Tagged With "Department of Environmental Protection"

We’re back! The 2021 NJAEYC Annual Conference is scheduled for October 21 at the Hilton Meadowlands, New Jersey. We are changing the conference to one day this year and still plan on reaching as many early childhood educators as possible. The theme of this year’s conference is The Comeback Conference 2021. For additional information contact Helen Muscato, Conference Coordinator at (732) 329-0033 or online at mail@njaeyc.org Are you a student? Click here to apply to be an Annual Conference...

LGBTQ community members to 'celebrate who we are' with equality, love and healing in NJ New Jersey's LGBTQ+ Pride parade and festival isn't happening this year. But there is still be plenty of equality, love and healing to be found on the calendar this month. Event producers Jersey Pride announced in September that their 30th annual Asbury Park parade and celebration — canceled in 2021 and then planned for Sunday, Oct. 10 — has been postponed until June 5, 2022, due to COVID-19 concerns. But...

Shirley Davis | Feb 25, 2021 | Abandonment and CPTSD | 6 comments One of the most egregious behaviors a parent or other caregiver can do to a child is to abandon them, allowing them to suffer alone. The damages done to the child when grown are significant and should not be ignored. In this article, we shall examine together what childhood abandonment is, how it affects adults, and ways to mitigate the power it has over our lives. What is Abandonment? All children are entirely dependent upon...

The New Jersey ACES Collaborative1 is committed to pursuing a standard of excellence in the engagement, partnering, and servicing of New Jersey residents and communities. This commitment demands we continuously review and assess the unique and comprehensive ways we provide that service. In 2019, the Collaborative released Adverse Childhood Experiences: Opportunities to Prevent, Protect Against, and Heal from the Effects of ACEs in New Jersey. This report identified five areas of...

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and while the unfortunate truth is that domestic violence occurs all year-round, this month offers us the opportunity to continue to engage others about the social, emotional and economic impact domestic violence has on individuals, families and communities. On Thursday, October 21 st , we’ll be raising awareness by wearing PURPLE , the color that represents support for domestic violence victims and survivors. Resources can be found here DCF...

Cowart Trauma Informed Partnership is pleased to announce three upcoming courses for educators! This school year has introduced us to a whole new understanding of what "tired" means. Even before, studies showed that a significant portion of the population have experienced trauma, or harmful or life-threatening events which have impacted their everyday functioning or well-being. Research shows that individuals living in poverty or with a disability are even more at risk for having experienced...

A new podcast series beginning Wednesday, Feb. 23 will explore the unique issues of Black girls who experience foster care in America. Diaries of A Black Girl in Foster Care (which uses @BlkGrlDiariesFC on social media platforms) will begin with three episodes that address cultural issues, racial disparities and stereotypes that organizers argue have contributed to poor outcomes for Black girls in America’s various foster care systems. “Everybody can get something out of this, not just Black...

Michael Symons | NJ1015 Photo credit: here TRENTON – Legislation advancing in the state Senate would create a Division of School Desegregation in the state Department of Education, responsible for identifying instances of racial and socioeconomic segregation and ways to ensure diverse enrollment in New Jersey public schools. The division would compile statistics on the racial, ethnic and economic composition of each public school and do a comparative analysis of the educational outcomes of...

In recent years, more than a quarter of a million children each year have been removed from their families and placed in foster care because of alleged neglect and these children are disproportionately Black or Indigenous. Too often, circumstances stemming from poverty are construed as neglect, but underlying both poverty and neglect is historic and present-day racism. This report outlines the history of how child protective services developed to over-surveil families of color, examines how...

@Kamala Allen , vice president, program operations and child health quality, Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) and principal investigator, CDC PACEs: D2A award to CHCS. Liz Buck is project director. _____________________________ “The timing couldn’t have been more perfect,” says Kamala Allen, principal investigator for the New Jersey-based Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS). She was referring to the award from CDC’s Preventing ACEs: Data to Action (PACE: D2A) of $400,000 per...

