Public-Private Partnerships are Transforming L.A. County's Child Welfare System

LOS ANGELES, June 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation and the Los Angeles County Center for Strategic Partnerships released a comprehensive report chronicling how L.A. County's philanthropic and public sectors united in the wake of the 2013 murder of an 8-year-old boy named Gabriel Fernandez.

Cultivating Hope Through Action: How Public-Private Partnerships Are Strengthening Child and Family Well-Being in L.A. County, charts a clear trajectory of positive change and sets the stage for deeper, transformative investments from the public and philanthropic sectors.

"The philanthropic community has stepped up, nearly doubling annual giving to support L.A.'s children, youth, and families," said Wendy Garen, President and CEO of The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation. "We have worked closely with our public sector partners to dramatically change the system and are energized to take on even bigger challenges in the months to come."

Notable improvements highlighted in Cultivating Hope include:

• Charitable giving to child welfare causes jumped from $32 million in 2013 to $53 million in 2018, the most recent year comprehensive data is available.
• Southern California Grantmakers' Child & Family Well-Being Funders Collaborative has grown from 19 foundations in 2014 to 59 in 2021.
• With philanthropic investment, L.A. County launched the Center for Strategic Partnerships which has secured over $33 million across 50 joint initiatives involving 55 public and private partners.

The proliferation of cross-sector partnerships spurred a broad coalition of Black churches in South L.A. to support families on the brink of entering the child welfare system and foster families. Through Up Front Family Finding, the County has placed over 13,000 children with family members as opposed to foster care, making L.A. County one of the leading child welfare systems in the nation on this critical measure. And philanthropic investment was vital to drawing millions in state funding to provide childcare to foster parents, which has been shown to increase stability for children.

"When we collaborate, our work can be transformative," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis. "I look forward to standing with our philanthropic partners to take on the most challenging issues, starting with eradicating the foster care to homelessness pipeline."

To help end that pipeline the Center for Strategic Partnerships is working on multiple fronts. It has helped the Department of Children and Family Services stand up a first-in-the-nation Supportive Housing Division within a child welfare agency to help better support transition-age foster youth. And the Center is working with philanthropy to launch a pooled fund to amplify the impact of a federal Department of Housing and Urban Development grant aimed at improving the lives of youth experiencing homelessness, including those who have experienced foster care.

About the Partners

The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation improves the well-being of the residents of Los Angeles County through responsive grantmaking in human services, civic and cultural, education, and health. www.rmpf.org

The Center for Strategic Partnerships helps L.A. County and philanthropy partner more effectively to transform systems, promote equity, and improve the lives of children and families. www.lacenterforstrategicpartnerships.org

For Inquiries Contact:
John Drebinger
209.712.9749
[email protected]

SOURCE The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation