Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Caring Across Communities

March 1, 2007 - Los Angeles

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) today announced that the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has been selected to participate in a new national program to reduce emotional and behavioral health problems among local children in need, particularly those from low-income immigrant and refugee families. The new program, Caring Across Communities: Addressing Mental Health Needs of Diverse Children and Youth, will provide LAUSD up to $300,000 to support mental health programs and services at Belmont High School's Newcomer Center and the LAUSD Immigrant Center over the next three years.  

In Los Angeles, the new Caring Across Communities project will focus on providing services to children from the growing Mexican and Central American immigrant community. The project is one of 15 selected by RWJF for the program from a nationwide pool of applicants.

"This is a great opportunity to improve the quality of services provided to immigrant students and families who are in need by enhancing the collaboration between LAUSD and community agencies," said Pia Escudero, field coordinator for LAUSD. "We are grateful to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Caring Across Communities staff for their generous support ."

LAUSD's project - called Bienestar, for "Well-Being" - will target the emotional and behavioral health needs of immigrant students, who are at high risk for problems related to violence and trauma exposure, loss, separation from family members and dropping out of school. The project, co-led with UCLA's Health Services Research Center, will provide services at Belmont High School and will include general counseling for all recent immigrant students focused on the transition to high school in the United States, and targeted intervention for those experiencing post-traumatic stress symptoms. The project will also enhance educational support services provided to students at LAUSD's Immigrant Student Assessment and Placement Center.

Additional project partners include the Chinatown Service Center, Koreatown Youth and Community Center, Search to Involve Philippino Americans, Sin Fronteras, and Queenscare Health and Faith Partnership, all of whom collaborate to provide consultation and referrals for LAUSD's diverse recent immigrant population.

Recognition of the substantial mental health burdens borne by children is growing. An estimated 21 percent of U.S. children show symptoms of a mental disorder during the course of a year. Poverty increases the likelihood of certain mental health problems.

"This project is part of a new movement to help children get the mental health services they need," said Caring Across Communities National Program Office Director Julia Graham Lear, Ph.D. "The aim here is to make a positive difference in these children's lives."

Although emphasis will be placed on addressing the mental health needs of immigrant and refugee children, services provided through this and other Caring Across Communities projects will be available to all children at a given school.

Children from immigrant and refugee families often face economic, social and personal hardships - poverty, separation from family members, and challenges of cultural adaptation - that may affect their mental health and overall well-being, but they are less likely than other children to get the services they need.

"These are special populations of children with mental health needs that are both unique and substantial," said Wendy Yallowitz, program officer at RWJF. "Caring Across Communities will help these children make a healthy transition to life in the United States."

More than 30 million immigrants and refugees live in the U.S. In 2002, children of immigrants totaled 13.5 million - representing more than 26 percent of low-income children under age 18 in this country.

For more information about the project, contact Pia Escudero L.C.S.W.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with diverse groups of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 30 years, the Foundation has brought experience, commitment and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make.