1736 Family Crisis Center is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the safety and fostering the long-term survival and success of runaway and homeless youth... domestic violence victims and their children... and other individuals in need.

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1736 Family Crisis Center is a recognized service leader with over three decades of healing "firsts" launched to benefit children and families reeling from violence and other traumas:

1736 Family Crisis Center's first shelter, opened in 1972, gave runaways sleeping on beaches in Los Angeles County's South Bay a safe, comfortable place to stay and non-judgmental help to guide them back onto a promising life course.

This site remains one of only four licensed emergency shelters in Los Angeles County for girls and boys ages 10 through 17.

1736 Family Crisis Center's emergency shelter for domestic violence victims and their children, opened in 1981, was the only such refuge in the South Bay for over two decades.

1736 Family Crisis Center's next domestic violence shelter, opened with 15 beds in 1986 and expanded to 24 beds in 2002, was Los Angeles County's first model of post-emergency shelter for abused women.

This model was one of the first in the U.S. to offer domestic violence victims extended shelter stays combined with an array of services to boost their ability to attain financial and emotional stability leading to safer, more productive lives.

1736 Family Crisis Center's domestic violence training program for hospital emergency personnel and other healthcare professionals was introduced in 1998.

The program has been expanded to a variety of hospital, private practice, and emergency response settings to provide for better identification, treatment, and referral of victimized women.

1736 Family Crisis Center's efforts to help abused women get and keep good jobs to sustain viable lives away from their batterers were significantly expanded in 1999 with a welfare-to-work grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Out of 64 grants awarded nationally, 1736 Family Crisis Center was the only agency in California – out of six organizations across the country – selected to focus specifically on domestic violence victims as a hard-to-employ population.

Although Congress decided to eliminate the Department of Labor funding for this project, 1736 Family Crisis Center continues to provide job development services to low-income families throughout Los Angeles with alternative funds.

1736 Family Crisis Center's two most recent domestic violence shelters opened in 2000 and now has 64 beds including a recent expansion.

The shelters offer hurting women, including mothers with girls and boys ages birth through 17, up to two years of nurturing refuge, counseling, job training/placement, and other aid to help ensure their best possible futures.

1736 Family Crisis Center offers a broad range of ever-growing services. We also link with hundreds of other agencies we can refer hurting community members to for assistance.

If you think you need help, call us today at one of our five 24-hour crisis hotlines: (213) 745-6434, (213) 222-1237, (310) 379-3620, (310) 370-5902, or (562) 388-7652.

Over the past 30 years, 1736 Family Crisis Center has developed and refined multi-service "best practices" programs for runaway and homeless youth, domestic violence victims and their children, and other individuals in crisis.

The Center freely shares information on program models and other important knowledge with social service providers in various U.S. cities. Indeed, our commitment to helping troubled children, families, and individuals in crisis extends to those all over the world.

Between 1999 and 2001, the agency conferred with Israeli, Siberian, and Chinese social service providers who were researching domestic violence shelter program models.

In February 2002, the Center hosted a delegation of Russian social workers and human services specialists who came to study our shelter program models for domestic violence victims and their children.

1736 Family Crisis Center, one of the most beloved nonprofit organizations in Southern California, and the Novas Group, one of London¹s most well-known and active charities, met in Los Angeles on October 26, 2006 to share best practices and excitedly plan future collaborative efforts. The meeting was attended by 1736 Family Crisis Center's CEO and Executive Director, Carol Adelkoff and her executive staff and Novas Groups¹ Founder/CEO Michael Wake and his executive staff. The two agencies found that although international differences shape to a certain degree how they structure their services, they share the same passion for helping women, children, and families in need. Both agencies serve diverse urban areas and provide a full range of desperately needed residential and nonresidential services to women, children, and families. Read more

Our most defenseless community members matter. Upon that essential belief, the single youth shelter in Hermosa Beach that has become today's multi-program, multi-site 1736 Family Crisis Center opened in 1972.

In the early 1970s, emergency help for runaways sleeping on beaches was a pressing need in Los Angeles County's South Bay region. Members of the St. Cross by the Sea Episcopal Church in Hermosa Beach opened their hearts to these girls and boys and pitched in to furnish and tend a welcoming refuge.

The shelter was established in a charming beach cottage at 1736 Monterey Boulevard, next door to the sanctuary and staffed primarily by volunteers. Here, a 24-hour hotline was soon installed to provide ready help for kids in crisis. Next came a drop-in center offering emergency food, clothing, and counseling.

