Los Angeles Change for Children Organizations

Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission

Hope of the Valley operates two family shelters and is preparing to open a third in the summer of 2019. Change for Children funds go specifically to help support the Rescue Mission’s Genesis House and Shepherd’s House. Their Genesis House consists of 28 beds with an average of 22 homeless children and 10 parents.  Their newly opened Shepard’s House consists of 48 beds with an average of 34 children and 14 parents.  All children within the two shelters are homeless and most have a single parent head of house.  Their homeless shelters are part of a rapid re-housing program where they aggressively work to place families into permanent housing.

No child deserves to go homeless or hungry.As part of their shelter program, each child has access to hot meals, showers, clothing, health care, education, mentorship and spiritual guidance. They recognize that being homeless is traumatic for anyone, but especially a child.They work to address the emotional, physical and spiritual needs of our children. They provide help for their immediate needs and hope for their long-term needs.

Center for Assault Treatment Services

 Change for Children funding allows the Center for Assault Treatment Services (C∙A∙T∙S ) to focus on three overarching objectives. 1) Prevention of child abuse and dating violence, 2) Combating child abuse through community outreach to teach mandated reporters and community how to identify and report child abuse, 3) Providing forensic interviews and medical examinations to treat victims age 1 through 17 that have been victims of sexual abuse/assault, child maltreatment, and living in homes with domestic violence. All children are provided an advocate to assist with short term and long-term counseling and needed resources.

C·A·T·S remains the only program in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys providing forensic interviews and forensic medical examinations on a 24 hour-a-day, seven day-a-week basis. The C·A·T·S clinical team of expert forensic nurses is headed by a medical director. As trained medical professionals C·A·T·S’ clinical team utilizes knowledge of child development, stress and coping theories to promote positive outcomes during forensic interviews and medical examinations. Due to the quality of C·A·T·S forensic interviews, the Van Nuys District Attorney Office accepts C·A·T·S interviews in lieu of conducting their own pre-filling interviews; which prevents re-traumatization of the victim, caused by multiple interviews, by multiple agencies.

Although it is heartbreaking that these services are needed, and also hard to find, they are thankful Change for Children is able to help provide support to an organization doing great work in a difficult area of childcare. Children should be given the best care possible during such a difficult time!

Food SHARE

Since 1978, FOOD Share has been feeding the hungry in Ventura County. Today, staff and volunteers distribute almost 12 million pounds of food, or 10 million meals annually through its 190 pantry and program partners. As Ventura County’s regional food bank, FOOD Share provides food for over 75,000 hungry friends and neighbors monthly. FOOD Share is a member of Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief network of food banks, as well as the California Association of Food Banks. 

Change for Children funds specifically go to help support the Kids’ Farmers’ Market Program. The Kids’ Farmers’ Market Program is a hands-on approach to improving the long-term diets of children in Ventura County. A two-pronged approach, the program not only provides nutrition education, but also allows participants to take fresh produce home in order that they may put what they learn into practice.  

The educational aspect of the program details how fruit and vegetables are grown, how they are cooked and used and what makes them nutritious. Educational activities also promote fresh produce as an alternative to processed food. The program offers opportunities for question and answer, and encourages participants to taste seasonal produce. Also incorporated into each distribution are recipes and a seasonal newsletter to take home and share with family.

GO Campaign

GO Campaign improves the lives of orphans and vulnerable children around the world by partnering with local heroes to deliver local solutions. GO Campaign connects donors to high-impact grassroots projects aimed at changing lives and transforming communities, one child at a time.

Change for Children funds go specifically to help support Generation Her. GO Campaign works with Generation Her to address the needs of young moms ages 13-23 and their children. The program runs in 4 locations: Pasadena, Pomona, Orange County, and Los Angeles. Through weekly workshops, Generation Her seeks to foster independence in their beneficiaries through teaching classes such as budgeting, money management, job interviewing skills, resume building, cooking/nutrition, self-defense, stress/anger management, building healthy relationships, and much more. 51% of teen moms never graduate high school, while 97% of generation her teen moms are graduating.

Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is a provider of more than $232.6 million in community benefits annually to children and families. As the first and largest pediatric hospital in Southern California, CHLA relies on the generosity of philanthropists in the community to support compassionate patient care, leading-edge education of the caregivers of tomorrow and innovative research efforts that impact children at our hospital and around the world.

Our Change for Children funds go to the CHLA’s Audrey Hepburn CARES Center, which provides evaluation of suspected child abuse victims as well as medical treatment, family education, and advocacy.