November 2017

Almost 2,000 people died in California last year of opioid overdoses as a sprawling epidemic made its way to the west coast. Where is the death toll the worst? The California mapped out where the state's opioid death rates were the highest in 2016 - and all are in locations that lack Medication Assisted Treatment facilities, which are also mapped here. To read more of Harold Pierce's article, please click here. Harold Pierce covers education and health for The Californian.

After successfully reducing expulsions in its K-12 schools , California is now moving to restrict the practice with even younger children — at the preschool level. To that end, Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation last month that bars state-subsidized preschool programs from expelling kids unless an exhaustive process aimed at supporting the child and family is followed first. Children can be expelled from preschool as a result of any number of aggressive behaviors that could jeopardize the...

More than one million children in California have a special health care need. These children have chronic physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional conditions that require more than routine health and related services. Sixty-one percent of children with special health care needs (CSHCN) have had one more adverse experience. Understanding the factors that impact these children and their families is crucial to lifelong health and wellness. Kidsdata.org , a program of the Lucile Packard...

Suspensions and expulsions in California schools have decreased dramatically over the past five years. Here’s a look at the five-year suspension and expulsion rates at schools throughout the state. In the database, susp. stands for suspension and exp. stands for expulsion. https://edsource.org/2017/look-up-suspension-and-expulsion-rates-for-california-schools/589709

School suspensions and expulsions in California public schools have dropped dramatically among all racial and ethnic groups over the past five years but a significant gap remains for African-American students, according to new state data released Wednesday. In the 2016-17 school year, the suspension rate of African-American students in California public schools was 9.8 percent. Still, that rate was significantly lower than it was in 2011-12, when the rate for African-American students was...

A young man told clinical therapist Marissa Snoddy recently that when she calls him a leader, she got it all wrong. “He said, ‘I just came from Juvenile Hall,’ I’m not a leader.” But, she said, “We just kept giving him love. And we said, ‘You’re courageous for showing up and being here,’” The very fact that he was there, she explained, showed he was a leader. Snoddy related the anecdote recently for 80 people attending the Trauma and Learning Series launch led by Rising Youth for Social...

On Sunday’s 60 Minutes broadcast Oprah Winfrey reported on the use of solitary confinement in American prisons. She talked about how California is leading the way to reform of the practice, with changes in the state’s Pelican Bay Prison, which Winfrey called the most notorious state penitentiary in America. It is a story that is very much worth watching. “Designed and built as a ‘supermax’ facility,” Oprah began, referring to the 1989-constructed prison, “it’s been used for nearly 30 years...

LOS ANGELES , Oct. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- First 5 LA, the California Community Foundation, The California Endowment, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation along with other local, state and nationally-recognized expert organizations today released a report to advance a comprehensive trauma and resiliency-informed approach in Los Angeles County . Building on research and the experience of experts from Los Angeles , the report defines trauma as the effects of a...