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER Diversity, Equity and Inclusion + Social Emotional Learning in K-12 Virtual Program Wednesday, May 4, 2022, 7:00-8:30 pm The session will provide the audience with a greater understanding on the role of a Diversity Equity and Inclusion Officer. The program will focus on how diversity, equity and inclusion and social emotional learning intersect and why both are important as well as how school districts can strengthen partnerships with parents and its community in...

I use two maps of the city of Buffalo, NY to demonstrate gun violence and cancer that over lap in the same areas. By a stretch of imagination, can autism be the results of a fetus coping with the surge of stress hormones the mother is experiencing in an environment that has been normalized? Let's see how Ukraine children fare post war.

As you may already be aware, the two year contract with Dave Ellis, DCF’s Executive on Loan (EOL) to coordinate statewide efforts to prevent, protect against, and heal from the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) has ended. I know this is disappointing to so many of us whose lives, organizations and philosophies, Dave touched and influenced, but the EOL role was always expected to be short term. Together with support from DCF and philanthropy (the Burke Foundation, The Nicholson...

On July 3, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 188 also known as the Creating a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act. The CROWN Act amends the California Education Code and the Fair Employment and Housing Act’s definition of race to include traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyles. Protective hairstyles include, but are not limited to, “braids, locks, and twists.” The legislation makes California the...

The Trauma-informed Design Society is pleased to announce the new TiDEvalK12 tool ! This tool is the first of its kind--an evidence-based tool to facilitate interior design renovations and new builds of K-12 schools! It can be used to evaluate the physical space and identify changes that can lower the stress levels of students and staff. The tool is grounded in the Substance and Mental Health Services Administrations' guidance for a trauma-informed approach, the Trauma-informed Design (TiD)...

PACEs Family, The Office of Resilience is hiring an Assistant Director for the NJ Resilience Institute. Attached you will find the job posting or you can click here . Please share with your networks!

The NJ Resiliency Coalition is an online community where people living and working in New Jersey can come together to help lean into positive childhood experiences (PCEs) and help mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to create a healthier and happier state. This public online learning group was created by the NJ ACEs Collaborative , the Office of Resilience , the Center for Health Care Strategies , and the New Jersey Education Association . This platform will be made stronger by the...

The First Round of RAC projects, funded by DCF’s Office of Resilience, is now five months into the grant period and we have seen some outstanding results. While three of our projects in the Central RAC are preparing to launch, five others are up and running. We are seeing creative project activities and curriculums, participants experiencing success, and programs evolving. Projects are currently serving Hunterdon, Union, Mercer, and Middlesex counties. One of the most exciting, inspiring...

Makers Place, launched in July 2018, was founded on the principles of asset-based community development, emphasizing the value of building relationships and fostering a sense of community strength. Instead of focusing on what a community lacks, Makers Place recognizes and celebrates the inherent gifts within each individual. The organization is committed to bringing people together and leveraging community support to create a more unified and empowered environment. The challenges posed by...

Makers Place, launched in July 2018, was founded on the principles of asset-based community development, emphasizing the value of building relationships and fostering a sense of community strength. Instead of focusing on what a community lacks, Makers Place recognizes and celebrates the inherent gifts within each individual. The organization is committed to bringing people together and leveraging community support to create a more unified and empowered environment. The challenges posed by...

The Bloom Project, initiated by Sanar Institute to address the profound impact of adverse childhood experiences, particularly violence, stands as a beacon of hope and healing. Established with a prevention-oriented mindset, the project provides trauma healing services to youth and young adults who have endured adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). By facilitating their journey towards holistic well-being, the Bloom Project aspires to heal existing trauma and also to mitigate the risk of...

Idalmis T. Lamourt, MSW, LSW Assistant Director DCF Office of Resilience As I began my new position at the Office of Resilience, I found myself thinking a lot about the word trauma. We hear the term so often that we can become numb to it. But that isn’t case for those of us who have been impacted by trauma. We don’t become desensitized to what it truly means or what it took to get through that trauma. And each new trauma builds upon past ones. The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health...