Tagged With "Children and Youth"
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Addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences through a Coordinated Statewide Response in New Jersey
July 31, 2019, By Sana Hashim, MPH, CPH, CHES, Center for Health Care Strategies. States nationwide increasingly recognize the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on their communities, families, businesses, and workplaces. ACEs include all types of abuse, neglect, and other potentially traumatic experiences for children and youth under the age of 18. These exposures are linked to greater potential for risky health behaviors, chronic health conditions, and early death. With this...
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ACE Impact Team Aligns Efforts to Help Newark Residents Reach Greatest Potential
The ACE Impact Team, with strategies modeled by the Philadelphia ACE Task Force, Camden’s Hopeworks, and the Safe and Supportive Schools Commission in Massachusetts, is exploring ways to connect with youth. Specifically, community coaches are engaging with youth to better understand population health, develop leadership skills, and spearhead strategies to make their communities healthier. Read more here.
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Weekly Highlights
Murphy signs bill to release thousands of N.J. prisoners early beginning the day after Election Day On October 19th, Governor Murphy signed legislation to free those trapped inside New Jersey jails, prisons, and halfway houses, where they face the worst COVID-19 outbreak of any prison system in the country. We anticipate that over 2,000 men and women within 8 months of their release date will gain relief from Public Health Emergency Credits, and will be released in the first week of...
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Weekly Highlights
Neighborhood conditions associated with children’s cognitive function November 4, 2020 U.S. National Institutes of Health A study published today in JAMA Network Open shows that children from poorer neighborhoods perform less well on a range of cognitive functions, such as verbal ability, reading skills, memory, and attention, and have smaller brain volumes in key cognitive regions compared to those from wealthier neighborhoods. While multiple studies have shown that household socioeconomic...
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Weekly Highlights
Native American Heritage Month When COVID-19 hit the Navajo Nation, it limited students’ educational opportunities after schools closed, eliminated essential school services, exposed ongoing inequities, and made health and economic hardships families face worse. Navajo health officials said COVID-19 started spreading across the nation after a tribal member attended a basketball tournament in early March then went to a church revival the next day in Chilchinbeto, a small community south of...
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NJ medical school program requires all first-year students to learn about ACEs science
In 2015, Dr. Beth Pletcher, a pediatrician and associate professor specializing in genetics, was at the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Washington D.C. when she heard two speakers that forever changed her work with medical students. Dr. Beth Pletcher “I went to two talks on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that were so mind-boggling to me that I decided on my drive back to New Jersey that I had to do something about it,”says Pletcher, director of the Division...
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Weekly Highlights
In the News: Debate Starts Over COVID-19 Vaccine for Children in New Jersey Schools have been the front line in universal childhood vaccination in the United States since nearly the beginning of childhood vaccines, from the debates in the late 1800s and early 1900s over whether all Massachusetts students get a smallpox vaccine to more widespread mandates for measles and other shots in the 1970s. And in recent years, of course, they have also proven the new battleground in the heated debates...
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Nicholson Foundation Funding Efforts to Address ACEs and Build Resilience in New Jersey on Multiple Fronts
Since 2018, The Nicholson Foundation has been working hard to make New Jersey a leader among states in how it addresses, treats, and prevents Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)—traumatic events that can cause children lifelong physical, mental, and social damage. Over the past two years, The Nicholson Foundation has invested $3.5 million in efforts that directly prevent ACEs or build resilience to their effects and complementary programs and services that support healthy child development...
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Nashville’s Purposeful Twist on ACEs: All Children Excel
In 2015, the pieces that became ACE Nashville began to fall into place. A five-year Community Health Improvement Plan included the support of mental and emotional health as one of its three goals. A core team of individuals from the Metro Public Health Department (MPHD), Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee and the Family Center, a non-profit focused on breaking generational cycles of child trauma, began to meet weekly. And a citywide “consensus workshop” in April of that year—drawing 44...
