February 2016

Last week, the Obama administration announced two new initiatives aimed at reducing childhood food insecurity in America. Both measures, which will simplify enrollment in the National School Lunch Program and provide supplemental food benefits during the summer months, should go beyond benefiting hungry kids—they could be a boon to the government's bottom line. The first initiative is a line item in the president's 2017 budget (still subject to Congressional approval) to...

The racial disparities in school-discipline rates are well-known, as are the damaging effects that harsh disciplinary policies can have on school climates. Less clear is whether—and if so, how —these tendencies contribute to the race-based achievement gap, a problem so entrenched and pervasive that discussing it is almost cliché. The achievement gap has narrowed since researchers started paying attention to it in the 1960s , but not by much. Myriad factors, many of them...

Harmonium staff pictured (left to right ) Front row: Brian Newcomer, Rosa Ana Lozada, Heidi Echeverria, and Janice Tangback Back row: Amy De Meules, Natalie Kessler, and Justin Campbell There’s almost a Zen-like feeling when you walk into the office of Rosa Ana Lozada, chief executive officer of Harmonium, Inc. (second from left in photo, above). The deep red accent wall, large corner windows, and small Japanese fountain send a message that a trauma-informed, resilience-building...

The people who are doing most of the pioneering work to integrate trauma-informed, resilience-building practices based on ACEs research (writ large) are doing so in cities and counties across the U.S. Now that more state agencies are learning about ACEs, many people in local communities are wondering what they can ask states for to help grow local efforts.  Karen Clemmer, the maternal child adolescent health coordinator for Sonoma County’s Department of Health Services, and I were...

This article was published in collaboration with Vice. My daughter was eight the last time she wrote, and in the envelope was a note from her mother, my ex. "I'm married again and two dads are too confusing for her right now. You can write me at this P.O. Box, but please don't write her anymore." I was four years into a 30-year bid, and was being told that I didn’t have a choice — that I must not write my daughter even one more time. I would just be… gone to her. No...

For almost two decades, Alabama residents convicted of a drug-related felony were barred for life from receiving food stamps or welfare payments. Starting this month, the ban will officially be lifted . Alabama is not the only state that is backing away from the ban , which was established in 1996 under President Bill Clinton’s welfare reform law and blocks only drug offenders from receiving assistance, not any other felons. Eighteen states have completely abandoned the federal...

Over the past 15 years, the United States has seen drastic reductions in its world-leading rates of youth incarceration. Nowhere were these reductions more dramatic than in California, which once boasted the largest youth corrections system in the world. To put this change in perspective, in 1996 California confined nearly 10,000 youths in 11 correctional facilities. Today, the state’s youth corrections system is comprised of three aging institutions with a combined population of about...

During the month of January, Partner for Healing provided you with short training exercises to promote trauma-informed care. These exercises were designed for use in existing meetings such as staff meetings, treatment teams and refreshers. They will help your staff develop a deeper understanding of the experiences of people who have endured trauma, and a greater appreciation  of trauma strategies for change.  The first topic was What Helps People Change , in which we explore our...

Over the past 15 years, the United States has seen drastic reductions in its world-leading rates of youth incarceration. Nowhere were these reductions more dramatic than in California, which once boasted the largest youth corrections system in the world. To put this change in perspective, in 1996 California confined nearly 10,000 youths in 11 correctional facilities. Today, the state’s youth corrections system is comprised of three aging institutions with a combined population of about...

Professionals who work with domestic violence offenders and victims say they’re not surprised by the recent revelations of alleged domestic violence by Johnny Manziel, but they are surprised more isn’t done to prevent domestic violence by organizations like the NFL. “I don’t think any of us can be surprised when you have a story like today’s story or the Greg Hardy story comes up on the news,” said President of SafeHaven Tarrant County Kathyryn Jacobs.

Strong mission statements have long guided nonprofit organizations . But mission statements usually focus on external goals rather than internal ways of working. To shape an organization’s internal organizational atmosphere—and to attract talent—nonprofits, social enterprises, and benefit corporations (or B Corps) should consider developing a culture manifesto. The approaches of B Corps Method Products, Etsy, and Warby Parker offer several ideas for how organizations can...

As  The Chronicle of Social Change has been reporting over the past two years, various jurisdictions have been exploring new tools to focus the attention of child welfare systems on the children most at risk of subsequent abuse or neglect. The mainstream media has begun to notice, as demonstrated by CNBC’s recent report on Los Angeles’ contract with software company SAS to develop such a tool for its child welfare system. These new approaches generally rely on predictive...