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“Everyone talks about the school-to-prison pipeline,” said Loyola Law School professor Sean Kennedy. “But doing this work you see that there’s a group-home-to-prison. Kennedy is the Director of Loyola’s respected Center for Juvenile Law and Policy (CJLP), which was founded in 2004 to “tackle the injustices of the Los Angeles County juvenile court system” by providing pro bono advocacy for youth who find themselves caught up in that system. Thanks to a highly competitive $1 million grant from...

Los Angeles County’s marquee program to provide housing for very sick homeless people saved taxpayers thousands of dollars by reducing hospitalizations and emergency room visits, a three-year Rand Corp. study released Monday found. Considered a national model, Housing for Health uses county and federal money to subsidize rents and intensive case management for acutely ill homeless people. Rand, a Santa-Monica-based research group, found that the medical savings more than offset the cost of...

Youth homelessness is on the rise, and officials are looking to quell it by targeting kids exiting foster care. One of the bigger surprises coming out of January's annual count of homeless living in L.A. County was a dramatic rise in homelessness among children and young adults. The count found 6,000 homeless 18 to 24-year-olds. A large portion — 40 to 60 percent — had spent time in the child welfare system. As L.A. County embarks on a massive effort to reduce its growing homeless population...

Despite making up the majority of California’s public school students, Latinos are still facing major challenges to achieving in school and graduating from college, a new report finds. But the report also highlights five bright spots in the LA County area — schools, districts, and programs that are helping Latinos succeed. In Los Angeles County, two school districts, a high school, and an early education center are modeling what needs to be done to close the achievement gap for Latino...

Los Angeles - First 5 LA today released a report that explores how homelessness and trauma affects young children, as well as recommendations for effectively improving outcomes for children and families experiencing homelessness. The National Center on Family Homelessness estimates that 2.5 million children in America go to sleep without a place to call home each year. In Los Angeles County, First 5 LA estimates that roughly 3,000 children under age six are homeless on any given night. While...

In 2015, California settled Ashker v. Governor , a historic class-action lawsuit brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of a group of Pelican Bay State prison inmates who had each spent at least a decade in isolation. The settlement resulted in an end to the use of indefinite solitary confinement in CA prisons. On Monday, CCR filed a motion accusing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of violating the rights of inmates freed from indefinite...

This is an amazing opportunity for a smart, motivated individual. Join Echo's team to be at the heart of the executive office of a well-known and respected nonprofit agency. Your logistical skills will support our work to train professionals in trauma and resilience. If you thrive in a fast-paced environment and want a position where you can grow, where your commitment and talents can be quickly recognized and rewarded, this is the job for you. Duties/Responsibilities: Assist the executive...

Today , HopSkipDrive, a child-focused ride-sharing company, announced a partnership with Los Angeles County’s Office of Education (LACOE) to transport foster youth to school. Moving at what one official called a “fast and furious” pace to rectify its failure to comply with foster care mandates enshrined in the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), LACOE has contracted with the L.A.-based tech company to give foster kids rides to their so-called “school of origin” through the end of the...

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a plan on Tuesday that seeks to reduce the number of “disconnected” youth in the county, especially foster youth and formerly incarcerated young people. The goal of the regional effort is to improve the educational, workforce, housing and well-being outcomes of youth ages 16 to 24. According to a recent report , about one in every six young people in Los Angeles County is not enrolled in school and are not working. That’s about 207,440...

TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. My guest, Father Greg Boyle, has worked with former gang members in LA for over 30 years. He's the founder of Homeboy Industries, which was created to help former gang members and people transitioning out of prison create stable lives and stay out of gangs. Instead of Father Greg trying to convince business owners to hire young people who are at risk, he created jobs for them through Homeboy Industries. Homeboy is a series of businesses...

Through a program established by Los Angeles County and United Way of Greater Los Angeles’ Home For Good Funders Collaborative, Malibu and 46 other cities will receive a planning grant—ranging from $30,000 to $70,000—in response to “localized blueprints” for how each city would work with its contractors to confront rising homelessness. The program, financed by the LA County Board of Supervisors with more than $2 million, seeks to “pursue regional solutions to the homeless crisis.” “The...

The 13-year-old held a knife against her throat one spring morning, looked her mom in the eyes and said she’d do it. In desperation, her mom called 911. It was the second time her daughter’s behavior forced her to dial the trio of digits, to reach out to strangers for help. But unlike the last time, the two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who responded weren’t alone. They came with social workers who are part of the Mental Evaluation Teams, a growing program that the public and many in...