Tagged With "Autism Acceptance Month in April"
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Black Maternal Health Week, Apr. 11-17
Black Maternal Health Week takes place each year from April 11-17. Learn more about this year’s goals, which are to: Deepen the national conversation about Black maternal health in the US; Amplify community-driven policy, research, and care solutions; Center the voices of Black Mamas, women, families, and stakeholders; Provide a national platform for Black-led entities and efforts on maternal health, birth and reproductive justice; and Enhance community organizing on Black maternal health.
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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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Charter school question again before court
JOHN MOONEY, EDUCATION WRITER | APRIL 27, 2021 | EDUCATION This time NJ’s Supreme Court considers if Newark’s seven charter schools should have expanded. A Newark-based advocacy group, challenging the recent expansion in charter school enrollments in Newark, argues the state failed to consider the effect of the expansion on the district’s finances and the potential worsening of school segregation by race, disability and other needs. The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case on...
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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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Today is Denim Day - Sexual Assault Awareness Month
Denim Day, established in 1999, is a campaign on a Wednesday in April in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The campaign began after a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court where a rape conviction was overturned because the justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans she must have helped the person who raped her remove her jeans, thereby implying consent. The following day, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim. This...
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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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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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Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month (LGBT Pride Month) is celebrated annually in June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots, and works to achieve equal justice and equal opportunity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) Americans. In June of 1969, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City staged an uprising to resist the police harassment and persecution to which LGBT Americans were commonly subjected. This uprising marks the beginning...
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Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope
In honor of National Foster Care Month, National Reunification Month and the League’s continuing mission to bring advocacy to young people within and who have aged out of the foster care system, the Junior League of Montclair Newark, in partnership with New Jersey's Office of Resilience, proudly present a virtual screening of the highly acclaimed documentary: Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope Researchers recently discovered a dangerous biological syndrome caused by...
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Think you know something about historical trauma? PACEs Connection's 'Historical Trauma in America' series promises to be an eye-opener
Per: Jane Stevens , PACEs Connection staff. The murder of George Floyd in May 2020 unleashed hundreds of articles, books, podcasts, film and online documentaries. It’s not that the roots of racism and inequity in historical trauma hadn’t been known about or written about previous to his death (Frederick Douglas, James Baldwin, anyone?), but the pressures of hundreds of years of injustice began a near explosive untangling from the massive twisted and angry knot they’d formed over generations.
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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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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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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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2021 National Community Leadership Summit - Virtual
We invite you to join us for the 2021 National Community Leadership Summit , hosted by Vital Village Networks. We seek to connect with and learn alongside a national assembly of visionary and collaborative leaders, like you, who are dedicated to the fundamental social transformation necessary to ensure that all children succeed and that families are welcomed as partners and change agents. The summit features two signature conference days, on Monday, October 18th, and Friday, October 22nd,...
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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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Suicide Prevention Resources
Experts agree that the best way to prevent suicide is to talk about it, but people are often afraid to bring it up. Stigma plays a big role in our reluctance, but it’s also scary to acknowledge that someone you love might be feeling suicidal. People are understandably afraid of saying the wrong thing, too. In recognition of Suicide Prevention Awareness month, this week on childmind.org we share resources for families worried about suicide. Teenagers are notoriously prickly and teenagers...
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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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National Hispanic American Heritage Month
We celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month to recognize the achievements and contributions of Hispanic American champions who have inspired others to achieve success. Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President...
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New Jersey Hispanic Heritage Month Happenings
Dowdell Library On Sept. 27 , Dowdell Library will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with Marcia Mercado by reading stories in Spanish and English, listening and dancing to traditional music and making crafts, including a Frida Kahlo mural created by the community. The online catalog makes it easy to search for resources focused on Hispanic history and lived experience. Jersey City Library The library will be honoring one of its own: Hugo Morales , an Ecuadorian-born artist who tragically...
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New Jersey News
NJ Sees Uptick In Calls About Kids Mental Health Due To Pandemic Alexis Tarrazi | Patch.com NEW JERSEY — "It is OK, not to be OK," Governor Phil Murphy stressed on Wednesday as he reported the state is receiving an uptick in calls from New Jersey parents concerned about mental health issues in their children associated with the COVID pandemic and returning to school. "We know that numerous children and families continue to live under tremendous stress caused by the past 19 months," said...
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National Coming Out Day - 10/11/2021
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...
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October is Domestic Violence Awareness
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...
