Serving Our Community
Since its inception in 1925, El Nido Family Centers has been providing critical services to the children, youth and families of Los Angeles.
Our professional staff offers innovative programs and services to meet the changing needs of a culturally diverse population including Parent Education & Family Development, Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment, Teen Parent Family Services, and Youth Development.
El Nido provides services at schools, community locations and the home, focusing its efforts in several core program areas.
Building Stronger Families
The Building Stronger Families program is based on the premise that families are central to ensuring that children are healthy, safe and prepared for school. Families thrive in the context of communities that provide them with support, services and opportunities to connect with one another. The activities of Building Stronger Families are sensitive to the skills of the young parents and provide customized support to each parent. Parent Circles, mentors for young parents, advocacy training, and community-based research are provided through this grant and are parent-led and parent-driven.
El Nido’s implementation of the the Building Stronger Families program in Compton focuses on children ages 0-5, the formative years during which long-term development is greatly impacted. El Nido’s trained staff will provide Compton-East Compton children with the best start in life, ensuring they are healthy, are safe from abuse and neglect, and are ready to succeed in school and life.
Child Abuse Prevention, Intervention & Treatment
Abused, neglected and at-risk children are referred by the Department of Children and Family Services to El Nido for comprehensive services. Some of these children are in foster care; others remain with their families under the supervision of child protective services workers. El Nido’s Master’s-level professionals partner with families to build upon their existing strengths, enhancing family functioning and treating underlying trauma. Read more about El Nido’s child abuse prevention and treatment programs here…
Culinary-To-Go Program
Each week, El Nido’s Culinary To-Go program provides families with grocery boxes and recipes to cook healthy meals with the ingredients. Together, families enjoy wholesome, nutritious meals along with a family-friendly activity, during our virtual cooking classes.
Drop by our Cafe Instagram for pictures of boxes and recipes, and our Facebook for our live online cooking classes:
Early Headstart
In El Nido’s local implementation of this national model, a team of child development and health specialists works with economically disadvantaged parents of children age 3 and under. Center and home-based services engage parents and babies in activities that promote motor, language, conceptual, and cognitive skills, while empowering parents as their children’s first teachers to prepare them for school success. Offered in Inglewood and South Los Angeles.
Download El Nido’s 16-17 Annual Report in English or Spanish.
FamilySource Centers
The FamilySource Centers are a One Stop Resource with locations across the City of Los Angeles. The centers offer services to low-income families and families with young children. El Nido is honored to lead the FSC efforts in Pacoima and South Los Angeles, and partner in this collaborative project with some of the best organizations in the city.
Collectively, we have created true neighborhood centers, offering services including; counseling, parent education, employment assistance, legal aid, financial literacy, adult education, tutoring/homework assistance, recreational and cultural activities, youth leadership development, and community events. El Nido’s FamilySource Center (FSC) in Pacoima has been consistently designated as one of the best performing in the City.
Family Visitation Center / Safe Child Custody Exchange Program (FVC/SCCE)
The purpose of the Family Visitation Center / Safe Child Custody Exchange Program (FVC/SCCE) is to keep children safe while improving connections to their parents or legal guardians from whom they were separated by providing coached monitored visits by trained Visitation Coaches. FVC/SCCE enhances child/parent interaction during visits which is consistently demonstrated as the number one factor impacting family reunification. This objective is achieved by:
1) having planned and purposeful visitation involving parents or legal guardians whose children have been removed from their care by DCFS and placed in out-of-home care;
2) maintaining family-friendly sites where meaningful visits can take place between children in out-of-home care and their parents or legal guardian, and
3) having trained visitation coaches to monitor and coach parents or legal guardians during visits with their children.
The delivery of the FVC/SCCE program services is designed to achieve the following objectives:
1) strengthen attachment between children and their parents or legal guardians;
2) promote family reunification;
3) promote child well-being;
4) help parents and legal guardians learn and practice how to nurture and connect with their child(ren) in a culturally relevant and respectful way and in accordance with the family’s cultural and/or religious framework and customs; and
5) link visitation activities to help parents or legal guardians build protective capacities and change behaviors or conditions that caused them to be involved with child welfare services
First 5 Best Start Regional Network Provider – San Fernando Valley
El Nido’s Regional Network is funded by First 5 LA to work alongside the Best Start communities in the San Fernando Valley. Best Start communities bring together parents, community members, local organizations, and elected officials in working together to create safe and healthy communities for children 0-5 and their families. El Nido is working with the Panorama City and Neighbors and the Northeast Valley Best Start communities at a regional level to support capacity building, advocacy initiatives that support long term systems change, and mobilize resources to address issues affecting families.
