August 2022

By Juana Summers, Kai McNamee, and Justine Kenin, Photo: Unsplash, National Public Radio, August 15, 2022 Efforts to understand gun violence have received almost no funding in recent decades, a reality that's due to a specific amendment backed by the National Rifle Association. JUANA SUMMERS, HOST: From coronavirus to prescription drugs to cars, the federal government studies what impacts the health and safety of Americans. But since 1996, efforts to understand gun violence have received...

By Beth Macy, Illustration: Celia Jacobs, The New York Times, August 15, 2022 On a chilly spring evening in 2021, Tim Nolan set up a portable addiction clinic next to a McDonald’s dumpster, and he waited. His desk was the dashboard of his gray Prius, his office this parking lot, which smelled like frying oil and trash. The hatchback of the nurse practitioner’s car was full of hepatitis C testing kits, clean needles, fentanyl test strips — and pizzas. Mr. Nolan’s first appointment of the...

By Adrian Horton, Photo: Argot Pictures, The Guardian, August 15, 2022 T here’s a moment early in Let the Little Light Shine, a riveting documentary on one community’s fight to preserve their grade school, when it becomes clear that Chicago’s National Teachers Academy is no ordinary place. It’s a school assembly, and the students – overwhelmingly Black and brown children from the city’s South Side, kindergarten through eighth grade – pack benches in the cafeteria. Two of the older students...

By Patrick Sisson, Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images North America, Bloomberg City Lab, August 15, 2022 Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer got a call shortly after 2 a.m. The deputy police chief of the Florida city, Robert Anzueto, told him that there was an active shooter at an LGBTQ nightclub called Pulse; multiple casualties were involved and the gunman had taken hostages. It was June 12, 2016. Dyer’s first response: call his then 26-year-old son, to make sure he wasn’t inside. “I called him just to...

So, what’s our ask? We have two: We’re looking for a few bold funders to support us with $3.2 million through this three-year transition.

This month public schools in the United States will welcome some 50 million students, following the 2021-2022 school year that was rife with gun violence. According to an Education Week report in July, there were 27 school shootings for the academic year. “School shootings have transformed America's schools and teachers into being on the front lines of gun violence. As a result of this and many other factors, students, teachers, and administrators are experiencing poor mental health...

Even though Clay Walker, director of Caddo Parish Juvenile Services in Louisiana, had attended several conferences about adolescent trauma, the first time he heard about the science of adverse childhood experiences was in 2014. His jaw dropped.

A National commitment to compassion, empathy and healing https://transformingpsychologicaltrauma.scot/about-the-programme/read-more-what-is-the-nttp/

This policy workshop provides advocates, activists & movements the knowledge and tools to increase their capacity to effectively engage in policy advocacy with a lens toward diversity, equity, and inclusion. Over the course of this series, participants will be provided an actionable framework to define opportunities for change, identify policy levers, engage community stakeholders, and influence policymakers. Each interactive session will allow space for participants to examine how the...

It’s been a month since the launch of the new three-digit Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, 9-8-8 , on July 16th. Formerly the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-8255, users can now access mental health care, substance use, developmental disability, and suicide prevention services by simply texting or calling 9-8-8. When a person accesses 9-8-8 or 1-800-273-8255, they are routed to a local crisis call center for support. The new 9-8-8 line in Georgia is an addition to the crisis...

By Yuki Noguchi, Photo: Juan Diego Reyes/KHN/NPR, National Public Radio, August 15, 2022 *Ed note - Why this article? A solution to crippling medical debt that burdens individuals economically, mentally, and physically. Driving positive change is what we are passionate about at PACEs Connection. Soon after giving birth to a daughter two months premature, Terri Logan received a bill from the hospital. She recoiled from the string of numbers separated by commas. Logan, who was a high school...

By The Guardian, Image: Title image from video in article, The Guardian *Ed. note - Why this article? Historically racist policies affecting disadvantaged communities of color are a detriment to community health. We address historical policies in PACEs Connection's Historical Trauma Series . America invested in sanitation systems throughout the 20th century – but it often left out communities of color, and they're still trying to catch up. This video explains how specific policies caused...