Tagged With "African American"
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What the Camp Fire Revealed [theatlantic.com]
Natural disasters are equalizing forces. Fires torch the homes of the rich and the poor alike. Hurricanes destroy cruise ships as well as decade-old cars. Earthquakes level cities, affecting everyone within. But natural disasters are also polarizing forces. Income and wealth shape who gets hit; how much individuals, insurers, nonprofits, and governments are willing and able to help; and who recovers, as well as to what extent. That dynamic is now evident in Paradise, California, after the...
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Whole People Series & Study Guide (www.pbs.org)
There's a fantastic five-part series, Whole People , done by PBS, " spotlighting the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) through personal and community stories. It explores the long-term costs to personal well-being and our society. While much work needs to be done, there are many innovative developments to prevent and treat ACES. We all play a role in becoming a whole people." It's amazing. The five topics covered are as follows: Childhood Trauma Healing Communities A New...
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Will state budget deal include expanded ban on 'willful defiance' suspensions? (edsource.org)
A proposal to expand California’s ban on “willful defiance and disruption” suspensions in early elementary grades — so it includes all grades K-12 — is expected to be a topic of discussion as state lawmakers and the governor’s office work to hammer out a final budget deal. This issue could be part of the budget talks for two reasons. First, Gov. Jerry Brown surprised youth and civil rights advocates working on the issue by including an extension of the current law , which only covers grades...
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Women’s Well-Being Index, interactive map [California Budget and Policy Center]
California Women's Well-Being Index In Partnership With the Women's Foundation of California Women's Well-Being Index: Overall When women thrive, their families and communities prosper . Yet despite decades of progress, women still face persistent disparities on a range of issues, from economic security to health to participation in political leadership. By viewing women’s well-being as encompassing various distinct yet interrelated components, policymakers, advocates, service providers, and...
Ask the Community
Help our public radio station with a story: How did separation from your parents as a child impact you?
KQED is the National Public Radio affiliate in San Francisco, CA. We’d like to hear from adults (18+) who were separated from their parents when they were children. Perhaps the separation was due to economic reasons, war and conflict, incarceration, foster care, or something else. How did that period of separation impact you in the long-run? How has it impacted your connection to others and how you build relationships? If you're a parent, how does it influence how you parent? We’re...
Calendar Event
11th Annual Fatherhood Solution Conference
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Sheltering in Place: ACEs-Informed Tips for Self-Care During a Pandemic
Millions of lives have been affected in unprecedented ways by the Coronavirus (COVID-19). We are all grappling with uncertainty—our daily routines interrupted, not knowing what is to come. For those of us who have Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), these times can be particularly distressing. At the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW), we know that childhood trauma can have a significant impact on an individual’s health and well-being – both physiologically and psychologically. Since the...
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Small wonders: Chico State professor offers lessons in tiny-house villages [NewsReview.com]
From TV shows such as Tiny House Hunters to books such as The Big Tiny, the notion of living a smaller-scale life has large-scale awareness. “People are overhoused,” said Mark Stemen, Chico State professor of geography and planning, noting how the average American takes the same amount of residential space that two generations ago sufficed for an entire family. The popular—and popularized—approach to downsizing is the tiny home that resembles an RV, with comforts of...
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Solano County launches its ACEs and resilience initiative inviting all to take action
Elizabeth Huntley recalls the day when her family’s life was turned upside down. “One day my mom woke up and she packed up all of our clothes, all five of us…and she took me and my younger sister who had the same father… down to my paternal grandmother’s house…and she left us there. She took my middle sister to a town near Birmingham, Ala., and left her there. She took my only brother and an older sister back to Huntsville and left them at a sister’s house. Then she went back to that housing...
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Solano County's (CA) ACEs initiative, a robust community effort, makes room for input from all
In a house called “Johanna’s House” on a tree-lined side street in Vallejo, Calif., four women are filling out the adverse childhood experiences (ACE) survey given to them by Maria Guevara, the founder of Vallejo Together, an organization that serves homeless residents in Vallejo. The house was named for Johanna Dilag, a homeless woman who was found dead along with her dog.
