A $25 Million Gift Establishes the Stein Tikun Olam Early Connections Program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (April 15, 2025)—The Tikun Olam Foundation of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles has awarded a $25 million gift to establish the Stein Tikun Olam Early Connections Program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). This program will be one of the first of its kind in the nation providing universal, hospital-wide infant-family mental health services. The transformational donation is the largest in the history of CHLA dedicated to early childhood mental health.

This remarkable gift by philanthropic visionaries Mindy and Gene Stein will support trauma-informed, culturally sensitive, infant-family mental health screenings and interventions for every infant and young child, ages 0 to 3, receiving specialty medical care at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Led by Marian Williams, PhD, and Melissa Carson, PsyD, the Stein Tikun Olam Early Connections Program will include resources to expand training for CHLA’s multidisciplinary workforce to meet the unique mental health needs of young patients with complex conditions and their families—and to disseminate this model of care to other children’s hospitals around the nation.

“This generous gift will allow Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to be leaders in developing a model for infant-family mental health care that ensures families with medically complex infants and young children have the tools to create strong familial bonds,” says Paul S. Viviano, Chief Executive Officer of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “Thanks to this support, our team members will be able to provide an unparalleled level of care to the youngest children and their families. We are grateful to Mindy and Gene Stein, founders of the Tikun Olam Foundation of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, for such a visionary gift.”

Infants’ and young children’s mental health and wellbeing are fostered through forming secure bonds with those who care for them. It is through these relationships that they learn how to express and regulate their emotions and explore their environment.

“The first few years of life lay the foundation for a child’s wellbeing over a lifetime,” says Dr. Williams, who will oversee the new program. “Our team works with patients and their families to support early relationships, help them develop resilience, and overcome the challenges and psychosocial stressors that often come with having complex medical conditions and extended hospitalization.”

The Tikun Olam Foundation—Hebrew for “repair the world”—has long supported infant-family mental health care at CHLA for infants and families in critical care settings and those with the highest levels of need. The new program will expand the work conducted over the last decade through the Stein Tikun Olam Infant-Family Mental Health Initiative at CHLA by including universal screenings for every child, age 0 to 3, receiving specialty medical care at the hospital. The program also strives to build an interdisciplinary workforce—at CHLA and in the community—trained in infant-family mental health practices.

“We are honored to support Children's Hospital Los Angeles in delivering pioneering mental health care to the youngest patients and their families,” say the Steins. “Through a deep and meaningful relationship with CHLA, as well as an enduring partnership with our philanthropic advisors at the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, we are dedicated to supporting programs focused on early childhood development and a model of care to improve the lives of children and their families. What better time to announce this new initiative than during the Passover and Easter season—a time of hope, renewal, and celebration of young children!”

Ultimately, the Stein Tikun Olam Early Connections Program aims to advance health equity, promote early relational health, and reduce the effects of adverse childhood experiences, which research has shown can have lifelong negative effects on children’s brain and health. By providing support in early childhood, the team aims to improve children’s long-term health and wellness.

“Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is a leader in all aspects of pediatric health,” says Alexandra Carter, Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer at CHLA. “I am deeply grateful to the Tikun Olam Foundation and Mindy and Gene Stein who have been longtime generous supporters of our hospital. Their philanthropic leadership has paved the way for new innovative mental health care for infants, young children, and their families.”