight parking has been gaining traction as one way to manage the ongoing housing crisis. Safe Parking LA is still expanding, but currently manages seven sites at partnering lots across the city, providing safe, legal parking for 80 vehicles and approximately 95 individuals every night. The project ensures security guards and restroom access and offers access to social service resources.

Safe Place for Youth (SPY)

What started in 2011 as an all-volunteer effort to provide food and clothing to homeless youth in Venice, has since blossomed into a multi-service organization serving hundreds of young people with compassion and care from their own building in the beachside community. Last year alone, SPY’s staff counted 11,157 visits to their drop-in center, and their growth continues.

Students for Students

College students, facing the ever-rising costs of tuition and books, are experiencing food and housing insecurity as well as homelessness at record numbers. Which is why a group of students at UCLA launched Students for Students, an effort to meet the basic needs of homeless college students from all area schools. In addition to assistance with food and shelter, the student-run project also connects peers to resources to finalize post-shelter housing plans and a path to graduation.

Westside Coalition

The coalition, one of Community Partners’ longest standing projects, is comprised of public agencies and faith communities committed to working collaboratively on issues of housing, hunger and health through service coordination, public education and advocacy. Their work as a convener and facilitator of leaders from some 55 different member organizations is critical to regional efforts to alleviate homelessness.

Topanga Women’s Circle

This all-volunteer group regularly collects donations of bedding, furniture, clothing, toys, groceries and toiletries – and then sets about creating a warm, welcoming new home for families transitioning out of homelessness. With Community Partners since 2008, the project partners with Venice Community Housing and Westwood Transitional Village to connect with veterans, domestic violence survivors, and families entering transitional housing programs.

Urban Possibilities

Urban Possibilities goes beyond the basic needs of food and shelter, offering a program of art, inspiration and empowerment to individuals experiencing homelessness. Their 12-week immersion in empowerment principles, writing and performance helps inner-city adults, living through life’s toughest trials, gain tools needed to achieve, land jobs and find self-acceptance. Each class ends in a public performance, published volume of work and a new vision of what’s possible.

As an A-student at a large public high school in Bell, CA, Milla Anderson did picture college in her future. But coming from a low-income family, none of whom had ever been to college, that future and how to get there was fuzzy at best.

But an older student referred Milla to College Match, and her journey to college and all that entailed was brought into sharper focus. College Match, started in 2002 by Harley Frankel, a former director of the National Head Start program, helps high-achieving, low-income students at Los Angeles public high schools navigate their way to the country’s top colleges and universities – places like Harvard, Brown, Stanford, Dartmouth, UC Berkeley and other top-ranked schools, campuses where many of the program’s participants had never imagined they’d find a place.

“So many of the kids we serve, they’re the first in their families to attend college,” says Harley, whose enthusiasm for his students never seems to wane. “These are excellent students, the brightest! They just don’t have the kind of support and understanding of the process that their wealthier, more connected peers have. College Match helps to bridge that gap.”

The program, which currently operates at 24 high schools and this year includes 185 juniors and 175 seniors, supports students through the often bewildering two-year process of SAT and AP testing, applications, essay-writing and financial aid. And the formula clearly works. All College Match students are admitted to four-year institutions, and three-quarters of those are top 25-ranked. This year’s crop of students saw 33 acceptances to Middlebury College alone.

The program also includes visits to numerous campuses around the country, something students with limited financial means can rarely do on their own.

“That was one of the most valuable parts of the program,” said Milla, who visited about a dozen campuses through the program, and learned that she could aspire to an Ivy-league school and pay less than a UC. Between top choices Harvard and Dartmouth, she ultimately chose Dartmouth.

Though thrilled with her choice, the culture shock of a new life at an elite college made her miss the support she’d had through College Match. So she tapped into the growing network of College Match students at campuses around the country, recruiting 97 upperclassmen from 31 colleges in 14 states and matching them with freshmen. A new mentorship program was born, along with the start of a critical alumni network.

“People were really interested in giving back to the program,” she said. “We all come from the same kind of communities. We’re all really talented and smart low-income students figuring our way through campuses made up of mostly white, upper class students…being able to talk to someone who understands your struggle really goes a long way to helping minority students.” This summer, Milla will work at College Match to strengthen and expand the program for fall semester.

As College Match continues to grow and expand, Harley finds it still to the program’s benefit to continue operating under fiscal sponsorship. “I think Community Partners is one of the big reasons why we’ve done so well,” he says. “I don’t have to worry about all that complicated stuff.” It allows him to focus on other challenges that present themselves. This year, especially, required special attention to the needs and concerns of DACA students and their families, including discussions with immigration lawyers about the safety of out-of-state travel. In response, Harley is putting increased focus on exploring California schools. “We have to,” he says.

“These are wonderful human beings who’ve been living in the shadows their whole lives, and now that they have a chance for a great education, along come these…constraints. There’s a lot of fear.”