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Self-Healing Communities Model, Co-Hosted with CTIPP, Second in a series
Self-Healing Communities Model, co hosted with CTIPP Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, 3-4:00 ET (Noon-1:00 PT) Second in a series on state-to-state best practices featuring the self-healing community model Self-Healing Community Model , Washington, developed networks that promoted collaboration across sectors and empowered local leaders to think about whole systems. The use of data helped prioritize efforts and learn what was working. Beyond Washington State, numerous other states are using the...
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Child Mind Institute Summit: Telehealth and the Coronavirus
Child Mind Institute Summit: Telehealth and the Coronavirus About this Event The Child Mind Institute Summit on Telehealth and the Coronavirus follows the publication of our 2020 Children’s Mental Health Report. This thought-provoking discussion featuring Child Mind Institute President Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz and California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris will explore the mental health impacts of the pandemic on youth and families, and how innovative treatment solutions can improve...
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NJ Takes Another Step to Support Youth and Address Racial Equity in Juvenile Justice System
December 22, 2020 The significance of Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal’s directive to further reform the juvenile justice system is worth highlighting. Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) views this directive, which takes effect January 11, 2021, as another step towards building a juvenile justice system that gives youth the support they need as well as addresses racial equity. A key function of the juvenile justice system is to rehabilitate youth, rather than act punitively, and...
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Eleventh Annual New Jersey Children's Ball
Call for Nominations NJAAP Champion for Children Award The NJ Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics, is pleased to announce a CALL FOR NOMINATIONS for the CHAMPION FOR CHILDREN AWARD The Champion for Children Award recognizes the strengths and accomplishments of a person and/or group of people and will be presented on Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at The Palace at Somerset Park. We are asking any and all to submit their nomination via the instructions listed below. Deadline for submissions...
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YouThrive Framework
Protective and promotive factors are vital. The Youth Thrive framework (PDF) can be found in our RESOURCE section.
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Racial Equity and Philanthropy
“... Philanthropy is overlooking leaders of color who have the most lived experience with and understanding of the problems we are trying to solve.”
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Black History NJ: The Complete Series
Jersey Joe Walcott Arnold Raymond Cream, aka Jersey Joe Walcott, was born in Merchantville, NJ, on Jan. 31, 1914. He held the record for the oldest heavyweight champion for more than four decades. His father, an immigrant from Barbados, died when Walcott was 15, which forced him to go to work to provide for his mother and younger siblings. At 16-years-old, he began boxing professionally and adopted Jersey Joe Walcott as his moniker… Carla Harris Montclair resident Carla Harris is an author,...
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Adverse Childhood Experiences: Inside NJ's Plan to Address a Perennial Harm
Last month New Jersey unveiled a unique action plan to help families and communities protect against and heal from the effects of adverse childhood experiences that can cause harm to individuals and families for generations. After a year of living under intense pandemic pressures, the need has likely never been so great. Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, impact four of ten youngsters in New Jersey across racial and economic lines according to a 2019 report . These traumas – such as...
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Juliette Hampton
Healthy racial identity development among older white youth is a bit more complex. Often, white students must come to understand that society attaches meaning to their whiteness and that they have a choice about how to be white in a multicultural society. The American Civil Rights Movement was a movement of the people. Black and white, male and female, Jew and Christian, rich and poor -- ordinary people who came together across differences to advance this nation's core value of equality and...
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Century-Old Summer Camp for NYC Kids to Close Amid YMCA's $100M Financial Hole. $5 million needed to save camp
I've been with DCF for nearly 15 years and for the first 10 years or so I was a child protection worker, and while in that role, I sent numerous children to YMCA Camp Huguenot . The experiences had by my kids at Camp Huguenot was LIFE CHANGING! It saddens me to know that so many children will no longer be able to attend Camp Huguenot and reconnect with friends especially during these trying times. The Greater New York YMCA said that because of pandemic losses to the tune of $100 million, the...
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Melanie Funchess |Implicit Bias - How it Effects Us and How We Push Through
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Everyone makes assumptions about people they don’t know. Melanie will teach us to recognize these assumptions and work toward a common understanding. Ms. Melanie Funchess is currently employed by the Mental Health Association where she serves as the Director of Community Engagement. She is also involved in several community based coalitions and organizations such as the African American Leadership...
