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By John Fensterwald, Photo: Allison Shelley/Eduimages, EdSource, January 31, 2022 I n coming weeks, California will embark on a massive undertaking to convert several thousand schools in low-income neighborhoods into centers of community life and providers of vital services for families as well as students. Known as community schools, they will be established over the next seven years. New York and Maryland are among states that are investing in community schools, but California’s $3 billion...

By Karen Baynes-Dunning, Photo: Unsplash, The Imprint, January 31, 2022 I titled this essay Stop Blaming the “Uncooperative Mother,” because it has become a racial trope used by well-intentioned people who work with families throughout our nation’s child welfare system. Over nearly 30 years of working in and around the child welfare system, I have heard variations on this theme: the angry mother; the hostile mother; the disrespectful mother; the antagonistic mother; the aggressive mother;...

By Anna North, Image: Getty Images/fStop, Vox, January 27, 2022 That’s the question facing a lot of Americans as we stagger into 2022 still carrying the burden of a pandemic on our shoulders, plus some other burdens including but not limited to the i ncreasingly devastating effects of climate change, the real and disturbing threats to democracy , and the seeming inability of the highest levels of the US government to address these dangers . It’s even boring to talk about how much any of us —...

On January 20, 2022, PACEs Connection hosted the fourth event in our Historical Trauma in America series . The event was facilitated by PACEs Connection staff members Dana Brown (organizational liaison), Donielle Prince (director of state initiatives), John Dovales Flores (California central valley, central coast community facilitator), and Natalie Audage (family and community resources lead). The event featured Dr. Valerie Ooka Pang, a Japanese American professor and author from San Diego...

ACEs Aware in Action January 2022 Looking Back: 2021 Year in Review As we reflect on 2021, we would like to thank you for joining the movement to make our State of CAre ACEs Aware. From raising awareness for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress to supporting practice change and growing trauma-informed networks of care, 2021 was a productive year for the ACEs Aware initiative. We have invested a total of $45 million in grant funds to communities across the state, and Medi-Cal...

Listen First Project is honored to represent the work of bridge building organizations across the country in the PBS documentary, Preserving Democracy: Pursuing A More Perfect Union, that premiered on January 6, 2022. The documentary intends to answer the question: Why is democracy the way it is today? Even with the problems we face as a nation and the rampant toxic polarization that has negatively affected families, workplaces, and communities, there are signs of hope and possible paths...

By Julien Lafortune and Joseph Herrera, Public Policy Institute of California, January 31, 2022 Amid concerns over growing absenteeism since schools reopened this fall , the state legislature is considering a change in how schools are funded. Currently, California is one of seven states that fund schools using average daily attendance (ADA), meaning that districts do not receive funding for students on days they are absent. Critics contend that attendance-based funding penalizes schools...

By Heather Cox Richardson, Photo: Unsplash, Letters from an American, January 27, 2022 Numbers released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which is part of the U.S. Federal Statistical System producing data and official statistics, show that the U.S. economy grew by an astonishing 6.9 percent annual rate from October to December 2021. That puts the growth of the U.S. economy for 2021 at 5.7 percent in 2021. Despite the ongoing pandemic, this is the fastest full-year growth since 1984.

By Asher Lehrer-Small, Photo: Asher Lehrer-Small, The 74 Million, January 27, 2022 P aullette Healy can tick off the ways her family’s life has been plunged into uncertainty and fear over the last three months: Her younger child’s repeated nightmares and increased anxiety, the hours she’s poured into collecting forms from her kids’ doctor and psychiatrist to prove she’s a fit parent and an arduous and probably costly legal process that still looms to clear her name. From early November...

By Rachel Hatzipanagos, Randall Michelson, The Washington Post, January 20, 2022 The typical celebrity chef food show follows a familiar formula: chef visits a new locale each week, shepherded by a local to restaurants where they eat mouthwatering dishes over a good conversation. Los Angeles chef Roy Choi wanted to do something different with his show “Broken Bread.” “People love looking at food on TV, and so it’s kind of weirdly disguised as a food show,” Choi said. Each episode, Choi...

By Poppy Noor, Photo: Rex/Shutterstock, The Guardian, January 27, 2022 Ron Johnson, the US senator for hot takes, famed for such hits as “[the Capitol riot] seemed like a peaceful protest to me” and “mouthwash has been proven to kill the coronavirus ”, is at it again. On Wednesday, Johnson, the senior Republican senator from Wisconsin, told local news station WKBT: “People decide to have families and become parents. That’s something they need to consider when they make that choice.” He...

This past Sunday, I had one of those most glorious and luxurious of days. It started with breakfast in bed with my girlfriend brought to us by my sweet guy. Then he wandered off, and she and I were left with hours of time to fill with all of our luscious feminine energy. Next up was a 90 minute Healing in Motion movement class, during which we got to embody different types of weather and did some mirroring movement exercises as well. This led to our bodies opening up, stretching, and...