Tagged With "ACEs in NJ"
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‘Whole Generations Of Fathers’ Lost As COVID-19 Kills Young Latino Men In NJ BY KAREN YI | Gothamist
After having a light cough for three days last spring, Miguel Mestiza Valderrabano called his partner Ana Maria Lorenzo to say that, when she got home from work, he planned to go to the hospital. He would never make it, and the mental image of his 32-year-old lifeless body on their living room floor still haunts her. “I couldn’t believe that had happened in minutes,” Lorenzo said. She had just arrived home from her cleaning job—her first assignment in weeks after she’d lost work during the...
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"Adverse Childhood Experiences: Inside New Jersey's New Plan to Address a Perennial Harm."
Greetings from NJ Spotlight News- Thank you for registering for our Thursday, 3/11, 4pm virtual roundtable, "Adverse Childhood Experiences: Inside New Jersey's New Plan to Address a Perennial Harm." Here is the link to the video event: https://vimeo.com/521089635/58a50aee4a No password is necessary to view. To join the chat and Q/A functions, please click on the "chat as guest" link. If the video doesn't play, try refreshing your browser and/or clicking the play button in the Vimeo player.
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Dr. Nadine Burke Harris: Adverse Childhood Experiences and Toxic Stress: A Public Health Crisis
Nadine Burke Harris, MD, MPH CEO, Center for Youth Wellness 2015 Child Health, Education, and Care Summit
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Dr. Gabor Maté – Trauma as disconnection from the self
“Trauma is not what happens to you, but what happens inside you as a result of what happened to you” Scotland is in the midst of a growing grassroots movement aimed at increasing public awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). We now have glaring scientific evidence that childhood adversity can create harmful levels of stress, especially if a child is left to manage their responses to that adversity without emotionally reliable relationships. The vision for ACE Aware Nation is that...
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Connections Matter New Jersey - Join the Movement!
Eighteen months ago, nobody could have predicted how much the world would have changed, or how much we would have learned to appreciate the incredible power of connections. In October 2019, a group of 30 state and community leaders gathered together to be the first class of trained Connections Matter NJ facilitators leading the effort to spread this important message across the state. The message is this: Everyday connections are more important than we ever believed. Science tells us that...
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Murphy Administration Announces Second Phase of Rental Assistance Program for New Jersey Residents Impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic
Program Devotes Approximately $353 Million to Help Low- to Moderate-Income Households, Including the Homeless TRENTON, NJ - Recognizing that New Jersey residents continue to need rental assistance during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Murphy Administration today announced that the application period for a second phase of the COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program will open on March 22, 2021. The federally-funded program will provide approximately $353 million in rental assistance...
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It Takes A Village" Beloved Virtual Parent & Community Leaders Celebrate the Female Nucleus
Dear Partner, Parents Engaging Parents (PEP) invites you to join us on March 24th, 25th, 26th 2021 It Takes A Village" Beloved Virtual Parent & Community Leaders Celebrate the Female Nucleus. We will be hosting a three-day engagement discussing topics surrounding Education, Mental Health, Social Justice, and Economics. These topics are centralized around Parents Engaging Parents’ mission and vision, in promoting civic awareness and proactive community advocacy based on the interests of...
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Show+Tell New Jersey: Innovations in Health and Early Childhood
Please join The Nicholson Foundation for Show+Tell New Jersey: Innovations in Health and Early Childhood Tuesday, April 20 1 PM - 2:30 PM EDT REGISTER The Nicholson Foundation is pleased to be partnering with Promise Venture Studio to bring you Show+Tell New Jersey: Innovations in Health and Early Childhood , a virtual event that will highlight 12 outstanding programs working to improve the health and well-being of children and families across New Jersey . In just 90 minutes, you’ll hear...
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Lack of affordable housing squeezing many low-income NJ families
A new national report estimates a shortage of about 7 million affordable and available rental homes for Americans living at or below the poverty level. Such a gap, as explained by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, also exists in New Jersey, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the problem. "I think what we've seen is, this crisis actually makes worse some of those conditions that were in place pre-COVID," Arnold Cohen, senior policy advisor for the Housing and Community...
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Maternal Health in New Jersey: Pursuing Equity Through Systemic Change
You are invited to attend: NJ Spotlight News Virtual Roundtable: Maternal Health in New Jersey: Pursuing Equity Through Systemic Change Thursday, April 1, 2021 from 4:00 PM - 5:15 PM Online via teleconferencing This will be an online event only. Please register to have a teleconferencing link emailed to you Thursday, 4/1, at 3pm with a repeat send at 4pm. Alarmingly, in the United States mothers are dying at the highest rate in the developed world with the crisis being most severe for Black...
