New Hope for LA's At-Risk Youth and Their Families

Located in Los Angeles, California, Aviva Family and Children's Services is a non-profit, non-sectarian social service and mental health agency dedicated to serving mistreated and at-risk youth and their families through a comprehensive range of diverse and culturally sensitive therapeutic and educational programs. Aviva is certified by the Council on Accreditation, an international, independent accrediting organization for providers of behavioral health care and child and family services.

The history of Aviva began almost a century ago, when the Ida Strauss Day Nursery was founded in 1915 to find loving homes for WWI orphans and provide day care to the children of working mothers and widows. Three years later, the Ida Strauss Day Nursery added a small residential program and community center and became the Jewish Alliance. In 1927, the organization was renamed the Hamburger Home to honor a major benefactor. For the next four decades, the Hamburger Home provided lodging for young, single, and working Jewish women. During the 1960s, the women's residence transformed into a residential treatment program for physically and sexually abused adolescent girls of all races and religions. To reflect its commitment to helping its young clients attain a brighter future, the agency changed its name once again to Aviva, which means “rebirth” or “renewal” in Hebrew.

The programs offered by Aviva Family and Children's Services today include enrichment programs for infants and children, foster care and adoption, community-based services such as gang intervention and juvenile justice, and Aviva High School, a special education high school for young girls who have been abused or neglected. Aviva High School, which helps at-risk teen girls graduate from high school and go on to post-secondary education, was awarded the highest level of accreditation (six years) by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, an independent organization that accredits high schools and higher education programs.