Mutual Aid Network and Peer Support Curriculum

People’s Health Solutions is convening a collective to co-design a mutual aid network and peer support curriculum for survivors of intimate partner violence in Los Angeles and Long Beach. Guided by the vision of a day when every survivor has an advocate at their side, the collective is exploring how survivor peers and community allies can offer trusting support, practice resources, and service navigation to empower people through life's major turning points. Backed by The Difference Engine at Arizona State University, the collective is using a human-centered design process to co-design and produce a pilot-ready prototype for presentation at the 2027 BUILD conference in Los Angeles.

Community Safety and ViolMelissa KingSeptember 1, 2026Human-Centered Design

Domestic Violence Support Services Rate Study

Domestic violence (DV) affects an estimated 20% of women in Los Angeles, and people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals carry an even greater burden. DV affects many aspects of a survivor’s life, and survivors often lack sufficient resources and services to seek support. Proper support is vital to empowering survivors to seek justice and protection, to improve their overall wellbeing, and to transition into safe living situations. PHS partnered with LA County Office of Women’s Health (OWH) and High Top HR to conduct a rapid-response study providing a long overdue analysis of the reimbursement model and rates needed to provide crucial DV support services. Together with participating providers and key informants, we helped identify promising reimbursement models for OWH to better serve DV survivors and the agencies who support them.

South Los Angeles Community Needs Assessment

SHIELDS for Families has worked to empower and advocate for families in South Los Angeles for more than 30 years. The organization engaged PHS to conduct a community needs assessment to further uplift voices of clients, community members, and collaborators. Our needs assessment successfully supported the design and roll-out of South LA’s first certified community behavioral health clinic.

Art of Caring at White Memorial Hospital

Healing-centered care is essential to advancing national health equity initiatives, as well as to fostering therapeutic relationships for patients and providers. Clinics and hospitals have sought our support in exploring what constitutes culturally-relevant care in the communities they serve and designing responsive programs. With our partners at Adventist Health White Memorial Hospital, PHS applied human-centered design thinking to the development and pilot of an OB/GYN medical education curriculum to support healing-centered care. Credit for mural in photo: East Los Skyscrapers

United Way Bay Area Sparkpoint Toolkit Pilot Evaluation

SparkPoint Centers are community centers designed to support students and families in achieving academic success and housing and economic stability. PHS and partner Cindy J. Wong Consulting were engaged by United Way Bay Area to complete a participatory evaluation of the SparkPoint Toolkit. The final Toolkit is being used by colleges and universities statewide to support equitable pathways to prosperity for their students.

Oregon Human Trafficking Vignettes Project

PHS collaborated with Oregon Department of Justice Trafficking Response and Intervention Program (TRIP) on a community intervention to respond to human trafficking. The TRIP team worked with survivors, advocates, and service providers to compile their stories. PHS in turn designed story cards and a facilitator’s guide to make the stories accessible. The materials are being used to train service providers who engage with survivors of sex trafficking.

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