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Starting Now: A Policy Vision for Supporting the Healthy Growth and Development of Every California Baby [ChildrenNow.org]
In the first three years of a child’s life, foundational brain architecture is established, making children’s earliest experiences the most important. The creation of healthy brain architecture is dependent on good health, positive and nurturing relationships with adults, exposure to enriching learning opportunities and safe neighborhoods. Yet too often in California, children—especially children of color, foster youth, and those growing up in poverty—lack the components critical for a...
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State Dropping Ball in Dealing With Childhood Trauma, New Report Says [CaliforniaHealthline.org]
The lowest of 31 grades issued in the 2016 California Children's Report Card released on Wednesday was for dealing with the effects of childhood trauma. In Children Now's biennial assessment of the status of California kids, researchers gave the state a "D-" for how it deals with childhood trauma. The report contends that children who experience traumatic problems such as abuse, neglect and witnessing violence at home can suffer serious long-term consequences, including health...
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STATE HEALTH CARE STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS CHILDREN’S TRAUMA, EXPOSURE TO VIOLENCE AND ACEs
I found this document by Futures Without Violence to be a useful resource. From the forward: The health care system plays an important role both in identifying children who may be exposed to extreme adversity and violence, currently and in the past, and in providing the evidence-based interventions that can help children heal from trauma and prevent health conditions and other poor outcomes associated with trauma and ACEs. The health care system is also central in supporting the greatest...
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Strategies 2.0 Webinars for May and June
Cost: Free Location: Online GoToTraining Register: www.StrategiesCA.org TOPICS & DATES: PARENT & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT DYNAMICS: May 7, 2019 from 10:00-11:30 AM PST LEVERAGING ACES CONNECTION TO BRING ACES SCIENCE INTO YOUR COMMUNITY: May 21, 2019 from 1:00-2:30 pm PST EMPOWER LATIN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES TO PREVENT SEX TRAFFICKING: June 13, 2019 from 10:00-11:30 AM PST ENGAGING FATHERS IN PRACTICE: June 25, 2019 from 10:00-11:30 AM PST For past webinars and Learning Communities...
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Stress is making our children ill; here is what we can do about it [SFChronicle.com]
I will take my oath of office today and have the honor of representing Silicon Valley in the U.S. House of Representatives. My political campaign succeeded because of the help of hundreds of students. Their ambition and drive will allow them to flourish, but I am concerned about their well-being. These students were volunteering because of a genuine passion for giving back to the community. But a few also told me that the campaign work was a release, or as one student put it “a respite from...
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Rich, poor: California’s split personality (capitolweekly.net)
Two recent studies have confirmed it: In California, poverty exists in the most unlikely places. First, a Gallup-Healthways State of American Well-Being study lists five California regional areas as among the best places to be in the country. In the top 20 among the 189 places ranked, Santa Cruz-Watsonville is in third place nationally, San Luis Obispo — Paso Robles was seventh, Santa Barbara – Santa Maria was 12th, Santa Rosa was 17th and Salinas was 19th. The rankings are based on criteria...
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Rising from the Ashes: How Trauma-Informed Care Nurtures Healing in Rural America [The Rural Monitor]
By Jenn Lukens April 17, 2019 It was late July 2018 when the Mendocino Complex wildfire broke out in rural Lake County, California. It burned more than 450,000 acres and destroyed 280 structures before it was contained. Ana Santana managed to fill some storage bins with sentimental items – her kids’ blankets, pictures, and art projects – before fleeing her home. Santana is the facilitator of the Lake County Children’s Council and Program Director for Healthy Start Youth and Family Services ,...
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RYSE Center's Listening Campaign: Young people in Richmond, CA help adults understand trauma, violence, coping, and healing
"My experience with violence is very brutal...I grew up with violence as if it were my sibling." - LC participant (youth) "We know we can't run the city- it's too complex- but our experience and our voices should count, especially because we're the most effected ." - LC participant (youth) "Our city's problems are shared by us all; we are all part of the problem AND the solution. Listening is a key component to healing." - LC Share Out partici pant (adult) Three years ago, RYSE Center in...
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Sacramento County Early Learning Roadmap
https://www.scoe.net/News/Pages/2017/december/13early_learning_roadmap.aspx
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Sacramento Native American Health Center Presentation by Jeanine Gaines (Citizen Potawatomi Nation)
On June 11th, Jeanine Gaines from the Citizen Potawatomi Nation presented to the Resilient Sacramento ACEs Connection meeting discussing the intersection of ACEs and historical trauma of first nation people. My intention was to upload the information for everyone to review right away but I found myself so emotionally moved that it took a full moon meditation to be able to free my feelings and write about my experience during and after the presentation. I consider myself well read concerning...