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Report: An estimated 175,000 U.S. children have lost a parent or grandparent due to COVID-19
BY STACY RICKARD DALLAS UPDATED 1:00 PM CT OCT. 26, 2021 PUBLISHED 4:32 PM CT OCT. 25, 2021 DALLAS — COVID-19 has impacted the family dynamic for children across the world whose caregivers died from the virus. A recent study from the journal Pediatrics estimates from April 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021, more than 140,000 children in the U.S. experienced the death of a parent or grandparent caregiver. That number is now estimated to have risen to 175,000 , according to study authors. The...
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'Pandemic of mental health': Calls to children's hotline increase, especially before school hours
Mary Ann Koruth | NorthJersey.com Calls for help to the New Jersey children's mental health hotline have increased compared to last year as parents seek help, especially during the morning hours, said the Department for Children and Families (DFC) commissioner. The overall call volume to the Children's System of Care increased, with the most calls coming from parents as their children experience stress before school hours, Commissioner Christine Norbut Beyer said during a state COVID...
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Need to fund your resilience initiative? Here’s how.
Chart is sample page from county-by-county funding allocated as part of ARPA. Information is available by clicking here. This is the first of several articles on the importance of any resilience-focused entity, including your PACEs Connection community, seeking out the people in your area allocating ARPA funding and asking for money. Organizations do not necessarily have to be 501 C-3 nonprofits to receive funding. Thanks to federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to states in April...
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Spring Registration Now Open for These Courses for Educators!
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...
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Lunar Year 2022
Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations of the year among East and Southeast Asian cultures, including Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean communities, among others. The New Year celebration is usually celebrated for multiple days—not just one day as in the Gregorian calendar’s New Year. In 2022, Lunar New Year begins on February 1. China’s Lunar New Year is known as the Spring Festival or Chūnjié in Mandarin, while Koreans call it Seollal and Vietnamese refer to it as Tết. Tied...
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A BLACK HISTORY MONTH CONVERSATION: WHAT IS CRITICAL RACE THEORY?
THURSDAY FEB. 17, 2022 6:30PM - 7:45PM Community Building Coalition invites you to a virtual discussion on Critical Race Theory by Dr. Delores Jones Brown, the founding director of the John Jay College on Race, Crime and Justice and co-editor of African Americans in Criminal Justice: An Encyclopedia. REGISTER HERE
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Register now! Building the Movement in the Child Welfare and Justice Systems February 4, 2022
Starting February 4th, 2022 - 1pm-5pm ET/10am-2pm PT - Building the Movement in the Child Welfare and Justice Systems UP NEXT: Workshop #4 Building the Movement through Transformative Justice and Faith-Based Communities February 18, 2022 - 1pm-5pm ET/10am-2pm PT Breakout Zoom Room Info: Click here to join Meeting ID: 817 9558 1220 Passcode: 177960 Making these sectors trauma-informed, prevention-focused, and healing-centered You’re invited to participate in the third of eight remarkable...
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Connections Matter NJ Facilitator Training Announcement
Everyday connections are more important than we ever believed. Science tells us that relationships have the power to shape our brains. Relationships help us learn better, work better, parent better. When we experience tough times, they help us heal. With each connection, we develop a healthier, stronger community. Connections Matter is a healing-centered curriculum that teaches adults how to use the power of connections to help develop healthy brains and supportive relationships, prevent and...
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Black Heroes and Inventors [libertywritersglobal.com]
Click here for cover photo credit Remembering The Historic Black Miami Community Destroyed To Build A Whites-Only School At least 200 Black towns and communities had been formed across the United States by 1888. According to a Washington Post article, several of these towns were modeled after Black communities founded during the American Revolution and during the antebellum period, which lasted from the late 1700s until 1860. Some settlements vanished completely as time passed. Others were...
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Cultivating Access, Rights, and Equity (CARE) Grant Program
A Notice of Grant Opportunity (NGO) for the Cultivating Access, Rights, and Equity (CARE) Grant Program has been published at nj.gov/labor/grants . This program seeks to increase New Jersey workers’ awareness of and equitable access to paid family and medical leave, earned sick leave, and related rights. We hope you will share this announcement with your networks. Paid family and medical leave benefits, also known as Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance, are available to eligible...
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Happy Holi
Holi, also known as the festival of colours, is a religious occasion celebrated with much pomp. It is considered the second biggest Hindu festival after Diwali, and the celebrations last for two days - Choti Holi or Holika Dahan and Dhulandi or Rangwali Holi . It marks the celebration of the victory of good over evil. The festival falls in the Hindu calendar month of Phalgun, which usually falls between February and March. On this day, people play with colours, water, flowers and more,...
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Systemically Neglected How Racism Structures Public Systems to Produce Child Neglect
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...
