PROTOTYPES is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 1986 by Dr. Vivian Brown and Maryann Fraser, LCSW, MBA. From the very beginning, our founders envisioned a unique social service organization dedicated to meeting emerging community needs by developing and improving treatment methods and community reach. Their goal was to ensure that women could get services that were customized to meet their needs and that took into consideration their role as mothers.

Prior to PROTOTYPES opening its doors, women facing these issues could only get necessary services if they turned their children over to the foster care system or left them with family. Our founders recognized that women were usually dealing with more than one issue concurrently, yet there was not a single treatment program that was equipped to deal with them all in one place. Women who had both substance abuse and mental health issues were often told that their issues had to be addressed in separate programs.

In response to these serious gaps in treatment, PROTOTYPES opened its doors in 1986 with a clear mission to change they way communities sought treatment. PROTOTYPES designed and developed innovative models to provide integrated and comprehensive programs that allowed women and their children to stay together while receiving rehabilitative services all in one nurturing environment.

Today, PROTOTYPES has locations throughout Southern California and serves more than 15,000 women, children and men each year. PROTOTYPES remains focused on rebuilding the lives of women, children and communities impacted by substance abuse, mental illness and domestic violence. With a proven model for successful social services, PROTOTYPES has evolved into one of the nation’s leading social service organizations and a prototype for emerging nonprofit agencies.