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UNITY - Native American youth
UNITY’s Mission is to foster the spiritual, mental, physical, and social development of American Indian and Alaska Native youth, and to help build a strong, unified, and self-reliant Native America through greater youth involvement. UNITY Defined: UNITY is a national network organization promoting personal development, citizenship, and leadership among Native American youth. UNITY has a long (40+ years) and impressive track record of empowering and serving American Indian and Alaska Native...
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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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Co-regulation with Kids "At-Risk"-Calming Together
Highlights and thoughts from an article by Howard I. Bath: Calming together: The pathway to self-control Neuroscience shows that humans develop their abilities for emotional self-regulation through connections with reliable caregivers who soothe and model in a process called “co-regulation.” Since many troubled young people have not experienced a reliable, comforting presence, they have difficulty regulating their emotions and impulses. Co-regulation provides a practical model for helping...
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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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Malala Yousafzai
At age eleven, Malala Yousafzai was already advocating for the rights of women and girls. As an outspoken proponent for girls’ right to education, Yousafzai was often in danger because of her beliefs. However, even after being shot by the Taliban, she continued her activism and founded the Malala Fund with her father. By age seventeen, Yousafzai became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for her work. Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997 in Mingora, Pakistan. Mingora...
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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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"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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Re: "Resilience and the Human Spirit: Our Legacy to Infants, Children and Families!"
Looking forward to seeing you there @Adrian Alexander . Feel free to share any of our calendared events on your page
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Re: "Resilience and the Human Spirit: Our Legacy to Infants, Children and Families!"
Thank you for sharing, @Dwana. I'm registered and looking forward to it. 😀
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Federal Grant Opportunities
Environmental Regulatory Enhancement The Administration for Children and Families, Administration for Native Americans announces the availability of Fiscal Year 2021 funds for community-based projects for the Environmental Regulatory Enhancement (ERE) program. The ERE program provides funding for the costs of planning, developing, and implementing programs designed to improve the capability of tribal governing bodies to regulate environmental quality pursuant to federal and tribal...
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Protect Our Children: Effects of the Pandemic
NEW YORK (WABC) -- On Saturday, May 8, WABC-TV will air a special entitled "PROTECT OUR CHILDREN: EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC" at 7 p.m. ET. The program is hosted by Eyewitness News Anchor Shirleen Allicot, and will focus on the continued impact the pandemic has had on youth, with advice from professionals on how we can address and improve the mental, emotional and physical health of youth. Despite the ongoing pandemic, the special shares stories of individuals who faced difficult challenges and...
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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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THE POLYNESIAN PANTHER PARTY
The Polynesian Panthers were a liberation activist group that fought for Polynesian and Māori empowerment in New Zealand. Inspired by the Black Power movement in the United States, along with Māori protests within the country, inner city youth in Auckland were emboldened to stand against capitalism and to fight for visibility. Auckland’s urban areas were filled with Pacific Islander immigrants, and their Kiwi-born children, who were subjected to police brutality, faced harsh discrimination,...
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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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Biden’s First Proposed Budget Puts Millions Toward Alternatives to Youth Incarceration, Equity in Child Welfare BY JOHN KELLY | Imprint News
Youth Services Insider will delve further into the first budget proposed by President Joe Biden in the coming weeks, but wanted to list off a few notable items that jumped off the page from child welfare and juvenile justice. Juvenile Justice Major boost to state grants: States receive a portion of what’s called the Title II formula grants each year in exchange for their participation in the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA). Biden is calling for $250 million under this...
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Resources: Engaging Families in Affirming Trauma-Informed Care for LGBTQ Children and Youth
Research has shown that LGBTQ youth who have family support have better outcomes through their youth and into adulthood. This is especially relevant for LGBTQ youth who have experienced trauma and may face ongoing safety concerns related to their identities. This webinar will outline techniques for engaging families in affirming treatment and care of their LGBTQ youth, including a review of strategies used within the Family Acceptance Project (FAP) with founder Caitlin Ryan. FAP, a...
