February 2018

As lawmakers face another deadline this week for passing legislation to keep the federal government open, one of the outstanding issues is long-term funding for a key health care safety-net program. The Community Health Center program serves 27 million people at almost 10,000 nonprofit clinics nationwide, almost all of which are in low-income rural and urban areas. Congress has allocated $3.6 billion annually to the health centers in recent years. That represents about 20 percent of the...

To age well, we must eat well. There has been a lot of evidence that heart-healthy diets help protect the brain. The latest good news: A study recently published in Neurology finds that healthy seniors who had daily helpings of leafy green vegetables — such as spinach, kale and collard greens — had a slower rate of cognitive decline, compared to those who tended to eat little or no greens. "The association is quite strong," says study author Martha Clare Morris , a professor of nutrition...

The need for students to learn about racism in American society existed long before I began teaching a course called “White Racism” at Florida Gulf Coast University earlier this year. I chose to title my course “ White Racism ” because I thought it was scholarly and succinct, precise and powerful. But others saw it differently. Many White Americans (and some people of color) became upset when they learned about this course. [For more on this story by Ted Thornhill, go to...

This month, The Takeaway invited Rebecca Carroll , producer of special projects at WNYC, to host a special book club for us. It’s called “Reading the Reckoning,” and over the next few weeks Carroll will introduce listeners to a number of women authors who are expressing their strength, conviction, rage and joy through writing. This week's book is, " So You Want To Talk About Race ," by Ijeoma Oluo . Future installments will include, " This Will Be My Undoing ," by Morgan Jerkins, " The Dawn...

(This is a written version of a presentation I gave at our January Meeting.) For the past year, Sonoma County ACEs Connection worked to make more people aware of Adverse Childhood Experiences. But especially after the big fires, it feels important to also talk about resilience. I want to start a discussion about simple resilience techniques that anyone could apply in their work, social and/or personal life. This is not new information, because the best resilience methods have been used by...

We at the Marshall Project won’t be covering the Super Bowl because, well, that’s not our mission. We don’t know each team’s third-down conversion rate, nor can we provide you with an edge that will help you win your Super Bowl pool. What we can do is look at the game through the binoculars of criminal justice. In a contentious season marked by player activism, speaking out – or taking a knee – against racism and police violence, we found several players who have been in the protest...

Indiana on Friday became the second state to win federal approval to add a work requirement for adult Medicaid recipients who gained coverage under the Affordable Care Act. A less debated provision in the state's new plan could lead to tens of thousands of people losing coverage if they fail to complete paperwork documenting their eligibility for the program. The federal approval was announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar in Indianapolis. Medicaid participants who fail to...

Could state policies be improved by a greater understanding of the lingering effects of childhood trauma? That's the case that social workers and psychologists will be making to California legislators Tuesday as part a policymaker education day. The California Campaign to Combat Childhood Adversity wants lawmakers to learn about the effects of toxic stress resulting from childhood trauma, which they say can influence everything from health care to the economy . "California's children are in...

In the first of my two part review of this best-selling UK book I praise Darren McGarvey's independence of mind. I admire the way he uses his first hand experience of poverty and abuse to question the left's exclusive interest in structural economic factors. I think McGarvey is right to argue that economic change is important but that it is unlikely to happen soon. Meanwhile we must acknowledge that what people do as individuals has a major impact on their lives and their families.

At Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, a first-floor chapel with a raised ceiling, generous windows and a carpeted central area is the site for twice-weekly guided meditation open to staff, patients and family members. In Kansas City’s Crossroads Art District, the building that houses Truman Medical Centers (TMC) Behavioral Health includes conference rooms called “Jazz” and “Vine,” located so that people can reach them without passing through clinical space, interrupting patients or...

I have written a two part review of a book which is currently a well-deserved publishing sensation in the UK - Poverty Safari by Darren McGarvey. He grew up in a poor household with an abusive mother in a deprived community in Glasgow. He is now a rapper and political commentator. In the first part of my review I look at how he argues passionately for structural economic changes but also promotes the idea of personal responsibility. In t he second part I look at ACEs, toxic stress and ...

In the wake of President Trump’s call for increased attention to workforce development during the State of the Union address, the Urban Alliance released a white paper with recommendations focused on job training and career planning for youth and young adults. The white paper, “ Job Training Starts Now: Why High School Students Need Youth Employment Opportunities ,” offers eight recommendations for addressing the lack of employment training, education and opportunities available to young...