UCLA Pritzker Center Seed Grants

With the support of the Anthony and Jeanne Pritzker Family Foundation, the UCLA Pritzker Center has offered research grants to encourage collaboration between UCLA faculty and the community. Our 2019 grantees focused on a range of issues, including the connection between immigration and child welfare, and the representation of children in foster care in the media.

2019 Seed Grant Lunch

11
campus-community projects

2019 cycle – 5 seed grants
2020 cycle – 6 seed grants
11
total projects funded to date through the seed grants

2019 cycle – 5 seed grant
2020 cycle – 6 seed grants

Our 2020 grantees explored:

Todd Franke, Ph.D., UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs; Lindsay Elliott, Happy Trails for Kids.

Children in foster care have limited exposure to cherished childhood experiences, including summer camp, sports and other activities, such as music and the arts.  This project designed and developed a data collection process to identify the impact of extracurricular activities for children in foster care. Through a greater understanding of the impact, the project aimed to support legislation designed to enhance funding for activities for children in California’s foster care system. 

Stacy Barron, MD, Olive View Medical Center-UCLA; David L. Richards, MD, National Clinician Scholars Program, Department of General Internal Medicine – Health Services Research; Paula Tavrow, PhD, Community Health Sciences, Bixby Program in Population and Reproductive Health; Eraka Bath, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Child Forensic Services; Lesli LeGras, National Center for Youth Law.

Youth in foster care experience disproportionately high rates of unintended pregnancy, barriers to sexual health education and services, and reproductive coercion. By age 21, approximately 1/3 of youth in foster care will be parents, often unintentionally, which impacts their outcomes in multiple areas. This project established a reproductive health navigator at the Olive View-UCLA medical hub, where children and youth in foster care receive medical care. Through this grant, trained UCLA student/peer educators provided pre and post-appointment support, which included answering questions about confidentiality and supporting youth in foster care as they make decisions about contraceptives.

Reproductive Health Navigator

Elizabeth Ollen, Ph.D., UCLA DGSOM Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences – Division of Population Behavioral Health; Natalie Ramos, MD, DGSOM Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences – Division of Population Behavioral Health; Jill Waterman, PhD, UCLA Department of Psychology; Jeanne Miranda, PhD, UCLA Center for Health Services & Society; Marianne Guilfoyle, LCSW, Allies for Every Child.

LGBTQ youth are disproportionally overrepresented in LA County foster care (19%) and are less likely to achieve permanency due to unique barriers, including increased hospitalizations, homelessness, and group home placement. This project aimed to improve placement rates and stability for LGBTQ youth by informing the adult LGBTQ community of the need for homes for this population, and provided them with the necessary support to parent.

Liz Barnet, MD, MPH, MS, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine; Jennifer Silver, PhD, Department of Psychology; Meredith Harper Houston, Swan Within, Healing Through Ballet.

Girls who are commercially sexually exploited experience significant trauma and need a range of support to heal and thrive. This project evaluated a healing arts and dance program offered within Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall, and aligned it with best practices outlined in the research and literature pertaining to healing arts. Learn more.

Dance STTP

Lorena Guillen, PhD, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies; Fanna Gamal, JD, UCLA School of Law; Maisie Chin, Community Asset Development Redefining Education (CADRE).

From the child welfare system, to the criminal legal system, to the families at the border, what would it take for these families to remain together? This project aimed to answer this question through a co-designed forum for parents, policy makers and other stakeholders.

Nini Tran, DDS, UCLA School of Dentistry; Francisco Ramos-Gomez, DDS, UCLA School of Dentistry.

Children in foster care experience severe disparities involving their dental care and oral health. This project evaluated the root cause of those disparities and proposed solutions for policy makers and dental providers.

Dental Care

Program Summary

First Round of UCLA Pritzker Center Seed Grants Announced – UCLA GSIES’s Ampersand

A New Lens on the Foster-Care Approach – CircleAround

Storytelling as Change Agent – UCLA Magazine

Instagram story on Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls Instagram