These loving oases sparked the creation of program after program to meet other pressing needs. For example, in 1981, St. Cross established an emergency shelter for women and children fleeing terror and trauma at home. Getting the word out on these life-saving projects compelled the development of community outreach programs. Other programs sprouted and flourished, leading to the incorporation of 1736 Family Crisis Center as a separate agency in 1986.

Today, 1736 Family Crisis Center offers a unique continuum of aid to counter the devastating effects of domestic violence, teen street life, depression, anxiety, and other difficulties. Help is available at five shelter and four community service center sites throughout Los Angeles. Community members in crisis also benefit from extensive community education, training, policy development, advocacy, and research efforts conducted throughout Los Angeles County.

Opportunities for improved safety and a brighter future include:

    Jobs for domestic violence victims...
          Healing art activities for children in distress...
                Counseling instead of jail time for teens in turmoil

This and other assistance is offered to build coping and life skills, nurture potentials, and protect the well-being of children, teens, and adults in need of help to turn their lives around.

What has remained steadfast through the growth 1736 Family Crisis Center has experienced is our commitment to providing free or low-cost help... the moment it is needed... to soothe community members' hurting bodies and spirits. For people of all ages and backgrounds, essential services provided toward this end have fostered miracles.

In celebrating over three decades of new starts for troubled children, teens, and adults, we acknowledge all who have made each forward step possible.

As volunteers, donors, service collaborators, advocates, civic leaders, colleagues, and friends... you have offered support and encouragement to help realize both the dreams of the individuals and families who look to us for help... and our goal of service excellence.

Thank you.

From our roots as a single, volunteer-operated shelter... through our growth into a multi-site service leader... people who have lent their energy and resources to benefit others have been a key 1736 Family Crisis Center mainstay.

1736 Family Crisis Center has been successfully establishing, administering, and refining assistance programs for families and individuals since 1972. The organization's steady growth and pioneering program development is due in part to its visionary Board of Directors.

With expertise in such crucial areas as legal, business development, accounting, human resources, and community relations, 1736 Family Crisis Center's multicultural, active, and professionally diverse Board has strategically developed and overseen programs that have helped heal and empower thousands of people's lives for over 30 years.

1736 Family Crisis Center services are provided by, and under the supervision of, licensed mental health professionals (licensed clinical psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, licensed marriage and family therapists, etc.). The staff consists of approximately 140 full-time, part-time, and on-call professionals and highly trained paraprofessionals and approximately 20 master's-level interns.

Some 200 volunteers enhance 1736 Family Crisis Center services in a variety of capacities. This includes a Youth Advisory Board made up of former youth services clients and community youth who provide input on all aspects of youth services.

1736 Family Crisis Center maintains a strong organizational commitment to maintaining and improving its cultural and linguistic competency. Toward this end, we hire staff that reflect community demographics and have experience working with different cultures.

We also maintain a strong internal training program. This includes 40 hours of domestic violence training mandated by the State of California for all staff and volunteers working with domestic violence victims and training for staff working with youth.

All direct service paid staff must also complete training in first aid and CPR.

1736 Family Crisis Center's community service centers throughout Los Angeles are certified by the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health to provide Early Prevention, Screening, Detection, and Treatment (EPSDT) to children and their mothers.

Over 30-plus years, 1736 Family Crisis Center has partnered with many diverse entities to offer runaway and homeless youth, domestic violence victims and their children, and other people in need free shelter services and other life-changing aid to help them thrive.

With grateful appreciation, we acknowledge all who join with us to increase vulnerable community members' access to empowering services and expand the aid available to help them create safe, productive lives.

Ensuring community members optimal access to life-changing help through inter-agency connectedness and cooperation has been a crucial 1736 Family Crisis Center aim across our service history. For instance, the Center is the lead agency in an eight-agency City of Los Angeles Family Development Network consortium. This group was established to provide low-income City residents with coordinated case management, counseling, parenting education, legal, medical, and other supportive services to help improve their circumstances.

In addition, families in crisis can draw on a crucial range of help to meet their multiple needs as a result of formal service and advisory collaborations established with more than 100 public and private agencies and our extensive referral network of 400-plus community agencies and resources. This includes medical attention, legal services, housing, substance abuse treatment, childcare, education, job training, transportation, etc.

As one example, Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance, through its marvelous Mary Potter Program, provides free medical care to residents of our youth and domestic violence shelters.

