The VIP Community Mental Health Center (VIP CMHC) has been awarded a $100,000 grant by the S. Mark Taper Foundation to help strengthen our infrastructure and operations as we expand our mental health services to victims of child abuse and sexual assault in East Los Angeles.

Throughout 2012, VIP CMHC will be using the funds to make improvements to the aptly named S. Mark Taper Foundation Family Advocacy Center.  This building was named for the S. Mark Taper Foundation in 2003 when the Foundation made a gift to support the capital renovation of the historic structure into the primary administrative and mental health services offices of the VIP CMHC.  The organization will be adding new offices and renovating common areas to keep up with the growth VIP CMHC has seen in the last year.

“The S. Mark Taper Foundation Family Advocacy Center has become the cornerstone of a revolution that is gradually taking over Los Angeles County,” shares Dr. Astrid Heger, Executive Director of the VIP CMHC and Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at USC Keck School of Medicine and LAC+USC Medical Center.  “Housed in this wonderful Center we have the resources to insist that children who are at risk for being removed from their families or who are already in out of home placements deserve the best medical and mental health care available, not just what is left over.”

The S. Mark Taper Foundation’s gift in 2002-2003 helped establish the nonprofit VIP CMHC and create a space to provide much needed mental health, educational enrichment, and case management services to thousands of extremely low income, high risk child victims.  With this new gift the agency will be able to enhance the space to better suit the needs of clients, their families, and staff as it keeps pace with growing demand for its services.  Last year, the VIP CMHC saw approximately 4,500 children for a variety of mental health related services including: crisis intervention, individual and group therapy, school-site therapy, psychological testing, and other specialized interventions for children under 5 and those living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.

VIP CMHC is extremely grateful to the S. Mark Taper Foundation for not only its support of the agency but for its commitment to helping the most vulnerable populations in Los Angeles, the children of abuse and violence who have no voice other than the one we strive to give them.

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