PROGRAMS
Family Resource Center
Hathaway-Sycamores' Family Resource Center is located in an under-served community and provide programs and services that include after-school enrichment programs for children, individual and family counseling, adult education classes, access to community technology centers, and other preventative programs that are designed to help break the cycle of poverty and to enrich and empower families and their communities.
Services are provided at the Center, as well as in the homes of families we serve and in the local schools to help families address their needs before serious problems develop.
Our Family Resource Center is successful in helping families resolve immediate crisis and strengthen their coping skills in dealing with conflict and problems in order to foster the optimal development of their children.
What We Do
Our Highland Park Resource Center is divided into four components. Those components are:
Youth Enrichment and Activities Programs that include counseling, case management and after school classes, Activities include tutoring, a computer lab for kids, chorus, instrumental music classes, art and drama classes, dancing (including hip hop and Hawaiian type dancing), and a sports program which competes with other gang prevention programs across the city. The goal is to help young people stay healthy, achieve their potential and improve their community. Included within this is gang prevention as well as a one-to-one Mentoring program that links community resident volunteers with community youth, for fun educational activities. High School students with leadership abilities comprise our Youth Leadership Council, and they meet weekly to create community improvement projects and to inform us adults how we can better meet their needs.
Early Childhood and School Readiness Programs that focus on providing various parent workshops focused on prevention and supporting very young children be successful as they enter pre-school and elementary school. Some of the workshops include: Parents with Special Needs; Baby, Toddler, Pre-School & ME; Once a week pre-school experience; Family Literacy Events; Assistance with Kindergarten Enrollment and Home Visitation services. We are working on including infant and toddler mental health under this heading.
Parent and Community Support and Empowerment that includes the Safe Passages program that meets monthly at the local middle school to address safety concerns and how to help children arrive at school and at home safely. Lately this service has drawn the attention of the mayor's office as a method to decrease gang violence near schools. The Promotoras Comunitarias empowers Latinas to become Community Health Educators, offering classes on health and nutrition, issues in the community, in partnerships and Planned Parenthood. A Family Development Network provides comprehensive case management, using a network service centers in Northeast L.A., to help low income families achieve economic self-sufficiency. We also provide a weekly Food Bank of food provisions to 50 families. We also invite other non-profit services to be on our site to support the community. For instance, Alcoholics Anonymous offers a 12-step peer support program for individuals with alcohol problems two times a week. We have recently been working with Planned Parenthood on providing testing services for STD's and other communicable diseases through their mobile resource van.
Mental Health Services. Although this program is listed last, it is one of the largest programs at Highland Park. We have several options for children and families in this area, through a team of clinicians, case managers, youth activity program staff, and a psychiatrist, and it is expanding. We serve kids and their families through outpatient services and a network of school based services. We are also in the beginning stages of providing FSP services, as well as serving children more closely in nearby communities by having satellite offices those communities through collaborations with gang prevention programs such as those found at Barrio Action in El Sereno or the Youth and Family Center in Cypress Park.
How to Contact Us
For more information about the Highland Park Family Resource Center, please call: (323) 257-9600 or email
Hathaway-Sycamores' Urban Garden: Reaping Edible Rewards and Growing Life-Shaping Benefits
On two fine May Saturdays, an overgrown slice of earth was transformed into what will become an extremely useful, edible garden. Located on the perimeter of Hathaway-Sycamores Child and Family Services' Highland Park Family Resource Center, the soon-to-be-bountiful garden is a joint effort of students serving on Hathaway-Sycamores' Youth Leadership Council along with adolescents participating in Hathaway-Sycamores' Gang Reduction and Youth Development Program. Working alongside the youngsters were health and nutrition educators from Hathaway-Sycamores' Promotoras Comunitarias Program, as well as more than two dozen employees of Pasadena investment-services firm Western Asset Management. Western Asset installed the watering system and provided supplies for this endeavor.
The goals of this collaborative, green-thumb project—which involved weeding the overgrown plot, preparing the soil, installing a timed irrigation system, and planting a plethora of fruits and vegetables—are several-fold. First, the project presented participating youth with a hands-on opportunity to experience the rewards of volunteerism and making a positive, local difference.
For 17-year-old Andrew Coronel, who attends Franklin High School and serves as treasurer for Hathaway-Sycamores' Youth Leadership Council, the project was unquestionably meaningful. "I'm really proud of this project," he said. "It builds courage and integrity when you volunteer for the community." And that spirit of volunteerism will continue, as members of Hathaway-Sycamores' Youth Leadership Council have committed to ongoing maintenance of the garden. Gonzolo Lopez, a 14-year-old Burbank Middle School student, also gave a thumbs-up to the green-thumb experience. "It was fun planting the seeds, and the garden looks so much nicer."
Once the fruits and vegetables are ready to harvest, another benefit of the bounty will be realized. Specifically, educators with Hathaway-Sycamores' Promotoras Comunitarias Program will use the garden produce in nutritional cooking classes that are offered for youngsters and adults through Hathaway-Sycamores' Family Resource Center. Currently, some 180 such cooking classes are provided at the Family Resource Center and in 35 schools throughout northeast Los Angeles.
As for Western Asset's involvement in the garden-creation project, Terri Hendler, Manager of Office Services, said, "We want to give back to organizations in the community. One of the parameters of our philanthropic outreach is working with organizations that help children. Hathaway-Sycamores," she added, "is an agency that we have identified to support. This garden project is a way for our staff to get more involved with hands-on volunteering."