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Sacramento's Plan To Keep Black Children Alive Is Working — And LA Is Watching (LAist]
BY Priska Neely, July 29, 2019 In Los Angeles County, black babies are three times more likely to die before their first birthday than white babies. Dire racial disparities in infant mortality have persisted for decades, and local officials have said turning those statistics around is a public health priority . A robust, related initiative in Sacramento is showing promising results — and there are lessons L.A. can learn from their efforts. L.A.'s action plan, formed in 2018, aims to close...
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Sacramento USD Board President Jessie Ryan responds to news of SCUSD's high suspension rates for African American children
Sacramento City Unified School District has made headlines as one of the nation's most discriminatory in disciplining African American students. Board President Jessie Ryan responded in an Op-Ed, writing movingly from her experience both as a mom and as a leader of this school district.
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San Diego State Revives Aztec Language Course as Mascot Debate Continues (ww2.kqed.org)
San Diego State is reviving a course on the indigenous Aztec language, Nahuatl, next semester. The announcement comes as faculty and students revive a decade-long debate on campus about the appropriation of the Aztecs as a mascot. “This is a reaction to respect, to notions of respect,” said Center for Latin American Studies Director Ramona Pérez. “It’s a reaction to doing things right.” She said the university had offered a course on the language in the early 2000s, when concerns about the...
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Save the Date! Building Human Resilience for Climate Change in California Conference January 24-25, 2018
Wednesday-Thursday, January 24-25, 2018 The California Endowment's Oakland Conference Center Registration Opens July 1, 2017 Flyer attached Why Attend This Conference? Trauma and toxic stress affect many people today in the California. The acute disasters and chronic stresses generated by climate change can aggravate many of these ongoing adversities, and create altogether new ones as well. The result can be rising mental health problems including severe anxiety, depression, PTSD, and...
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School meals: a reflection of growing poverty in LA (calmatters.org)
The numbers of Los Angeles children who need the meals have been rising sharply in recent years. In 2015-2016, 72.4% or 405,338 LAUSD students qualified for the free or reduced price meals, according to a 2017 Food Research Action Center report. “We have the highest participation of students who are served breakfast in the classroom,” said Monica Garcia, a member of the LAUSD School Board. “Also, most of our schools (75%) are in the Community Eligibility Program, where all students get all...
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Secondary Traumatic Stress for Educators: Understanding and Mitigating the Effects [KQED]
By Jessica Lander Roughly half of American school children have experienced at least some form of trauma — from neglect, to abuse, to violence. In response, educators often find themselves having to take on the role of counselors, supporting the emotional healing of their students, not just their academic growth. With this evolving role comes an increasing need to understand and address the ways in which student trauma affects our education professionals. In a growing number of professions,...
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Suicide: Questions and Where to Ask Them [mendocinobeacon.com]
By Mary Benjamin, The Mendocino Beacon, January 2, 2019 Editor’s note: Last week, this community suffered a tragedy in which a young person’s life ended. The particular event is too painful for clumsy public treatment, and rightfully outside the norms of American media coverage. But suicide is a terrible and growing problem, especially in rural America, and we relay these resources to anyone who has questions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that rural counties...
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Summer Reading (and Listening) List for Sidelined Students [aafp.org]
By Margaret Miller, American Academy of Family Physicians, May 14, 2020 I'm sitting on my back porch in sunny South Carolina, where I recently experienced virtual graduation from my medical school in Tennessee, and I'm having a hard time writing this blog post. There are moving boxes to be unpacked in the kitchen, our mattress is lying on the bedroom floor, and the only place we have to sit in the living room is a giant recliner from Big Lots that we're forced to share until our couch...
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Suspension, expulsion rates fall sharply in California, but racial and ethnic disparities remain [edsource.org]
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...
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The California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review [ CMQCC, CDPH, MCAH, PHI]
New reports, recently released: The California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review (CA-PAMR) is a statewide, in-depth examination of deaths while pregnant or within one year after end of pregnancy, which aims to identify the cause and timing of death, factors that contributed to the death, and improvement opportunities in maternity care and support, with the ultimate goal to reduce preventable deaths and associated health disparities. CA-PAMR is a collaborative effort between the Maternal,...