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Happy Arab-American Heritage Month
From: https://libguides.nhcgov.com/ArabAmericanHeritageMonth National Arab American Heritage Month (NAAHM) takes place in April and celebrates the Arab-American heritage and culture and pays tribute to the contributions of Arab-Americans and Arabic-speaking Americans. The Arab America Foundation launched the National Arab American Heritage Month initiative in 2017, with just a handful of states recognizing the initiative. Each year, the grass-roots network grows. Below are some points of...
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Ramadan - April 1 - May 1
Introduction Ramadan is considered one of the holiest months of the year for Muslims. In Ramadan, Muslims commemorate the revelation of the Qur’an, and fast from food and drink during the sunlit hours as a means of drawing closer to God and cultivating self-control, gratitude, and compassion for those less fortunate. Ramadan is a month of intense spiritual rejuvenation with a heightened focus on devotion, during which Muslims spend extra time reading the Qur’an and performing special...
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Toxic Stress: Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Mental Health and Chronic Disease
Hear from public health leaders about the impact of childhood adversity on health across the lifespan and the role of the field of chronic disease prevention in addressing ACEs. Toxic Stress: Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Mental Health and Chronic Disease Thursday, April 21, 2022 2-3:30 p.m. ET Rob Anda, MD, MS Co-Founder of ACE Interface Jim Marks, MD, MPH Former Executive Vice President Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Former Director, CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease...
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Wear Denim with Purpose this Wednesday, April 27th, in support and solidarity with survivors of sexual assault.
History of Denim Day Denim Day grew out of a 1998 Italian Supreme Court decision that overturned a rape conviction because the victim wore tight jeans. The accused in the case was found guilty of rape and appealed the decision, claiming that they had consensual sex. The case makes it all the way to the Italian High Court where the conviction is overturned because the justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans she must have helped the person who raped her remove her jeans,...
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Re: Autism Awareness Month
Unfortunately I think this shift is more performative than meaningful. Their website still uses person-first language, talks about "treatment", uses pathologizing language, and has a number of images and text content that depicts autism through the medical model of disability. Here are a number of Facebook pages of disabled, autistic, and/or neurodivergent people who advocate and share their experiences so folks can defer to the experiences/perspectives of actually disabled and autistic...
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Autism Awareness Month
In 1970, the Autism Society launched an ongoing nationwide effort to promote autism awareness and assure that all affected by autism are able to achieve the highest quality of life possible. In 1972, the Autism Society launched the first annual National Autistic Children’s week, which evolved into Autism Acceptance Month (AAM). This April, we continue our efforts to spread awareness, promote acceptance, and ignite change. The Autism Society of America, the nation’s oldest leading grassroots...
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New Jersey Autism Prevalence Rises to 1 in 32 in New CDC Report
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released a report today showing the rate of children identified with an autism spectrum disorder rose to 1 in 54 nationally. This statistic is based on the CDC’s evaluation of health and educational records of 8-year-old children in 2016 in 11 states, including New Jersey. New Jersey again has the highest rate of those states evaluated, with 1 in 32 (3.1% of children). This percentage is higher than the average percentage identified with ASD (1.85%) in...
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Re: New Jersey Autism Prevalence Rises to 1 in 32 in New CDC Report
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.
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For non-white Americans, canceling student debt is racial justice
TAYLOR JUNG | NJ Spotlight More people of color borrow than white counterparts, adding to racial wealth gap. For New Jersey school psychologist Norma Reyes, not having to make her student loan payments the last two years has been a “blessing.” While the Biden administration pushed back payments to the end of August and is expected to make a student loan announcement in the coming weeks, the looming and unclear future of her debt is unsettling. “However, those loans are still there. And it’s...
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Mental Health in NJ: Addressing Detection, Stigma, & Treatment Access
This will be an online event only. Please register to have a viewing link emailed to you Tuesday, 5/17, at 3pm and again at 4pm. Register Now About this event Some 58% of New Jersey adults or someone they know has experienced mental health problems, and 68% of those respondents said their problems have gotten worse during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Stockton University poll on public health and other issues released in April 2022 . Despite statistics indicating greater public...
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Pioneering child-advocacy office loses its leader
LILO H. STAINTON, HEALTH CARE WRITER | MAY 13, 2022 | HEALTH CARE Private funds paid his salary. NJ taxes covered the staff. Now he’s gone New Jersey generated a national buzz among child welfare experts when in June 2020 it launched the first state-level office devoted to childhood resilience and arranged for private foundations to pay the salary of the director. Two years later acclaimed director Dave Ellis is leaving the Department of Children and Families Office of Resilience. The...