Each community is working with a local network team in developing the capacities needed to effectively assume leadership positions, supporting in outreach and communication to promote Best Start communities and increase family participation, and working to identify community projects that address important issues for local families and children.
In addition to Its role as regional network grantee, El Nido Family Centers is the local network provider for the Panorama City and Neighbors partnership. The Panorama City and Neighbors Best Start includes the communities of Panorama City, North Hills, and Van Nuys. The monthly partnership meetings take place on the fourth Tuesday of the month from 5:45 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. If you would like to learn more, please contact: Gloria Lazalde at glazalde @ elnidofamilycenters.org
Our partner, Los Angeles Education Partnership is the local network provider for the Northeast Valley Best Start. The Northeast Valley Best Start includes Pacoima, Arleta, and the City of San Fernando. If you would like to learn more, please contact: Lissett Lazo at [email protected] laep.org or visit https://www.laep.org/
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Con el auspicio de First 5 LA, El Nido Family Centers ha formalmente asumido el rol de apoyar a las comunidades de Best Start en el Valle de San Fernando, Región 3. Las comunidades de Best Start reúnen a padres, miembros de la comunidad, organizaciones locales y políticos electos para trabajar juntos y crear comunidades seguras y saludables para niños de 0 a 5 años y sus familias. El Nido esta trabajando con las comunidades de Panorama City and Neighbors y Northeast Valley Best Start a nivel regional para apoyar el desarrollo de capacidades, iniciativas de abogacía que apoyen cambios sistemáticos a largo plazo, y movilizar recursos para abordar los problemas que afectan a las familias.
Cada comunidad está trabajando con un equipo local que les proporciona apoyo en desarrollar capacidades necesarias para efectivamente asumir posiciones de liderazgo, proporciona apoyo en promocionar las comunidades de Best Start y aumentar la participación de más familias, e identificar proyectos comunitarios que aborden problemas importantes para las familias y los niños que viven en estas áreas.
Además de su función a nivel regional, el equipo de trabajadores de El Nido Family Centers también tiene el rol de dar apoyo directo a la asociación de Panorama City and Neighbors. Panorama City and Neighbors Best Start incluye las comunidades de Panorama City, North Hills y Van Nuys. Las reuniones mensuales de la asociación se llevan a cabo el cuarto martes del mes de las 5:45 p.m. a las 8:00 p.m. Si desea obtener más información, comuníquese con: Gloria Lazalde en glazalde @ elnidofamilycenters.org
Nuestro colaborador, Los Angeles Education Partnership ha sido escogido para proveer apoyo directo al Northeast Valley Best Start. Northeast Valley Best Start incluye las comunidades de Pacoima, Arleta, Sylmar, y la ciudad de San Fernando. Para obtener más información, comuníquese con: Lissett Lazo en dllazo @ laep.org o visite la página web https://www.laep.org/
Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD)
The mission of El Nido’s GRYD program is to strengthen youth/young adults, family, and community resistance to the influence of gangs by fostering public/private collaborations and supporting community-based prevention and intervention services.
The City of Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD) was established in July of 2007 to address gang violence in a comprehensive and coordinated way throughout the City.
Harold Cares About Your Future
Harold Cares About Your Future is a job preparation program that provides teen mothers and fathers with knowledge of the world of work, vocational skills and opportunities. Funded by the Harold Edelstein Foundation This 13-week program covers topics including; money management, career and goal exploration, resume writing, job interviewing techniques, labor law and job retention, plus basic life skills including financial literacy, stress management and pregnancy prevention.
Select Home Visitation
The Select Home Visitation program, funded by First 5 LA, partners families with a Parent Educator that will develop a plan to address their family’s needs. Visits are designed to build the protective factors and reduce risk factors. The Parent Educators use an evidence based early childhood home visiting model called Parents as Teachers (PAT). PAT was developed to build strong communities, healthy families and children that are healthy safe and ready to learn. Model-Certified Parent Educators emphasize parent-child interaction, development-centered parenting, and family well-being as they deliver services to families. The PAT program is designed to increase the parents’ knowledge of their child’s health and development, school readiness and parent involvement, improve parenting practices, parent-child relationships, child health and development and family health, and prevent child abuse and neglect.
Read more about our services here…
Teen Family Services
Consisting of Cal-Learn and the Adolescent Family Life Program, through home visits, trained case managers reach out to teen parents who are isolated, overwhelmed and unprepared for the challenges of parenting. They assess the unique needs of each teen parent and baby, and link them with services that help both to thrive, including health care, counseling, educational assistance, vocational training, housing, nutritional and/or income support.
Program Updates
Updates, announcements and info about El Nido’s programs serving the children, youth and families of Los Angeles