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Video: We Came To Heal Documentary
Great documentary. Please watch, share your thoughts, reactions and ways we can build healing communities here in NJ. This video shows in detail how we infuse language, pedagogy and praxis to move individuals and community healing. We Came to Heal” follows H.O.L.L.A!’s Healing Justice Movement - over a three years period capturing Healing Justice circles, the Healing Justice Summits and H.O.L.L.A!’ s human healing-centered praxis led by The Youth Organizing Collective (Y.O.C). We believe to...
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Maternal Health in New Jersey: Pursuing Equity Through Systemic Change
About this Event Alarmingly, in the United States mothers are dying at the highest rate in the developed world with the crisis being most severe for Black moms, who are dying at 3 to 4 times the rate of their white counterparts. In New Jersey, Black mothers may be nearly twice as likely as white mothers to die from pregnancy-related complications and Black babies nearly three times as likely as white babies to die before their first birthdays. To address these tragic realities, initiatives...
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It’s called ‘the pandemic wall’ and it mostly affects children, psychologists say
JEN URSILLO | NJ1015 It's been over a year since the COVID-19 pandemic began and kids are hitting a breaking point that many developmental psychologists have coined "the pandemic wall." The pandemic wall refers to cognitive overload, said Jaime Arlia, vice president of Children and Family Services at CarePlus NJ. Kids have hit the point where their bodies and brains just can't take it anymore. They're exhausted and worn out. They're taking the brunt of this because their capacities were...
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Remodeling Healthcare for Children with New Jersey Family Care: Understanding How the Integrated Care for Kids Model is Changing Care for Kids in Monmouth and Ocean Counties
ATTN Monmouth and Ocean Counties Earn CME/MOC Part 2 credit! Join us Thursday, April 15th at 12 PM EST NJ InCK is a multi-sector collaborative child-centered local service delivery model aimed at reducing out-of-home placement as well as health care expenditures for children covered by Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). It operates through prevention, early identification, and treatment of priority health concerns like behavioral health challenges, physical health...
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Why Atlantic City’s minority neighborhoods are also its most flooded
ANDREW S. LEWIS | NJ Spotlight When Veronica Grant reflects on growing up in the Venice Park section of Atlantic City in the 1970s, regular nuisance flooding isn’t a memory that comes to mind. Yet these days, high tides spill across the neighborhood’s streets and yards so frequently that Grant can’t keep count. Flooding has been a reality in Atlantic City since its founding a century-and-a-half ago, but it has never been as frequent as it is today. Since 1911, the city’s tide station has...
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Webinar: Building Resiliency and Understanding Trauma | English & Spanish
This two-hour presentation will focus on understanding and defining trauma and different Trauma Types. This two-hour presentation will focus on understanding and defining trauma and different Trauma Types; recognizing the impact of trauma on the brain; understanding Child Traumatic Stress (CTS), Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Adverse Community Experiences and Resilience (ACE|R); learning about resiliency and being trauma-informed. CEUs or certificates are not offered for this...
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Advocates push for yearly screenings of NJ students for drugs, depression
Not many young students will volunteer information, unprompted, about feelings of depression or their recent experimentation with drugs. That's why advocates, school employees and lawmakers are pushing for regular screenings of students at the middle- and high-school levels, as long as their parents consent. With a caseload of 400 students, counselor Cristina Puri at Lincoln Park Middle School typically wouldn't end up seeing a troubled student until someone else sensed an issue or the...
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A Novel Effort to See How Poverty Affects Young Brains
By Alla Katsnelson | NY Times An emerging branch of neuroscience asks a question long on the minds of researchers. Recent stimulus payments make the study more relevant. New monthly payments in the pandemic relief package have the potential to lift millions of American children out of poverty. Some scientists believe the payments could change children’s lives even more fundamentally — via their brains. It’s well established that growing up in poverty correlates with disparities in...
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Conversation with Chief Mann of the NJ Ramapough Lenaape Nation
You don't want to miss this event. Active link to follow.
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Sen. Booker, Reps. Adams & Underwood Introduce Black Maternal Health Week Resolution
22 Co-sponsors in the Senate and over 47 in the House join resolution to raise national awareness of the state of Black maternal health in the United States. WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Representatives Alma Adams (NC-12) and Lauren Underwood (IL-14) introduced a resolution recognizing Black Maternal Health Week, “to bring national attention to the maternal health crisis in the United States and the importance of reducing maternal mortality and morbidity among Black...
