The UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families is a new UCLA campus-wide initiative focused on the needs of children and youth who are disconnected from traditional pathways to success, in particular foster youth. The new center will serve as a collaborative hub for research, prevention and intervention efforts, working to strengthen families to prevent children from entering the child welfare system, and to support those in it. It will aim to build the capacity of foster parents, relative caregivers, and adoptive families to promote stable and nurturing families, equitable opportunities, and paths to educational success. The center will conduct new research, beginning with an examination of the dynamics of race and poverty in foster care in Los Angeles County. Leaders at the UCLA Pritzker Center will proactively and strategically link UCLA’s work to nonprofit agencies, to K-12 systems, to other education institutions, and to government support services as we develop collaborative and innovative classroom support systems, family support services, and trauma and resiliency informed care.