Your donation will help us produce journalism like this. Please give today.

Via the Los Angeles Daily News | By Monica Garcia, Beatriz Maria Solis and Maria Brenes

Schools have long served as trusted and safe places for community and families to gather. In addition to being places where parents entrust their children for education, schools have inherent connections to communities as parent centers, polling places, and venues for town halls and other gatherings.

The creation of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Wellness Network in 2009 was sensible and bold. Fourteen full-service medical clinics offering holistic, comprehensive and integrated services — including physical, mental, oral and preventive health services — were to be built on or around school campuses by an approved bond measure appropriating $34 million in joint-use funds for the creation of these new access points of care.

Twelve new facilities have recently been completed and are serving students and community members on LAUSD campuses across the district in medically underserved areas where the needs are greatest.

Although these Wellness Centers are already showing promising results, we cannot stop here.

Read the full commentary here.