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Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM)
April is also Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). Currently, the Division on Women (DOW) supports statewide community-level primary prevention efforts to prevent sexual violence. To advance these efforts, we work with non-traditional partners and consider them as experts in their own lives and community pillars for change . We believe that impactful primary prevention efforts begin with community engagement and providing tools to communities so they can empower themselves. As such, our...
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NJ To Waive Mandatory Minimum Prison For Non-Violent Drug Crimes
NEW JERSEY – Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal issued a statewide directive to law enforcement Monday, instructing prosecutors to waive mandatory parole disqualifiers—commonly known as mandatory minimum prison terms—for non-violent drug offenses. "We cannot stand by and ignore the unjust and racially disparate impact of these mandatory minimum terms on non-violent drug offenders—primarily young persons of color," Governor Phil Murphy said. "It's been well over a year since the Criminal...
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The Newark Trust for Education Safe and Supportive Learning Environments (SSLE) Summit: May 10-13th
The Newark Trust for Education is proud to present the third annual Safe and Supportive Learning Environments (SSLE) Summit: Covid-19 & Beyond! This year’s summit will focus on working together with students and families to create safe and supportive learning environments post pandemic. Over the course of four days (May 10th – 13th) participants will hear keynote remarks delivered by experts including Karen L. Mapp, Ed.D. , Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education;...
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"Resilience and the Human Spirit: Our Legacy to Infants, Children and Families!"
This year's conference is at no cost, but we are encouraging all to make a donation to the Todd Ouida Children's Foundation at: http://www.mybuddytodd.org/donation.htm Click HERE to register SEE AGENDA AND EVENT FLYER ATTCHED.
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Law and Disability Conference 5/5 @ 9:30AM EST
The Law and Disability Conference is held each year at the New Jersey Law Center and is cosponsored with the Community Health Law Project . This year, we will be pivoting to an online format due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The topics for the 2021 Law and Disability Conference will include: supportive housing, special needs trusts, Medicaid eligibility and transition from children’s to adult system of care. The 2021 Conference will be held Wednesday, May 5, 2021 from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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Marking National Mental Health Awareness Month, Governor Murphy Signs Legislation to Cover Expenses for Adolescent Mental Health Screenings
TRENTON – In advance of National Mental Health Awareness Month in May, Governor Phil Murphy today signed A3548 into law, which will require private insurers, the State Health Benefit Plan, and School Employees' Health Benefits Program to put into place policies and procedures to ensure coverage of expenses in mental health screening of a major depressive disorder for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18. “The effects and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic has put the mental health of...
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6TH ANNUAL TRAUMA INFORMED: MOVING TO RESILIENCE CONFERENCE
CRI was founded with the goal of creating a community that speaks a common language around ACEs, brain development, and resilience. A common language will help us understand the negative impact of trauma or adversity and buffer against it by strengthening our resilience toolbox. That same goal of common language continues to hold our attention as we strive to learn how our bodies respond to stressors, and to consciously incorporate and practice the language and acts of resilience in our...
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Mental Health Awareness Events in NJ 2021
Monday, May 17 – NAMI NYC-Metro invites you to their free online event: Family & COVID – No One Said It Would Be Easy. A conversation about families, lock-down, and mental health, focused on how families can support and have supported each other, how communities and workplaces factor in, and where we go from here. Presented by María Bautista, LCSW, and Pam Berman, Chief Talent Officer at Publicis Health on family relationships, COVID-19, and mental health. At 4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Register...
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Interview with Dr. Nadine Burke Harris & Dave Ellis
We recently sat down with Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, California’s first surgeon general, and Dave Ellis, the first executive director of the Office of Resilience at the New Jersey Department of Children and Families. A pioneering voice on prevention, early identification, and treatment of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), Dr. Burke Harris gained national prominence with her viral 2015 TED talk on this topic. Dave Ellis made his name as a national leader in providing trainings and...
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NJ spends $445K a year to lock a kid up. We’ve got a better idea. | Opinion By Charles Loflin | Star Ledger Guest Columnist
New Jersey plans to spend a staggering $445,504 per incarcerated youth in 2022 to house them in facilities that are almost 80% empty. The time is now for New Jersey to close its youth prisons and invest in community-based alternatives. The current system, with its focus wholly on punishment rather than rehabilitation, the current system leaves whole communities — as well as the families of both victims and offenders — with unresolved trauma that continues to reverberate long after the...