We are also working with Little Company of Mary and other local hospitals, social service agencies, and law enforcement personnel to put into place in Los Angeles County's South Bay region an unprecedented domestic violence safety net. The CAVA (Collaborative for Alternatives to Violence and Abuse) Program, supported by public and private funding, unites efforts to effectively screen, treat, and refer to follow-up services persons experiencing violence at home.

Corporations such as Accenture, Blue Shield of California, Chevron, Home Depot, Honeywell, I.D.E.A.,Inc., Northrop Grumman, Sam's Club, Target Stores,  Toyota Motor Sales, Inc., and World Savings make possible a world of opportunity for the children and families who look to 1736 Family Crisis Center for help.

In-kind donations of furnishings make our shelters warm, inviting homes. Corporate support – including donated services and funding generated through matching gift programs – ensures the availability of counseling and other essential aid the moment they are needed. Internships and jobs provided by local businesses for domestic violence victims on welfare offer a safe, fresh start. Employees fuel brighter futures by donating priceless time, services, and compassion as Center volunteers.

Funding from various foundations helps 1736 Family Crisis Center deliver crucial assistance year after year and launch new life-saving programs. Foundations help establish shelters, buy computers to facilitate job searches, train hospital emergency department staff to recognize domestic violence and refer victims to aid – and much, much more.

Our valued and visionary foundation supporters include such leading community funders as The Ahmanson Foundation, The William C. Bannerman Foundation, The Entertainment Industry Foundation, The Josephine S. Gumbiner Foundation, The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation, The Roth Family Foundation, The Sidney Stern Memorial Trust, The Sunshine Lady Foundation, Inc., The S. Mark Taper Foundation, J.B. and Emily Van Nuys Charities, and Weingart Foundation.

Since 1972, 1736 Family Crisis Center has benefited from the funding and volunteer support of such caring faith communities as St. Cross by the Sea Episcopal Church, Manhattan Beach Community Church, the Neighborhood Church in Palos Verdes, The Parish of Saint Matthew Episcopal Church in Pacific Palisades, Hope United Methodist Church, Seaside Community Church, Trinity Lutheran Church of Hawthorne, First Baptist Church of Redondo Beach, First Christian Church of Torrance, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Such congregations put food on our shelters' tables, cover the costs of children's school supplies, donate proceeds from benefit church play performances, and extend spirit-lifting hope and healing in a thousand other ways.

1736 Family Crisis Center counts among its most cherished supporters service clubs such as Soroptimist International of Los Angeles, the Sandpipers, the Sandpiper Debs, the Peninsula Chapter of National Charity League, Inc., and Kiwanis Club of Hermosa Beach.

Service club members shop for shelter groceries, donate washers and dryers, pay for childcare so that domestic violence victims can attend school or look for employment, and so much more. Their financial and volunteer contributions lend invaluable assistance to improve the prospects of our community's most vulnerable children, teens, and adults.

Public funds – support for 1736 Family Crisis Center provided through city, county, state, and federal grants – help sustain and establish both shelter and outpatient programs to empower distressed community members. For instance, we were awarded a grant from the Los Angeles County Children and Families First Commission to provide essential home-based services to foster the healthy growth and development of infants, toddlers, and other children under age five. Funding for this crucial undertaking has been provided from cigarette tax revenue resulting from the passage of Proposition 10 in California.

Individuals and families throughout Los Angeles County have historically helped 1736 Family Crisis Center maximize available resources through extensive in-kind donations.

Local schools run canned goods drives and volunteers help stock and maintain shelter pantries. Local families and businesses donated most of our shelter furnishings. Furthermore, community members donate clothing, books, furniture, large and small appliances, and other necessities for use in shelters and to give to families moving out of shelter care into homes of their own.

The United Way has offered 1736 Family Crisis Center sustaining support across the years (less than one percent of our annual budget). Moreover, individuals who donate to us through the United Way allow us to provide help to increase safety and well-being... whenever and wherever it is most needed.

1736 Family Crisis Center recently conducted a longitudinal study of our transitional shelter model in collaboration with the USC School of Social Work. We have also worked with the USC School of Social Work Center for the Inclusive Workplace to ensure the effectiveness of efforts focused on helping domestic violence victims transition from welfare to jobs that can sustain safer new lives.

1736 Family Crisis Center also teams with Los Angeles-area colleges and universities to place master's-level social work and psychology interns in our community service center-based counseling programs. In this way, we contribute to the fields of such disciplines, working together to ensure troubled children and families nurturing and competent therapeutic care in times of crises.

Current supporters list under construction.