Our purpose Healthy Families America helps overwhelmed parents feel more at ease when caring for their children.

Our Funding First 5 LA funds South Los Angeles Health Projects to carry out our Healthy Families America program.

Our Process Healthy Families America assists new mothers in the two Best Start communities of Compton/East Compton and Broadway/Manchester. At the outset, community members selected the Healthy Families America home visitation model.

When a mother gives birth at one of the hospitals in these communities, she is given an assessment test. This helps Welcome Baby staff evaluate the parents’ knowledge of their children’s health. If extra support is needed, an individualized plan is created.

Welcome Baby then refers patients from these hospitals to our Healthy Families America program as well as to other community resources.

Our Approach Healthy Families America is a home visitation program in which home visitors meet with mothers of newborns and additional family members to help them adjust to their new home lives. Home visitors are professionals trained to assist families with the physical, educational, and social development of their children.

The home visitor meets with the mother once a week for six months. If necessary, she then touches base with the family every two weeks for the next three to five years to provide extra support individualized to meet their needs.

Our History For decades South LA Health Projects has focused on the needs of at-risk young women and their families. Some were the participants of South Los Angeles Best Babies Collaborative, a program designed to help babies in South LA achieve a healthy start in life. A primary goal was to ensure that participants would seek health care before, during, after and between their pregnancies.