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NJ got $6 billion in pandemic relief. But there are strings attached
JOHN REITMEYER, BUDGET/FINANCE WRITER JUNE 2, 2021 | BUDGET, CORONAVIRUS IN NJ New Jersey has received more than $6 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funding, and like other federal aid programs, there’s a long list of things the money can and cannot be spent on. Gov. Phil Murphy has yet to say exactly how the state plans to use its share of funding from the American Rescue Plan Act within those rules. But the governor has said recently that he’s been having “good conversations” with...
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ACEs Training Opportunities
Building Self-Healing Communities – Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences Join us for a 3-hour session on the impact of childhood trauma and its implications across the life course. The session with be interactive and will include small and large group dialog, reflection and time for questions and answers. Come ready to actively participate and engage with others on this journey! The Office of Resilience is presenting 3 great opportunities for you to engage in this transformative...
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NJ Community of Care Consortium
Join us for a discussion with Dave Ellis, Executive Director for the Office of Resilience with the NJ Department of Children and Families (DCF). Hear about New Jersey’s efforts to prevent, protect against, and heal from the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACESs) and opportunities for collaboration and family engagement. Date: Tuesday, June 22, 2021 Time: 10:00 am to Noon Location: Virtual Register: https://tinyurl.com/8dp4ruzm More detailed agenda will soon follow. For any...
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NJ Spotlight News Virtual Roundtable: Back to School in New Jersey: What to Expect this Fall
The educational disruption to New Jersey students due to the COVID-19 pandemic has been extreme by all measures. But with increasing numbers of vaccinated adults in the state and new COVID-19 cases dropping, attention (and planning) is turning to how schools can begin returning to normal for the new school year this fall. A wide range of challenges deserve consideration: Instructional - How will teaching be different once virtually all students are back in the classroom? How will technology...
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Launching June 23: The Actions 4 ACEs Awareness Campaign [Actions4ACEs, NJ ACEs Collaborative]
Note: This notice was sent out today, Tuesday, June 22, from Dave Ellis, Executive Director, Office of Resilience, New Jersey. Since it may be of interest to others outside New Jersey, I'm sending it along. There will be a post about the event in PACEs Connection. Dear Colleagues and Friends, I am excited to share that the Actions 4 ACEs campaign will launch tomorrow! Actions 4 ACEs will raise public awareness about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the simple - yet powerful - actions...
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New Jersey’s Actions 4 ACEs Campaign Launch
New Jersey’s Actions 4 ACEs campaign will launch tomorrow! Actions 4 ACEs will raise public awareness about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the simple - yet powerful - actions that adults can take to make a positive impact in children’s lives. Join the press conference live on YouTube, Wednesday, June 23, 2021 at 11:15am, with the First Lady of New Jersey, Tammy Snyder Murphy, 2021 NJ State Teacher of the Year Angel Santiago, Chief Chris Leusner from Middle Township Police...
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Video: NJ Actions4ACEs Public Awareness Campaign Launch - 6/23/21
Watch the virtual press conference in which representatives from the NJ ACEs Collaborative, along with State and community leaders, kicked off an exciting new public awareness campaign designed to highlight how we all can play a part to reduce the effects of childhood adversity, through actions both large and small that demonstrate compassion and promote a sense of emotional safety. How will you act to address ACEs in your community? Visit https://www.actions4aces.com/ and help amplify this...
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Newark, NJ cop uses 'empathy, compassion' to save suicidal teen on roof
NEWARK — An officer was commended for removing a window and climbing out onto a roof to talk a teenage girl out of jumping. Newark Public Safety Director Brian A. O’Hara said Officer Elijah Melvin was part of the response to a report of "family trouble" at a home in the South Ward around 5 p.m. Wednesday. He spoke to the girl, who said she was upset about the loss of an older brother. Read More: NJ cop uses 'empathy, compassion' to save suicidal teen on roof | ...
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PACEs Champion Dwana Young navigates community-driven ACEs healing centers in New Jersey
In 2020, New Jersey, a state with about 9 million people spread over the rural countryside and dense urban areas like Newark, launched a new entity: the NJ Office of Resilience (NJOR). The NJOR is unusual because it is a public-private partnership. It brings together three private foundations as well as the NJ Department of Children and Families to provide community-driven strategies for preventing, treating, and healing from ACEs. Like a ship’s navigator laying out a course on charts, Dwana...
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Re: Finding Peace in the Midst of Brokenness: Anonymous Blogger
Please be encouraged to share you thoughts, experiences and stories with me.
