January 2018

Homelessness is often seen as a persistent and intractable problem. According to the latest statistics, over 553,000 people experience homelessness on any given night in the U.S. The problem is especially acute in California, where approximately 24 percent of those experiencing homelessness live, and especially in Los Angeles County, where on an average night, an estimated 55,000 people — almost 10 percent of the national total — are homeless. In addition, LA County has the highest...

The only land route that connects Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana, to the rest of the continental United States is Island Road, a thin, four-mile stretch of pavement that lies inches above sea level and immediately drops off into open water on either side. Even on a calm day, salt water laps over the road’s tenuous boundaries and splashes the concrete. The road wasn’t so exposed when it was built in 1956. Residents could walk through the thick marsh that surrounded the road to hunt and trap.

As Kentucky becomes the first state to adopt Medicaid work requirements , others states such as Washington are pursuing a completely different approach to transforming the government health care program. This month, Washington state moved forward with a pilot program to offer supportive housing services to Medicaid enrollees. As part of its larger federal waiver project that launched last year, the state has earmarked nearly $200 million for supportive housing and supported employment...

Adopting a trauma-informed approach to care offers the potential to not only improve patient health outcomes, but also enhance the well-being of health care professionals. While becoming a trauma-informed health care organization can be resource-intensive, there are relatively simple, foundational steps health care providers can take to move toward fully adopting a trauma-informed approach to care. A new CHCS brief outlines practical recommendations for health care organizations interested...

US Olympics Gymnastics Team: Laurie Hernandez, Gabby Douglas, Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and Madison Kocain Right: Judge Rosemarie Aquiline __________________________ I pledge my allegiance to over 150 women who stood up in Judge Rosemarie Aquilina’s courtroom, found their voices, stepped into the national floodlights of attention and gave themselves an experience in courage; a sparkling courage that is rippling out to us all. What grit! What moxie! What lightning bolts of inspiration is...

Cissy's note: There are so many wonderful writers here at ACEs Connection that I'm sharing this post. There are great links to reporting about trauma and a link to how to submit a story or two. What's wonderful though is that among the judging team of mostly journalists there is also a victim advocate (only one, but it's a start). In addition, there are some simple and common sense (but not always done) guidelines about what makes for excellent writing about trauma.

While the Beltway argues over whether President Donald Trump called Haiti a " shithole " or a "shithouse"—or whether the outburst is question is simply more Fake News —the global refugee crisis continues more or less unabated. In 2017, the number of forcibly displaced persons around the world soared past 65 million, a figure that includes both refugees—those living outside their home countries—and the internally displaced. Every day, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for...

At this month’s Golden Globe awards, women seized the #MeToo moment in a big way. Nearly every actress in attendance wore black to signify support of sexual assault survivors and some spoke about their commitment to ending harassment and assault. Oprah Winfrey gave a barn-burning speech celebrating women’s dignity that led to some loose talk about her running for president. This backdrop of female solidarity made men’s silence suddenly visible. “Standing by like accessories,” wrote Claire...

Published in PLOS ONE, the study analysed questionnaire and interview data from the Determinants of young Adult Social well-being and Health (DASH) study, one of the UK's largest longitudinal studies of ethnically diverse young people. Information about smoking and experiences of racism was collected from over 6500 pupils at 51 London schools. Surveys were completed when pupils were aged 11-13 and then again with 4785 of the pupils at age 14-16. Over 600 participants were then followed up...

When Chinyere Oteh welcomed her first child in 2009, she found herself in a predicament familiar to many new stay-at-home mothers: Stress was high, but money and time were short. “I thought to myself, I can’t be the only person trying to figure out how to have a healthy family life as well as make ends meet,” Oteh said. That’s when she remembered an article she had read on time-banking. Time-banking is a model for trading skills, goods, and labor instead of money—a sort of barter system...

In 2013, ProPublica published an investigation of the subprime lender World Finance . World was charging annual interest rates that could exceed 200 percent, often trapping customers in cycles of debt by enticing them to renew the loans over and over. In states where laws barred such high rates, the installment lender loaded many loans with nearly useless insurance products that bloated the cost. The company boasted over 800,000 customers, part of an installment loan industry that claimed to...

Philadelphia is a step closer to opening what could be the nation's first supervised site for safe drug injection. But turning the idea into reality won't be easy. City officials gave the proposition the green light Tuesday. They were armed with feasibility studies , harrowing overdose statistics and the backing of key leaders, including the mayor and a newly elected district attorney. "There are many people who are hesitant to go into treatment, despite their addiction, and we don't want...