Youth-Driven Solutions for Mental Health

Mental health

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Legacy LA will advance youth-driven solutions to improve mental health and increase green space to benefit youth and residents of the Ramona Gardens public housing development in Boyle Heights. Area residents are impacted by multigenerational poverty, gang activity, trauma, and violence; 90.4% identify as Latino and 27.1% have income below poverty (US Census, 2022 5-Year ACS, 90033). In a recent survey, 98% of youth in Legacy LA programs reported having anxiety 2+ days/week. The area ranks in the top 1% of California’s most polluted communities with unhealthy air quality 40% of the year due to transit pollutants from the adjacent 10-freeway (CalEnviroScreen 4.01, CalEPA 2022). Legacy LA youth have measured and monitored the air pollution, surveyed 500 neighbors, and concluded “we need better air and green open space” to improve community wellness. Youth are campaigning to build a park with an anti-pollution green buffer and recreation space.

Legacy LA will advance youth-driven solutions to improve mental health and increase green space for youth and residents of the Ramona Gardens public housing development. First, Legacy LA will provide culturally relevant mental health services to low-income, primarily Latino youth ages 10-25 from Ramona Gardens, including green space outings, sunrise hikes, indigenous healing practices, therapy, and a mindfulness course to reduce stress. Legacy LA will use an innovative approach by integrating mental health services into its full suite of best-practice youth development services at Legacy LA’s 20,000 square foot, state-of-the-art youth center a half-mile walk from Ramona Gardens. At the center, Legacy LA also offers arts/culture, academic and vocational programs, family services, and leadership programs.
Second, Legacy LA will train and deploy youth in paid internships to serve as: (1) wellness ambassadors to destigmatize and increase awareness of mental health services among peers and families; and (2) green space advocates to advance the youth-driven campaign to build a park at Ramona Gardens. The ambassadors/advocates will conduct outreach and host an intergenerational town hall event. Youth will earn money while gaining career-building skills.
In the future, the park will provide an anti-pollution green buffer with native trees and plants to mitigate transit pollution, enhance air quality, and provide recreation/fitness space to reduce stress.

An LA2050 grant will boost early efforts to enhance mental health and green space at Ramona Gardens. These strategies are tied together and have potential for replication in public housing across LA County. 75 youth will be directly impacted; 1,700 residents will be indirectly impacted. In the short term, LA2050 will help Legacy LA get to the next level as a mental health provider. Recently, Legacy LA had a grant under LA County Dept. of Mental Health’s “Transforming LA Initiative” to build capacity to provide prevention services. Legacy LA also won a private grant to add indoor/outdoor space for mental health services at the youth center. LA2050 will also help youth advance economically and further the campaign to build a park. In the long term, services will be destigmatized and the 4-acre park will be built. The park will store 280 metric tons of greenhouse gas in 20 years.
Youth will also inform the design of “youth hubs” across the city/county under the Invest In Youth campaign.

In this early-stage effort, Legacy LA will use (1) Case Management notes to count how many youth receive mental health services and (2) a survey to measure youth social-emotional learning and program satisfaction. An evaluation consultant designed the survey; it launched in June 2024. Legacy LA will use Apricot and sign-in sheets to count (a) how many youth serve as ambassadors/advocates (paid interns) and (b) how many community members they engage through outreach. Legacy LA will take photos of activities. Legacy LA will track total dollars earned by interns to quantify youth economic advancement. Youth will gain skills applicable to careers as community health workers or the environmental sector.
By the end of the grant, 75 youth will receive mental services and/or serve as interns; they will reach 500 community members to destigmatize mental health services and/or advance the campaign to build the park. In the future, 1,700 residents will benefit from the park.