December 2019

By Steffan Chirazi, Metallica, December 3, 2019 From the moment Cat Cvengros bounds out to meet us in the lobby of the Second Harvest Food Bank in San Jose, there is an enthusiasm about her which is both unique and enormous. She has a dazzling smile, excitable voice, and is instantly both engaging and impossible to dislike. Cat Cvengros is someone whose passion for giant boxes of oranges or huge palettes of potatoes is bordering on incredible. Either she is one of the greatest marketing...

By Michael S. Lockett, Juneau Empire, December 4, 2019 Just as a house built on a shattered foundation won’t stand straight, mounting research points toward a child’s earliest years as setting a pattern that will last their whole life. “What happens early in your life has really big and dramatic impact on the later parts of your life,” said Alex Newton, the counselor at Glacier Valley Elementary School – Sít’ Eetí Shaanáx. “All development for kids starts with their early caregiver...

By Brendan O'Shaughnessy, Office of Public Affairs and Communications, University of Notre Dame, December 4, 2019 Steven King, 7, builds a tower with Lego blocks at Notre Dame’s William J. Shaw Center for Children and Families while he tells family coach Rosemary Salinas about his scary dream. Steven had awakened in the night and didn’t want to get back into bed because he thought a snake might be under the covers. It sounds like a common nightmare until his mother, Kathryn Kandzierski,...

By Jennifer Gonnerman, The New Yorker, November 25, 2019 Earlier this year, the Parole Preparation Project put out a call for volunteers, and more than a hundred people applied. Many were law students and lawyers, but there was also a Planet Fitness employee, a pediatric I.C.U. nurse, a professor of philosophy, a software engineer, a waiter, and a translator. Parole Prep invited them to an orientation, and, one Wednesday evening last April, some eighty people assembled in a lecture hall at...

This Sunday evening's "Breaking the Silence with Dr. Gregory Williams" Radio Show LIVE at 8:00 pm CST will be discussing the importance of Community Resiliency and how the Community Resiliency Model is helping people who have suffered from the traumatic experiences in their lives. The special guests on the show this Sunday night will be Elaine Miller-Karas and Kelly Doty. Elaine is the Executive Director and co-founder of the Trauma Resource Institute and author of the book, Building...

Helping kids to shift to right brain creativity

Wonderful to see so many new and familiar faces at our November meeting! See attached for meeting minutes, flyers and handouts.

California Governor's Office of Planning and Research, December 4, 2019 We are pleased to announce the 2019 Request For Proposals (RFP). This RFP will serve as a means to identify collaborative proof-of-principle Demonstration Projects with the aim to improve care for Californians who have been impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). This RFP incorporates demonstration project selection criteria codified by AB 1602, Chapter 24, Statutes of 2016, which establishes the California...

At the Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) , we understand that justice, peace, and social change are only achievable when dedicated individuals and groups have the skills needed to accomplish their goals. We offer a wide variety of trainings to enhance your knowledge and practical skills and help you achieve your personal, community, and professional goals. All SPI courses are available for training or academic credit. Click the titles below for more information about the courses we are...

By Carolyn Jones, EdSource, November 27, 2019 California schools undercounted their homeless students by at least 37 percent in 2017-18, according to a recent state audit. The state failed to provide those students with transportation, counseling, connections to social services and other benefits they’re entitled to under state and federal law. The audit, conducted by the office of State Auditor Elaine Howle, found that schools and districts reported only 270,000 homeless children, although...

By Rachel A. Cohen, The Washington Post, November 27, 2019 A 16-year-old girl was abducted, raped, beaten and held captive for months in Congo. She became pregnant and gave birth. In an effort to avoid the stigma and shame that this would bring upon her family and because she would not be eligible for any other marriage, her parents joined the perpetrators’ family in trying to force her to marry her abductor. Although she was expected to obey, she refused. The perpetrator’s family took her...

By Monica Humphries, NationSwell, November 25, 2019 Instead of taking their recyclables to the curb, Oregonians can now turn their cans and bottles into money for higher education. Thanks to a new partnership between BottleDrop, Oregon’s redemption center for recyclable goods, and the Oregon College Savings Plan, the state’s 529 college savings plan, residents can directly add funds from redeemed cans and bottles to an existing college savings accounts. Previously recyclers had three options...