The Westside Infant-Family Network (WIN) celebrated its first WINdependence Day earlier this month, becoming a nonprofit corporation. For its first six years, WIN operated under its fiscal sponsor and partner agency, Westside Children’s Center.
“WIN’s independence means an exciting new chapter for our program,” said Anna
Henderson, WIN’s Executive Director. “With the dedicated leadership of a talented young board and greater access to individual and public funding, WIN will continue to be where families need us most, as well as train clinicians throughout greater Los Angeles, and impact broader policy efforts nationwide.”
The center was founded in 2005 through the vision of its three partner agencies: the Venice Family Clinic, Westside Children’s Center and St. Joseph Center.
WIN offers unique in-home mental health services to families with vulnerable children in West Los Angeles and connects them to other health care and social services. Its innovative collaborative program deeply integrates its own in-home mental health therapy for young children and their families with express, case-managed access to the medical, social service and early care/education services of its partner agencies. Through intensive therapy and integrated community services children get what they need to recover and thrive before untreated mental health issues can have long-term effects on health and social, educational and emotional growth.
Within WIN’s first five years of establishment, it has accomplished national achievements for its innovative services: a chosen national finalist for the Collaboration Prize created by the Lodestar Foundation, featured by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to have successfully integrated efforts for the early childhood services and was recognized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (local funding partnerships) as one of 12 new innovative health-focused programs in the country.