Improving the Health and Development of Young Children in Los Angeles: Best Start LA Begins to Bear Fruit

Best Start LA is a “place-based” initiative designed to promote the health, safety, and development of children while supporting families in the community. Resources are focused in the pilot Metro LA community in downtown Los Angeles, and multiple strategies are employed, including home visiting for mothers of infants and development of family-friendly community services. The Best Start LA evaluation assesses the initiative's success in improving child/family functioning and expanding the capacity of the community to support families with young children. Evaluation results will inform the implementation of Best Start LA initiatives in 14 additional communities across Los Angeles County.

At the three-year point in this six-year evaluation, three rounds of case studies, two rounds of focus groups, and the first of three waves of the longitudinal survey are complete.

Roughly 2,000 parents and newborns have received Welcome Baby! home visits from nurses and college educated “parent coaches,” designed to promote breast feeding, child health and development, parenting, home and environmental safety, and use of community resources. Focus groups with parents indicate that mothers place high value on the service, form strong bonds with visitors, and perceive improved breast feeding and parenting. Community components have been slower to take hold, though 30 “mini grants” have supported development of community-based education, support, beautification, safety, and play projects.

The longitudinal survey compares outcomes for children in Metro LA to two control groups of children, exploring differences in child health, nutrition, and development, and parenting and breast feeding, among other outcomes.