LAUSD Schools Receive Healthy Start Grants

The Los Angeles Unified School District has announced that Susan Miller Dorsey High School, John H. Liechty Middle School, Esperanza, Gratts and West Athens elementary schools have received a combined total of $1.3 million in Healthy Start grants. The designated schools will use the Healthy Start grants to provide services and activities in the following areas: academics, youth development, family support, basic needs, and physical and mental health care.

By linking children and families to these much needed services, the Healthy Start grants ensure that each child receives the physical, emotional and intellectual support needed; and build the capacity of students and parents to be participants, leaders, and decision-makers.

They will also help schools and other family-service agencies integrate their programs to provide more effective support to children and their families.

“These grants provide schools with the opportunity to develop meaningful community partnerships with a variety of health and social service agencies,” said Rene Gonzalez, Assistant Superintendent of Health and Human Services. “Many of the services provided by these agencies address the barriers that often impede student learning. These new grant recipients make the Los Angeles Unified School District the largest Healthy Start program in California.”

The Healthy Start program is currently located on 67 LAUSD sites. Healthy Start initiatives, which serve children, their family members and the community across California, have provided support services to more than one million children and their families since the state Legislature established the Healthy Start Support Services for Children Act in 1991. In schools with Healthy Start programs, there has been an increase in student attendance, test scores, improvements in students’ classroom behavior, and greater parental involvement in school activities and a decrease in school violence and student mobility.

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