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Finding Peace in the Midst of Brokenness: Anonymous Blogger
In honor of mental health month I ask myself this question: What is something you need to start saying “yes” to? To most individuals the answer is very simple; minute. Unfortunately for an over thinker and self-doubter like I this is a loaded questions which constitutes a complex answer. My old self wants to run as fast as I can and hide until the question goes away, but the new me is ready to face it head on. So here it goes. I need to start saying yes to MYSELF! Over the past few months,...
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How Every Child Can Thrive By Five - Molly Wright
"What if I was to tell you that a game of peek-a-boo could change the world?" asks seven-year-old Molly Wright, one of the youngest-ever TED speakers. Breaking down the research-backed ways parents and caregivers can support children's healthy brain development, Wright highlights the benefits of play on lifelong learning, behavior and well-being, sharing effective strategies to help all kids thrive by the age of five. She's joined onstage by one-year-old Ari and his dad, Amarjot, who help...
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Give NJ youth mental health treatment, not prison time, advocates say | Patrick Lavery | NJ1015
NEWARK — When gymnastics legend Simone Biles suddenly pulled out of Olympic competition last week, citing a need to focus on her mental health, it prompted two concurrent yet divergent conversations. One, was she neglecting her duty to team and country by refusing to push through and compete, and two, is mental health stigma in sports finally going to be broken down. Ashanti Jones, community engagement manager for the Newark-based New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, said someone does...
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RISE From Trauma Act - $4.8 billion grant program
We are in a full court press to support the bi-partisan RISE From Trauma Act and appreciate your engagement! This week’s national and state sign on letter to Senate leadership featured dozens of organizations from around the country. Now we need many voices from throughout your state to increase the number of Senate co-sponsors. Please reach out to your two U.S. Senators to co-sponsor the RISE From Trauma Act. There are two key actions: 1. At least one person from your state needs to make a...
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NJ teachers brace for more COVID trauma as pandemic lengthens Michael Symons | NJ1015
TRENTON – Take the regular societal challenges that lead to educational inequities in New Jersey, layer on COVID-related issues that aggravate those problems, and you’ve got the conditions for an even more imbalanced state school system. Then add to that the coronavirus delta variant that has dimmed the light at the lengthening pandemic tunnel and the complications teachers face in the approaching school year get compounded. The state Department of Education held its third annual Statewide...
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$500 million in assistance to renters in NJ
Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation today providing $500 million in assistance to many renters who are behind in their payments due to the coronavirus, in addition to $250 million to help pay off their past-due utility bills. The funding, drawn from federal stimulus allocations to the state, is available to those whose incomes are not more than 120% of the median for the area. Payments can be made for rents that came due and remain unpaid from March of last year through the end of August.
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Simone Biles, ACEs and PCEs [positiveexperience.org/blog]
By the HOPE Team, 7/28/21, positiveexperience.org/blog Like so many people, we spent part of the weekend transfixed by the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Despite COVID, no crowds, and troubles with the Tokyo organizing committee, the athletes dazzled us with their speed, endurance and grace. In particular, Simone Biles seems superhuman – a woman who seems to defy gravity and performs gymnastic feats that had been thought to be impossible. She wears her past on her body and outfit: her collarbone bears...
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DEP urged to set tough limit on likely carcinogen in drinking water
JON HURDLE, CONTRIBUTING WRITER | AUGUST 6, 2021 | NJ SPOTLIGHT NEWS A science panel Thursday urged the Department of Environmental Protection to set one the nation’s strictest standards for a likely carcinogenic chemical in drinking water, in New Jersey’s latest initiative to protect public health from water-borne contaminants. The Drinking Water Quality Institute, a group of scientists and water company executives that advises the DEP, unanimously recommended that the level of 1,4-dioxane,...
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Just 9% of Newark students met state math standards this spring, data show
PATRICK WALL, CHALKBEAT NEWARK | AUGUST 6, 2021 | NJ SPOTLIGHT NEWS Only 11% of students met expectations in reading Newark students suffered extensive learning loss last school year, according to spring 2021 test scores that show for the first time how profoundly the pandemic disrupted students’ academic progress. Just 9% of students in grades 2-8 met state expectations in math based on the results of end-of-year tests taken this spring, according to Newark Public Schools data Chalkbeat...
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There are no perfect parents!
"Parenting is a learned skill, but society says as parents we can only talk about the good things that happen while parenting. It judges parents based on the child’s behavior, clothing and their school attendance. Children are judged by their parent’s behavior, clothing and choices. There is no shortage of blame, shame and judgment to go around. So what happens when a parent has a high ACE score and they want to truly prevent their children from having the same? What happens when they want...