Helen Kleinberg graduated from UCLA with a secondary teaching credential and worked as a consultant for public schools with the Los Angeles Educational Partnership. In the 1980s she was instrumental as part of a group that successfully advocated for the creation of a stand alone Department for Children and Families in Los Angeles County. She served as the first chairperson for the LA County Commission for Children and represented Supervisors Ed Edelman and Zev Yaroslavsky for thirty years on the commission.