The fall harvest themed event was a celebration of families registered for classes through the LIFE Project: their success, support, friendship, and dedication.  The day included a resource fair followed by live music by Sebastian Cruz and the Tiny Giants.  Families picked pumpkins in our very own pumpkin “patch”  and gathered in our early childhood classrooms for pumpkin decorating.  Children also enjoyed face painting. The afternoon ended with lunch and LIFE Project updates.

We’re thrilled that our contract for the LIFE Project has been renewed and we will be able to continue offering this important resource to the community.

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Below are some of the research efforts being made in our programs. The goal is to deepen our understanding of the community and to continue improving our services to help families move past the barriers to well-being that result from poverty.

Early Learning

New York University is working with families in the Parenting and Child Development program to research family makeup and its impact on parent-child bonding and language development. The aim is to create and pilot a new intervention program that will promote parent-child language interactions during common, everyday activities at home.

Greening and Asthma Prevention

The Environmental Health program is participating in several national and local studies that investigate the relationship between environment and public health. One study evaluates the health benefits of renovating affordable housing with “green” materials and technologies. Another study is looking into the impact of asthma management support for high-risk adult asthmatics. Finally, in partnership with Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the New York Academy of Medicine, the program is participating in a study focused on the prevention and control of mold, which can trigger asthma symptoms and other adverse health conditions.

Reaching Immigrants

In 2016, our Advocacy program partnered with the Mexican Initiative for Deferred Action (MIDA) to do grassroots outreach in the community in order to provide immigration resources to eligible individuals. Data was collected to learn how DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) affects the lives of those who obtain it.

Tracking Health Trends

Two MD-MPH students from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai are looking at Nursing data from 2012 to 2015 to help us understand health trends in our patient population. Thanks to a grant from the Sills Foundation, LSA embarked on a 3-year capacity-building ​project to develop agency-wide​ and program specific​ ​metrics to better measure ​impact and to implement best practices in the use of data systems​ to capture key information. ​

Photo caption: In 2016, LSA nurses made 860 home visits to provide prenatal and post-partum care.  Photo by Micah Rubin.

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April 22, 2016 – LSA families celebrated Earth Day with activities that focused on the beauties and bounties of our planet.  Parents in the Language Exchange class and children in homework help worked on a mapping project – discussing natural resources from around the world.  Toddlers in our Parenting and Child Development program explored textures of objects from nature and made a special field trip to Thomas Jefferson Park to continue their discoveries.

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