Having been open roughly three weeks, the Wellness Center at Washington Preparatory High School is pouring targeted resources and services into the South Los Angeles community.

A Los Angeles Unified School District initiative, it is aimed at addressing safety in and around schools, foster care, parenting skills, teen pregnancy, access to medical care, employment, substance abuse, racial tension, mental health, and improved education. The center is providing wrap-around services to approach them in the form of contracts with various county departments under an $8.5 million, four-year federal grant. By linking Washington Prep and its surrounding 19 schools to county and community partners, it is hoped that a comprehensive network of care would result in school environments that are conducive to learning, as well as safe and healthy communities.

“The idea is to have a hub of services provided, to not just the school, but the community, the parents, teachers, anybody that would need services of any sort,” said Myrna Brutti, project director of Washington Involving Neighborhoods, a LAUSD program to which the grant was awarded. “It is to be a place where if they come and the services are not provided here, they can get linked to the services that they need and have a direct contact.”

The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health is working closely with W.I.N. staff to establish a quick referral process. One full-time employee is assigned — by the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission — to integrate human relations skill-building into campus life, establish student leaders, provide parent workshops and teacher training. One program already being implemented is “Zerohour: No Haters Here!” a campaign that fuses music and dialogue.

The Los Angeles County Probation Department has provided the center with two mobile probation officers that will assist existing probation officers by conducting home visits, linking parents to counseling and support, provide parent empowerment programs and counsel and mentor youth.

The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services has agreed to assist in the development and delivery of training to school staff and parents regarding the needs of children in foster care. It will also expedite Team Decision Making (TDM) meetings that include community, parents and school staff.

The Los Angeles County Education Coordinating Council ranked Washington Prep fourth among L.A. public high schools within LAUSD as enrolling the highest number of probation youth and foster care children.

The County of Los Angeles Public Health’s Nurse Family Partnership will extend one nurse, who will be stationed at Washington Preparatory High School, to improve the health of first-time mothers and their newborns, while also providing tools that will prevent the likelihood of teen moms dropping out of school.

“What we found is that pregnant teens and even teen fathers are at a higher rate of dropping out,” said W.I.N. project team leader Joel Cisneros. “So, if they feel like they have the support, then we’re hoping that is not an option for them and that they can stay in school and succeed.”

In this capacity, a nurse works with pregnant teens and follows them up to two years, constantly monitoring and assisting them with resources.

The Psychological Trauma Center, Share and Care Program associated with Cedars Sinai, will implement a research-based adolescent substance abuse program at Washington Prep, Duke Ellington High School, Harte Middle School and Clay Middle School.

According to the California Healthy Kids Survey’s Spring 2009 report, more than half of Washington Prep students reported that alcohol and marijuana were readily accessible on campus and at least one-third had frequent bouts with depression.

Centinela Youth Services (CYS) will facilitate peer mediation conflict resolution training to students, a police dialogue program to change perceptions students have toward law enforcement, parent-child mediation, and victim-offender mediation.

The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has agreed to facilitate prevention programs; truancy and curfew sweeps when necessary; provide safe passage to and from school; communicate directly with students, faculty, school officials and residents; provide access to the department’s after school programs; and collaborate with school police, officials and the probation department to gather and exchange information as it relates to identifying criminals and combating crime.

Sweeps, said W.I.N. officials, would intercept truancy and violent behavior before it becomes a disciplinary issue, as would it ensure that students are staying in school.

Catholic Big Brothers Big Sisters will connect young people with mentors, who will be on hand to encourage academic success and social skill building.

The agencies are looking at those who are in need of help and ensure that they are working together as a team to provide support and “overcome the barriers for accessing services for children and families that are really suffering,” said LAUSD organizational facilitator Jerry O’Day.

One such obstacle is getting students and members of the community to step up to the plate and ask for help, which is essentially what they would be doing in going to the center. Because some students do not want to be identified due to some of the harsh subject matters, W.I.N. has an official Web site with a full list of services and tools on how to access them. In addition, the site has an open-door policy, whereby whomever can simply walk in, head to the resource wall and take materials that apply to them without divulging their name.

One way they plan to address teen pregnancy in a more discrete way will be to place posters in the girls’ bathroom stalls with information on how to access nursing services.

“It will be a private matter, where a girl can see it and feel that they don’t need to go ask someone for it because they already know where to go,” said Cisneros. “It’s about how can we reach them without encountering some obstacles of them feeling somehow like they cannot approach the center or the teachers.”