Once a year, on a summer’s evening, the Writers Guild of America Theater fills with dozens of teen girls. Armed with their well-worn journals, pens at the ready, and with supportive older mentors at their sides, their excited voices echo throughout the theater’s walls as they anxiously prepare for their first public readings. It’s the final showcase for WriteGirl, and as an alum of the high school writing program, it’s an evening I won’t soon forget.

I remember looking over my poem one last time with my mentor. I couldn’t wait to get on stage to wow my family, and this feeling alone was a huge milestone for me. A year earlier the thought of public speaking would have consumed me, and most of my fellow aspiring writers, with absolute dread. But after a year of monthly writing workshops that embrace each participant in a warm glow of encouragement, support and sisterhood, you can’t help but carry a sense of newfound confidence right out onto that stage.

This summer’s final showcase marked WriteGirl’s 15th year. It was celebrated as a quinceanera, and included an all-female Mariachi band and inspirational speeches from state and local electeds.  For founder and executive director Keren Taylor, each milestone in the life of her organization serves as “a rallying cry towards our next effort, we’re always thinking what we can do next.”

It’s that drive and commitment from Taylor that has helped power WriteGirl’s success. Its first event in 2001 had a turnout of 30 teen girls and 30 professional women writers. Today, the organization serves more than 500 girls annually and maintains a 100 percent college acceptance rate for their graduating seniors. About 150 accomplished women journalists, screenwriters, novelists, poets, academics, songwriters and playwrights volunteer each year to mentor the teen girls throughout their journey in the program.

A poet and artist, Taylor started WriteGirl as a way to foster self-esteem among young women. I can attest to the power of the program, as WriteGirl helps young women feel that anything is possible. For me, that meant graduating with an A average and being the first in my family to pursue a college education.

It’s no surprise that the program has attracted significant media attention and some impressive accolades, including the National Arts & Humanities Youth Program Award from First Lady Michelle Obama in 2013. In 2014, Keren Taylor was named a CNN Hero.

WriteGirl became a part of Community Partners in 2002 and Taylor says she continues to appreciate the ability to stay focused on programming while having advisors guide her through the finer points of managing a growing organization. “Whether we need help with human resources, insurance or event planning, I think we must reach out to Community Partners staff on a daily basis for some kind of support. As a leader, being able to  tap their expertise over the years has been very helpful.”

Last year WriteGirl joined forces with Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network, a fellow project of Community Partners, to form the Bold Ink Writers Program for incarcerated teen boys and girls. They are also expanding to serve teen boys. Ultimately, Taylor aims to expand WriteGirl’s reach and develop a training program to bring their materials to other groups.

For me, I think every teen girl could benefit from what WriteGirl offers, and I could not be more grateful to the volunteers and staff who helped me find my voice and pursue my dreams. “Never underestimate the power of a girl and her pen,” is the organization’s motto. What you learn is to never ever underestimate yourself.

Elisa Perez is a program & communications assistant for Community Partners

Changing the Face of Nonprofit Boards

Virgil Roberts, the Los Angeles attorney and noted civic leader, was a frequent panelist and speaker for the California Legislative Black Caucus Foundation from 2008 to 2010. At the same time he found he was consistently being asked to serve on boards — so many that both he and then-president of the foundation, Yvette Chappell-Ingram, grew concerned: if there weren’t enough peers to be tapped for board service now, they reasoned, what would happen in the future?

‘‘We both realized our generation of boomers had done a poor job of preparing the next generation for board leadership positions,” Chappell-Ingram recalled. “It led to a lot of conversations, a lot of brainstorming about what we might do about the issue.”

A few years later, Roberts and Chappell-Ingram officially launched the African American Board Leadership Institute (AABLI). The mission of the project is straight-forward: develop a pipeline of qualified African American candidates to serve on governing boards — nonprofit, for-profit or public commissions.

“We think more diverse boards will speak to the needs of the community better,” says Roberts. “Our country is facing a profound demographic shift to a growing non-Anglo population…new perspectives are needed to solve our most difficult problems.”

They started out under fiscal sponsorship with Community Partners so they could more comfortably test out their concept. “That was a no-brainer,” says Chappell-Ingram. “It was the ideal way to operate while we were figuring this thing out…and it continues to be.”

Since 2012, a total of 367 people have gone through AABLI’s two-day board leadership training. About 86 participants have been placed on a wide range of nonprofit boards, including the Marlborough School, Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, and Southern California Public Radio. Many others go on to secure board seats on their own. Programs focused on leadership training and career development also are offered during the year.

“This is a much needed organization and I thoroughly enjoyed my experience,” said Bonnie Boswell, a producer for PBS who is a new member of the Community Partners Board of Directors. “AABLI gives African Americans a better understanding of work that’s done behind the scenes to support profit and non-profit ventures and is helping our community have a seat at the table where important decisions are made.”