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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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‘An isolated world’ — LGBTQ youth battle mental health issues during pandemic | Hannah Parker | WTOP
The isolation of COVID-19 lockdowns brought about a nearly 30% increase in demand for mental health services throughout the country. But for LGBTQ youth, the isolation and anxiety from the last year has only exacerbated preexisting mental health battles. In 2020, 42% of young LGBTQ people — including more than half of transgender or nonbinary youths — considered suicide, according to a survey conducted from October to December 2020 by The Trevor Project, a national organization that provides...
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Community listening session on white supremacy, domestic threats, & youth extremism with The Division on Civil Rights (DCR)
DCR listening Sessions on White Supremacy Extremist will cover groups in the state, with the specific focus on how youth are recruited to these groups, the role social media plays in that recruitment, and how individuals and the community are harmed by these groups' hateful actions. These listening sessions are part of uplifting our 27 Youth Bias Taskforce Recommendations. Register: Wednesday, July 14th 6:30pm – 8:30pm - Click Here for Zoom Registration For those that are unable to attend...
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New Study Suggests Ending Group Care for Foster Youth BY JOHN KELLY | The Imprint
Astudy of life in institutions and group homes revealed firsthand testimony of poor nutrition, upended education and excessive use of psychiatric drugs, and urged an end to their use to house foster youth. A team of seven researchers produced “Away From Home: Youth Experiences of Institutional Placements in Foster Care,” some with lived experience in the child welfare system. “People can disagree about the extent of harm they do,” said Sandra Gasca-Gonzalez, the vice president of the Center...
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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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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...
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New NJ program to keep youth out of juvenile justice system
New Jersey is launching a pilot program to help young people transition back into their communities after being incarcerated; the pilot program also will be aimed at preventing their involvement with the criminal justice system in the first place. Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver signed the legislation for the program Wednesday. https://www.njspotlight.com/
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Juvenile Justice Video Explains Ways to Elevate Care for Youth in Custody [aecf.org]
A short video produced by the Annie E. Casey Foundation identifies eight principles that every juvenile justice system should embrace right now to transform care for youth in custody. These principles are designed to help all young people realize their potential — regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, neighborhood or personal history. The video introduces ways that jurisdictions can immediately and meaningfully elevate the standard of care for youth in custody as they work toward...
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Bolstering Police-Youth Trust Program
PUBLIC NOTICE LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Notice of Availability of Funds Bolstering Police-Youth Trust Program Take notice that, in compliance with N.J.S.A. 52:14-34.4, the Department of Law and Public Safety (DLPS), Office of the Attorney General announces the anticipated availability of the following grant program funds: a) Name of the Program: Bolstering Police-Youth Trust Program. This program is supported by the Federal Fiscal Year 2020 (FFY20) Edward Byrne...
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Mental Health Champion
Community Builder Award Uzziah Campbell | Calm & Cure Candle Co., LLC Calm & Cure Candle Co., LLC, was established in 2020 by then 11-year old Uzziah Campbell. Uzziah had a vision of helping those experiencing stress, anxiety, depression and trauma brought on by the pandemic and racial injustice. He felt that candles were the answer because he watched his mother, who was diagnosed with PTSD, use candles and essential oils to ease her symptoms. Uzziah first started making candles to...
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Educators share strategies to help students, staff heal from pandemic trauma
The stress, fear, grief and loneliness of the pandemic has weighed hard on school-aged children. Some 31 % of parents reported worsening emotional health among their children, according to a report by the JED Foundation . In addition, there was a 31% jump in mental health emergency room visits for teens between 12 and 17 from 2019 to 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) . And it’s little wonder. At least 43,000 children have lost a parent to COVID,...
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Re: Substance misuse linked to risk profiles, study finds - Jeff Grabmeier
This is so interesting, Dwana. Thanks for posting!