July 2017

This article is excerpted from Breakaway Learners: Strategies for Post-Secondary Success with At-Risk Students , published by Columbia University’s Teachers College Press. The refrain is so commonplace that if I had a nickel for every time I heard it, I would be a wealthy woman. Educators across the pipeline from early childhood through Grade 20 keep articulating some version of this statement to administrators: “Get me better students.” Graduate school professors lament what they perceive...

In 2012, John de Koning’s company did something surprising: they decided their number one priority would be the happiness of their staff. His employer, IT firm Incentro, based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, once operated as a traditional online services provider, with a top-down hierarchy of bosses and employees. But after a market downturn between 2002 and 2005, the management rebooted to become less flashy but more fun; a place where talented, ambitious young professionals would want to...

[Editor's note: Dr. Harise Stein at Stanford University edits a web site -- abuseresearch.info -- that focuses on the health effects of abuse, and includes research articles on ACEs. Every month, she will post the summaries of the abstracts and links to research articles that address only ACEs. Thank you, Harise!! -- Jane Stevens] ACEs are only Part of the Picture While there has been a refreshing and inspiring upswing in interest in ACEs over the past several years, and while ACEs are the...

One of the more fascinating experiences of my doctoral studies at Columbia University was delving into the writings of Richard Hofstadter in Shelia Kamerman’s policy class, particularly his 1944 book: Social Darwinism in American Thought which I found to be eye opening. The concept was new but seemed plausible: some Americans embraced Charles Darwin’s theories of natural selection to explain the existence of what appeared to be an intractable underclass. Therefore, arriving at the conclusion...

Here's how to join a Parenting with ACEs Chat: If You ARE a Member of the Parenting with ACEs Group Go to Parenting with ACEs Group on July 11th. Find Featured Chat at top. If You’re NOT a Member of ACEs Connection or the Parenting with ACEs Group Go to ACEsConnection and see “Join ACEs Connection” on the right sidebar. Go to Groups, All Groups, find Parenting with ACEs Group , Join This Group. Please do these steps BEFORE chat event. Go to Parenting with ACEs Group on July 11th. Find...

Out of destruction can come rebirth. Like the phoenix, a mystical bird of Greek mythology that rises from the ashes of its predecessor, we are experiencing today a rebirth of a once promising trend in juvenile justice I refer to as deconstruction, which goes well beyond what we commonly call deinstitutionalization. Deinstitutionalization is the process of identifying which youth shouldn't be incarcerated, and assumes that prisons for youth are a necessity, though maybe fewer are needed.

Last month, a group of girls at a juvenile detention center in the Bronx sat in a discussion circle with a teaching artist and a social worker. After a series of circle meetings, the girls at Horizon Juvenile Center in New York City had created vision boards, collages in which they envisioned their life five years from now. The group was initiated by S.O.U.L. Sisters Leadership Collective , a nonprofit that works to empower black girls who are “most impacted by oppression.” The organization...

No matter where you are, be sure to follow the events of the day on twitter: Follow @acestoohigh and #4CAKidsDay17 to get live updates all day.

Partnering For Excellence is excited to join ACEs Connection! Benchmarks' Partnering for Excellence (PFE) is an initiative in North Carolina which aims to align the Mental/Behavioral Health System and Child Welfare System to create better outcomes for children and families whom have experienced trauma and are now involved with the Department of Social Services. The Partnering for Excellence Model is able to assists these systems and others in collaborating to form trauma-informed...

As a social work professional, I was involved in the trauma field twenty years ago. But I became a charismatic nondenominational church pastor, starting a college campus prayer movement. With my cultural heritage and training at an evangelical seminary, the focus of my ministry has been intercession, multi-ethnic discipleship and servant leadership. However, the development of community service involvement with the ministry brought me back to the engagement in my previous professional field.

More kids are experiencing trauma now than the current generation of adults did when they were kids — does that set Hancock County up for health problems down the line? Research has found that those who have had more “adverse childhood experiences,” as they’re known, are at risk of both physical and mental health issues even years later, into adulthood. The Community Health Assessment released last year found that 17 percent of Hancock County adults reported three or more adverse childhood...

After helping a donor unload a box of pots and pans in the reception area, Mary Poole settles in behind her desk in a cramped office. “I used to make jewelry,” she laughs, referring to her life more than a year and a half ago, before she became executive director of Soft Landing in Missoula, Montana. Today, Poole runs the small nonprofit, which helped persuade the International Rescue Committee to establish a refugee resettlement office here last year. At a time when resettlement is...