AABLI, the only project of its kind in the country, was embraced almost immediately, says Chappell-Ingram. “I knew we had something good going right from the start,” she recalled, “when we helped our first group of participants secure 15 placements.” Organizations appreciate having a reliable source for good candidates and participants offer high marks for a curriculum that helps empower them as leaders and offers a new angle on career development.

“This is a much needed organization and I thoroughly enjoyed my experience,” said Bonnie Boswell, a producer for PBS who is a new member of the Community Partners Board of Directors. “AABLI gives African Americans a better understanding of work that’s done behind the scenes to support profit and non-profit ventures and is helping our community have a seat at the table where important decisions are made.”

Opening doors to public boards and commissions is the current focus for AABLI as they develop new curriculum and recruit new trainers. “We’re learning a lot about this arena,” says Chappell-Ingram. This is a way for people to really have impact on the welfare of our cities.”

Leading the Greening of Disadvantaged Neighborhoods

Well over a decade ago, civil rights attorney Robert Garcia began tackling the problem of run-down schools and the lack of green space in the city’s poorest neighborhoods.

“I realized there were two major sets of problems in Los Angeles that were interrelated,” he says. “The need for more parks in underserved communities, and the need to build and modernize public schools, including providing playing fields, pools and parks that could be used during school, after school, and by the community on weekends.”

He framed the problem as an environmental and health justice issue and in 2000 founded The City Project at the Center for Law and the Public Interest. For the next few years the program thrived, but the Center did not. It closed its doors in 2006. But Garcia found new life for his program as a project of Community Partners.

“Without Community Partners’ first-class financial resources services,” said Garcia, “our work would have been a lot harder on an ongoing basis, such as if I had to review the impact of Affordable Care Act, or supervise accountants and bookkeepers.”

He also credits Community Partners’ President and CEO Paul Vandeventer as an important mentor. “He provides insight and advice on how to frame what we do, how to manage staff, how to approach funders,” Garcia said. “He’s a very valuable adviser.”

All told, The City Project has helped to create or preserve more than 1,000 acres of park space in Los Angeles County. Its flagship project was the creation of the Los Angeles State Historic Park at the Cornfield. City Project staff also worked with residents of South Central Los Angeles to stop the creation of a power plant on, and later a garbage dump near, the site of Baldwin Hills Park in the historic heart of the local African-American community.

In the educational arena, The City Project helped raise $27-billion through a series of bond measures to build and modernize schools in LAUSD, resulting so far in the building of about 130 new schools and updating of hundreds more.

Currently, The City Project is helping to shape the federal project restoring the Los Angeles River’s 52-mile ecosystem, and the “stitching together” of a national park that will include the San Gabriel Mountains and the disproportionately Asian, Latino and low-income neighborhoods of the San Gabriel Valley.

“The fact that the federal government, through the National Park Service and the Army Corp of Engineers, are now emphasizing environmental and health justice will help transform L.A., and will make our approach more widely accepted throughout the U.S,” Garcia said.

Starting with a modest plan to help young Latina women express themselves through the art of photography, Las Fotos Project has grown into a community–based arts and literacy program with more than 30 workshops citywide.

Upon returning to Los Angeles from a photography project at a Mexican orphanage, Eric Ibarra, an arts activist and former business analyst, developed a pilot project at Para Los Niños. He envisioned a series of community-based, mentor-guided workshops in which young women could learn more about themselves and their communities by documenting their cultural environments. Later that year, the project was accepted by Community Partners for fiscal sponsorship, and Ibarra began to put funding in place.

Today from its headquarters in Boyle Heights, Las Fotos partners with schools in communities such as East Los Angeles, El Sereno, Koreatown, MacArthur Park, Santa Ana, Long Beach, South Los Angeles and Huntington Park. Since its launch, volunteer mentors have donated nearly 3,000 hours of their time, some 100,000 images have been created, and nearly 200 girls have completed The Empowerment Through Photography Workshop.

“If you stay focused you can impact other people,” says Ibarra. “It’s all about having a concept, finding the right partners, and seeing it through to fruition.”

Paired with professional photographers as mentors, participants learn much more than just how to point and shoot. In addition to creating photo essays, journals, and artist statements with vintage and digital cameras, the girls are encouraged to engage in projects that reflect their thoughts and concerns about their neighborhoods, schools and communities. Las Fotos empowers girls and young women to define, create, exhibit, and ultimately own their work.

Last spring, eight girls working with a mentor, mapped the community gardens and vegetation in Boyle Heights. Other workshops included a critical look at schools and the quality of education through the lens of a camera. And, as the program matures, several mentees are upping their commitment by taking on leadership roles.

Ibarra credits Community Partners with championing the project from its inception. “They have such a great track record in L.A., as well as solid relationships with every funder. Their staff is extremely supportive, so every question gets answered, and I’m directed to resources that will help the project grow. Because of Community Partners, I’ve changed the whole way I see our program.”