September 2018

“I just wish I had an adult to talk to.” That was the response of over 80 percent of teenagers in a survey commissioned by Laura Porter when asked: If you could have one helpful thing in your life, what would it be? Porter, a former county commissioner in Washington state is now the co-founder of ACE Interface , an organization that provides schools and communities with the tools to combat childhood trauma. The survey was part of her research to get a handle on what was happening with young...

Every month about 30 researchers, policy makers, and practitioners from 4 different sectors—health, education, housing, and social services—meet at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. We discuss policy reforms that would boost collaboration between sectors to improve the health of households and communities. We are especially interested in “social determinants”—nonmedical social factors affecting health. The focus of a discussion might be children’s mental health, housing...

In the five years since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down key parts of the Voting Rights Act, nearly a thousand polling places have been shuttered across the country, many of them in southern black communities. The trend continues: This year alone, 10 counties with large black populations in Georgia closed polling spots after a white elections consultant recommended they do so to save money. When the consultant suggested a similar move in Randolph County, pushback was enough to keep its...

My focus on Native subject matter started in the late 1990s, when I was deputy editor of Garden Design magazine. As part of an effort to offer readers more environmental coverage, I assigned a writer to report the story of a guitar owned by music star Rosanne Cash. The Gibson guitar company had made the instrument from sustainably logged wood provided by the Menominee Tribe’s timber-products firm. Before asking the writer to trace the guitar back to its origins in the Wisconsin forest, I did...

Registration Open: November 15th & 16th San Diego Advanced Training for Social Workers, Therapists, Early Childhood Educators, Head Start, Fatherhood Practitioners, and More with a special Parent Track Learn More about the exceptional 2-day event for under $150.00 (includes CEUs) and a Virtual Attendance Option. EVENT DETAILS HERE http://fathersandfamiliescoalition.org/posts/san-diego-advanced-practitioner-parent-symposium-early.html SYMPOSIUM OVERVIEW FFCA has provided professional...

This fall, Lara Kain and I will co-present a 3 night / 4 day retreat-style training - The Trauma-Informed School 2.0 - in the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire. The format and content of this training promises to be unlike most. We purposely embedded in the training format experiences that reflect the principles of trauma-informed care (i.e. exercises and activities that cultivate psychological safety, connection among participants, and emotional regulation). Participants will learn much of...

Becky Haas, community crime prevention manager for the Johnson City Police Department, hopes the Trauma Informed Care system created here will spread throughout the nation. Johnson City is on the verge of becoming a completely Trauma-Informed Care community, which local officials believe can improve the health, education and social lives of everyone who lives in the region. And Johnson City’s efforts to create this system of care could spur a national movement. That belief was apparent...

The unemployment rate is 3.9 percent. Businesses are desperate for workers. Yet at the same time, a large group of people can’t find a job. The skills people have often don’t match the skills employers need. One solution is training them for a specific field: a short, intensive course that prepares students for skilled work in construction, auto mechanics or hospital patient care. In New Jersey at the moment, these jobs can pay $19 or $20 an hour to start. These programs can be very...

If you live in a city, you have probably walked by a newly redesigned public space that just happens to be…completely empty. In fact, millions of dollars are spent every year renovating public spaces in an effort to attract users. So, why do so many revamped areas remain unused and unloved after so much thought and economic resources are put into reenvisioning them? The Center for Active Design (CfAD) has spent the last four years exploring that very question in an initiative “ Assembly ,”...

If a pair of powerful Pennsylvania state senators get their way, a burgeoning approach to managing student behavior could become a mandate. State Sens. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh, and Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia, announced a proposal last week to create a “trauma-informed system of education.” The central plank of their proposal is a requirement that all teachers, school board members, and school employees “with direct contact with students” receive trauma-informed training. The details don’t...

MCKINNEY, Texas — As a prospective tenant, B.R. Williams learned early on she needed a script to woo potential landlords: Mention her stellar rental history. Emphasize that Section 8 housing vouchers are “pro-landlord,” with most of the rent direct deposited each month. Always utter the magic words, “This is a no-fail system.” Sometimes the pitch worked. But even then, Williams often would show up to look at an apartment, only to be told that it was no longer available. “I guess they...

In recent decades, the percentage of American citizens who receive some form of assistance from the federal government has significantly increased. According to the most recent research , 96 percent of Americans have benefited from at least one such government program, be it Medicaid, Medicare, student loans, nutritional assistance, welfare, disability, or the mortgage interest deduction. In a new report released by the Brookings Institution, researchers Richard Reeves and Christopher...