Blog

By Narges Zohoury Dillon, East Bay Times, September 25, 2019 I find that I have some of the most meaningful conversations with near strangers when I tell them that I work in the field of suicide prevention. So often, people share that they have lost a loved one to suicide or that they have struggled with their own mental health challenges. On an Uber ride from the airport, a driver shared with me a history of trauma and suicidal thinking and her hope to go back to school so she could help...

By The Annie E. Casey Foundation, September 2019 All children and youth deserve to live in communities where they can learn, play and grow. When neighborhoods have quality schools, accessible job opportunities, reliable transportation and safe places for recreation, children are better positioned for success in adulthood. Yet millions of children live in high-poverty neighborhoods that lack these critical assets. Though the number of children living in areas of concentrated poverty *(census...

By Yuxuan Xie, Daniel J. Willis, and John Fensterwald, EdSource, September 24, 2019 California school districts need to significantly increase their education spending to ensure that students have adequate resources and support to provide the state’s content standards and meet its academic goals. Based on 2016-17 numbers, funding schools adequately to meet these goals would have required a 38 percent increase in spending, or $25.6 billion. That would mean an average increase of $4,686 per...

The California Children’s Trust and First 5 Center for Children’s Policy just announced the publication of their vision for a new approach for California to conceptualize, deliver, and fund a system of care—grounded in family wellness—for Medi-Cal eligible infants and toddlers. Whole-Family Wellness for Early Childhood: A New Model for Medi-Cal Delivery and Financing was developed by The California Children’s Trust and the First 5 Center for Children's Policy. The primary authors are Ken...

CYW has also expanded its model for healing families and communities facing childhood trauma.

The United States Department of Health & Human Services’ Children’s Bureau has developed the 2019 Prevention Resource Guide to help individuals and organizations in every community strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect. The Resource Guide focuses on protective factors that build on family strengths to foster healthy child and youth development. Download a free copy of the 2019 Prevention Resource Guide by utilizing the link below! ...

Learn more about CalAIM workgroups. Deadline to join: This Friday September 27!

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/experimentations/201909/how-adverse-childhood-experiences-cost-133-trillion-year

By Jeremy Loudenback, Chronicle of Social Change, September 19, 2019 Soon after being appointed California’s first-ever surgeon general, Nadine Burke Harris took off on a barnstorming tour across the state to talk about adverse childhood experiences and toxic stress, an issue she calls “the biggest public health crisis facing California today.” Before the pediatrician was appointed to her position in January by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), Harris had founded and led the Center for Youth Wellness,...

By Fix School Discipline, September 16, 2019 SB 419 will help keep students in school, increase student success, and increase high school graduation Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation to eliminate suspensions for minor misbehaviors and protect California students from discriminatory and harmful school climates. Under Senate Bill 419, which was introduced by Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), school districts will no longer be permitted to use defiance or disruption, as justification...

By Jill Tucker and Joaquin Palomino, San Francisco Chronicle, September 16, 2019 Even as San Francisco moves toward the unprecedented closure of its juvenile hall to end the jailing of young people, a new proposal by probation officials could significantly increase the number of youths held there. The idea to create a “detention-based therapeutic program” shocked many city officials, who criticized the plan as an unvetted move by juvenile probation officials to fill empty cells and save the...

By Celeste Fremon, Witness LA, September 17, 2019 On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom announced he would be replacing the top person at California Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), which is the state’s youth lock-up system that Newsom wants to see reformed. The division’s present leader, Director Chuck Supple, will be “stepping down effective immediately citing health reasons,” according to the statement released by the governor’s office. Director Supple was appointed as Director of DJJ in...