December 2020

Raising Families Up. Matila Sackor-Jones, MS, Assistant Director-Community Engagement Services Practitioners working with human service populations may already be aware of the barriers to securing behavioral health services for their clients. Unfortunately, access to these much needed services has been significantly restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to challenges with maintaining service continuity, the coronavirus pandemic has required many behavioral health providers to...

Laura's note (added 12/24/20): This article contains graphic descriptions of sexual assault and abuse. This article contains descriptions of sexual assault. On Jan. 12 , Lisa Montgomery is set to become the first woman executed on federal death row in nearly 70 years. The last executions, both in 1953, were of Bonnie Heady, killed in a gas chamber in Missouri, and Ethel Rosenberg. Ms. Montgomery would be only the fifth woman put to death in a federal civilian execution, according to the...

It’s little contested 2020 has been a sh*# show for most every American. It has personally knocked me down countless times. There are so many aspects of this pandemic and 2020 that have challenged my resilience as an individual, a mother, a small-business owner, and a female leader in my field. Despite what people assume, resilience-lacking 2020 hasn’t been a personal failing. Resilience is not a choice. Resilience is not an attitude or a mindset. Resilience is a physiological phenomenon. I...

From Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, December 16, 2020 The year 2020 has been a tumultuous one, as the nation faces the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences, unrest sparked by long-standing racial injustice, and the devastating effects of climate change. Increases in rents continue to outpace income gains, and millions of households face unaffordable cost burdens according to the latest State of the Nation’s Housing 2020 report by Harvard University’s Joint...

By Liz Simons, EdSource, December 17, 2020 California’s Master Plan for Early Learning and Care may seem at first glance like an overly forward-looking plan in this time of urgent need. But the plan is a template for a better life, not only for our youngest children, whose futures hinge on their access to quality early learning and care, but for women — working mothers and the early childhood workforce, almost all women, disproportionately women of color. Unfurled during a tidal wave of...

By Cat Wise and Rachel Wellford, Public Broadcasting Service, December 17, 2020 Cat Wise: It's a Friday morning, and Eamani Williams is getting her son Sha'quan and daughter Amara off to preschool. Raised by a single mother, Eamani says her childhood was sometimes tough. Now a 22-year-old single mom herself, Eamani realized there was a lot she didn't know when her son was born four years ago. Was it tough being a new mom? Eamani Williams: Honestly, it was. That pregnancy wasn't planned. I...

By Center for Law and Social Policy, December 2020 Youth and maternal mental health are critical targets for systems and policy change. Between 2018 and 2020, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) engaged state and local leaders in technical assistance initiatives targeting mental health systems and policy change in several jurisdictions. Focused on youth and mothers, these two initiatives were: Policies Advancing Transformation and Healing (PATH) , addressing young people ages 16-25;...

By Vanessa Rancano, KQED, December 15, 2020 UC Irvine and the state prison system have reached a deal to create the first University of California bachelor’s degree program behind bars. Since California opened the door for community colleges to teach in prisons in 2014, some 2,000 incarcerated men and women across the state have earned associate degrees, said Brant Choate, director of rehabilitative programs for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. But opportunities...

n the last article, we began discussing how brain inflammation is indicated in the formation of severe mental illnesses. Today we are going to explore two major mental illnesses, major depression, and schizophrenia, and how brain inflammation has become implicated in their formation. What is Inflammation? Inflammation is one of the body’s defense responses to injury or invasion by pathogens (viruses and bacterium). Inflammation has two basic types, acute and chronic. Acute inflammation...

Healing the Heart Through the Creative Arts, Education & Advocacy Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health “ Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars”. Kahlil Gibran The Surviving Spirit Newsletter December 2020 Hi Folks, Hoping this finds you well and safe. Wow, coming to the end of a very challenging year...I do hope that 2021 brings forth healing and hope for all of us. Life can be hard, a pandemic...

By Mary Severance, Public Policy Institute of California, December 17, 2020 Millions of Californians have lost work and income during the COVID-19 crisis, with low-income families, communities of color, and women bearing the brunt. The virus and its economic fallout are likely to exacerbate longstanding income inequality in California. Can policymakers pave the way for an equitable recovery? At a virtual event last Tuesday, Sarah Bohn , vice president of research at PPIC, outlined a new...

By Liz Dozier and Candice C. Jones, Stanford Social Innovation Review, December 14, 2020 This year, as COVID-19 raged and our nation faced a collective racial reckoning, we’ve seen increased charitable giving both to Black communities and to Black-led organizations that are implementing new visions of justice and safety. But how can we ensure that this new burst in investment is more than a passing trend? How can we build awareness, systems, and processes to ensure these investments continue...