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For many of us, the holiday season can present times of stress and pressure, but no matter what you celebrate, believe, or practice, this season can offer big and small opportunities to create positive memories. These memories of loving relationships, warm environments, engagement with family and tradition, and emotional growth can help build lifelong resilience. Social connection; connect with family and friends wherever they live. Setting up a quick call can help us stay connected to those...

Last month PJI Executive Director, Rachel Allen, and PJI Resilience Community Manager, Sofiya Asedrem, went live on the Peace and Justice Institute's Facebook page to announce the Common Read book for 2024. Click here to watch the Common Read Reveal. This book club was started in 2019 to encourage the common read of books related to Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences (PACEs), toxic stress, trauma, healing, and resilience. To date, the group has read the following books: 2019: The...

It’s time to take action and make our voices heard to build healthy, resilient communities! The Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP) is organizing trauma-informed advocates, activists, and stakeholders to urge their U.S. Senators and Representatives to support two bipartisan, bicameral bills that would significantly help prevent, address, and mitigate the negative impacts of trauma through community-based/led initiatives.

On Wednesday, August 2nd, the Peace and Justice Institute's Resilience Network hosted a Why PACEs Matter training for the Office of the Public Defender, 9th Circuit, as part of an ongoing initiative to improve criminal justice and public safety responses in the Central Florida Community. The audience was made up 120 participants, including attorneys and social workers, who completed the training and received CLEs as part of their summer professional development. Learning outcomes included:...

On June 27th, 2023, over 50 members of the Resilience Network came together in Central Florida to outline goals for the next term. Strategic planning takes place following the annual conference (in April/May) and allows members to set priorities for the year's worth of work in advance of the next conference. The Network currently has four main shared goals: In addition to these shared goals, the Network has nine sectors, each with identified sector-specific goals. During the meeting, sectors...

In a one-night-only event, ABC will air the broadcast debut of two episodes of "The 1619 Project;" "Democracy" and "Justice," May 31 at 8 p.m. ET | PT. All episodes of " The 1619 Project ," from executive producer Nikole Hannah-Jones, are now streaming on Hulu. ABC News 7 Saturday, May 27, 2023 -- ABC Owned Television Stations presents " Our America: Hidden Stories ," featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and ABC Race and Culture reporters across the country.

(Originally posted May 11, 2023) The Peace and Justice Institute hosts 5th Annual Resilience Conference WINTER PARK, Fla. — The Peace and Justice Institute is hosting the 5 th annual Resilience Conference in Winter Park this week. The conference focuses on trauma and covers different ways of preventing and dealing with violence. In a crowded room on Thursday, Rachel Allen directed people’s attention to the trauma that folks are feeling in their neighborhoods, schools, homes and work. Allen...

PACEs Connection is excited to kick off our 2023 Creating Resilient Communities (CRC) Annual Accelerator Program.

Local leaders Rachel Allen (Director, Peace and Justice Institute) and Dr. Candice Jones (Board Certified Pediatrician, Author) were recently hosted by Host Monica May (Radio and Television Vet, Co-chair Orange County MLK Commission) on Orange TV's Candid Conversations with Our Community to discuss The Life-Long Impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). To watch the full video, click on the play button below: The panel covers what ACEs and toxic stress are; how to screen for ACEs;...

Press Release (Released March 2, 2023) PEACE AND JUSTICE INSTITUTE FORMS AS NONPROFIT ENTITY Mayor Dyer Announces Peace and Justice Institute Day ORLANDO, March 2nd, 2023 – The Peace and Justice Institute (PJI) announced today that it has formed as a nonprofit. This is the next step in the organization’s long-term vision of continued growth, innovation and transformation. PJI’s work will continue without interruption and plans for expansion are in place. Under this new status they will...

Childhood trauma can have lasting psychological effects. A new study has found that early childhood stress from racism, poverty and other traumas can change the structure of children’s developing brains. Nathaniel Harnett, a neuroscientist at McLean Hospital and assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, joins Laura Barrón-López to discuss the study’s findings in this video. Full Title: Racial Disparities in Adversity During Childhood and the False Appearance of...

In 2021, the data and metrics team of the CRC Network conducted a needs assessment to determine what the priority would be for the network after producing the Why PACEs Matter Workshop. To date, Why PACEs Matter has reached over 1600 individuals in Central Florida. The survey was published in the PJI Journal (Volume 12, Number 2) and in it, respondents expressed that the next big project for the network would be to develop a trauma informed workshop. Between June and September 2022, an...