September 2020

By Laura Furr, September 21, 2020, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange How different would today look if people most affected by decisions held equal power in making those decisions? If public health decision-makers included Black, Indigenous and Latinx patients who are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and suffer the effects of racially biased health care? If police accountability review boards, prosecutor’s offices and elected city leaders had actual power over law enforcement...

By April Simpson, September 21st, 2020, pewtrusts.org In May, three sisters in Chicago got a surprise phone call: They owned 35 acres in Mississippi with a stand of mature timber worth more than $40,000. “They'd never been to Louisville, Mississippi, so they had no idea they owned property,” recalled Frank Taylor, leader of the Winston County Self Help Cooperative in Mississippi, who called the sisters. Every year, the cooperative retrieves the county's delinquent tax rolls and uses public...

By Miranda Green , KHN.org, September 23, 2020 When the first fire of the season broke out on the Hoopa Valley Reservation in Northern California in July, Greg Moon faced a dilemma. As Hoopa’s fire chief and its pandemic team leader, Moon feared the impact of the blaze on the dense coniferous forests of the reservation, near Redwood National and State Parks, where 3,000 tribal members depend on steelhead trout and coho salmon fishing. He was even more terrified of a deadly viral outbreak in...

By Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, September 22nd, 2020 In reality, the COVID-19 death toll probably passed 200,000 some time ago . And yet “the photos of body bags have not had the same effect in the pandemic” as after other mass-casualty events such as Hurricane Katrina, says Lori Peek, a sociologist at the University of Colorado Boulder who studies disasters. “Is our national empathy—our care and love and concern for one another—at such a low level that we are not truly feeling, in our bones,...

Covid, politics, and racism are three challenging stressors colliding at the same time. What has been interesting is seeing how all three are deeply interlinked in the health of minority populations. In researching systemic barriers I came across this fabulous PowerPoint that is worth reviewing and sharing. https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/equity/projects/infantmortality/session2.2.pdf

By Tessa McLean , SFGATE Updated 3:30 pm PDT, Wednesday, September 16, 2020 Mayor London Breed announced today the launch of a new pilot program that will provide a basic income to Black and Pacific Islander women during pregnancy and after giving birth. The 150 women chosen will receive a monthly income supplement of $1,000 for the duration of their pregnancy and for the first six months of their baby’s life, with the goal of eventually providing a supplement for up to two years...

Are you curious about starting an ACEs Initiative in your community? Join one of these upcoming webinars to learn how to start an initiative. I'm Alison Cebulla, the Community Facilitator (CF) for the Northeast USA, Mid-Atlantic USA, and Canada for ACEs Connection. You are welcome to attend these webinars no matter which region you are interested in starting. After the webinar, I will put you in touch with the CF in your region who will help you get started if you choose to move forward. All...

If we see the fears and suffering we’re all experiencing now as a chance to grow in bravery and wisdom, in patience and kindness, then our personal distress can connect us with the discomfort and unhappiness of others. What we usually consider a problem becomes the source of empathy, a way to connect with the natural warmth of our hearts. Natural warmth is our shared capacity to love, to have empathy, to have a sense of humor. It is our capacity to feel gratitude and appreciation and...

SCIENCE AND COMPASSION The 100% Community initiative is a radically simple data-driven strategy to address the root causes of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and social adversity. Science guides this vital process. To ensure trauma-free childhoods, we are taking on one of the most complicated challenges facing all fifty states: ensuring that 100% of families have access to the ten vital services for surviving and thriving. We are advocating for this work amid a global pandemic and...

By Pratibha Gopalakrishna, STAT, September 22, 2020 A large new study finds that mental health care for many children in the U.S. falls far short, particularly when it comes to the follow-up treatment they receive. The study, published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , examined insurance claims from children between the ages of 10 and 17 covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield. Of the more than 2 million children included in the study, nearly one in 10 had a claim related...

By Jenny Anderson, The New York Times, September 20, 2020 When schools shuttered in March, David Miyashiro, the superintendent of the Cajon Valley Union School District, immediately started connecting with families and teachers. During hundreds of calls, Zoom meetings and socially distanced in-person gatherings, he heard desperate pleas from poor parents torn between work and home instruction, or who needed support for high-needs students. Mr. Miyashiro vowed to reopen schools in the fall,...

By Kelley Fong, The Imprint, September 20, 2020 For many parents, it’s their worst fear: a knock on the door from a state social worker with the power to take their children. With 1 in 3 children nationwide experiencing a Child Protective Services (CPS) investigation during childhood following a report of child maltreatment, this experience is all too common for U.S. families, especially Black and Native American families. Child maltreatment conjures images of critically injured or severely...