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The Campaign to Heal Childhood Trauma is coming!
Maybe you have heard about this initiative on one of the social networks or you followed the tour last year. If not, The Campaign to Heal Childhood Trauma is a grassroots partnership between Calo Programs and three leading, national attachment, trauma and adoption nonprofits; The Attachment and Trauma Network (ATN), The American Adoption Congress (AAC) and Association for Training on Trauma and Attachment in Children (ATTACh). The purpose of this collaboration is to increase compassion and...
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The Economics of Child Abuse: A Study of California
While the impact of maltreatment on a child and their family is devastating, child maltreatment also has serious effects far beyond those for the victim. Maltreatment results in ongoing costs to taxpayers, institutions, businesses, and society at large. Local communities bear the brunt of these costs in the form of medical, educational, and judicial costs, though more tragic signs are seen in homelessness, addiction, and teen pregnancy. To create a concrete understanding of the widespread...
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The Gaslighting of America Has Begun (Forge)
https://forge.medium.com/the-gaslighting-has-begun-resist-aac3658813d4
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The Lessons of California for Juvenile Justice Reform [JJIE.org]
Those who equate juvenile justice reform with better institutions should consider the California lesson. For the past 13 years, the state’s youth correctional system operated under court monitoring due to its failure to provide rehabilitative services or a safe environment. The “ Farrell lawsuit ,” brought by the Prison Law Office , cited a list of institutional abuses that have plagued the American juvenile justice system since the 19th century. Rather than places of rehabilitation,...
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The Mental Health Context of California's new Stephon Clark's Law on Police Use of Force
With the passage of Stephon Clark's law, California has taken steps to address the mental and physical health risk posed by police violence.
Calendar Event
Preparing California for Census 2020
Calendar Event
Strategies 2.0 Webinar
Calendar Event
Tech and Teen Mental Health
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Thinking About Racial Disparities in COVID-19 Impacts Through a Science-Informed, Early Childhood Lens [developingchild.harvard.edu]
By Jack P. Shonkoff and David R. Williams, Center on the Developing Child, April 27, 2020 The COVID-19 virus is ruthlessly contagious and, at the same time, highly selective. Its capacity to infect is universal, but the consequences of becoming infected are not. While there are exceptions, children are less likely to show symptoms, older adults and those with pre-existing medical conditions are the most susceptible, and communities of color in the United States are experiencing dramatically...
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Toxic Childhoods [politco.com]
Often times, a pediatrician or medical professional well-versed in the effects of ACEs or toxic stress can be the initial bridge to services, support, and building resilience for children, youth and families served by child welfare. It's exciting and encouraging to read about more and more pediatricians grounding their medical practice within ACEs framework. A toddler came into my examination room recently at Bayview Child Health Center in Bayview Hunters Point, an underserved, largely...
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Trauma in childhood linked to drug use in adolescence [EurekAlert.org]
Latest research from a national sample of almost 10,000 U.S. adolescents found psychological trauma, especially abuse and domestic violence before age 11, can increase the likelihood of experimentation with drugs in adolescence, independent of a history of mental illness. Results of the study conducted at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health are published online in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. This is the first study to document...
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Trauma-Informed Care as a Universal Precaution: Beyond the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire [jamanetwork.com]
By Nicole Racine, Teresa Killam, and Sheri Madigan, JAMA Pediatrics, November 4, 2019 Experiences of childhood adversity are common, with more than 50% of adults reporting having experienced at least 1 adversity as children and more than 6% exposed to 4 or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). There is currently a controversial debate in the medical field as to whether the ACEs questionnaire, which asks about abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction before age 18 years, should be...
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Trauma-informed Care: It Takes More Than a Clipboard and a Questionnaire
California is about to launch an ambitious campaign to train tens of thousands of Medi-Cal providers to screen children and adults up to age 65 for trauma, starting on January 1, 2020. It is well-established that the early identification of trauma and providing the appropriate treatment are critical tools for reducing long-term health care costs for both children and adults. Research has shown that individuals who experienced a high number of traumatic childhood events are likely to die...
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Trauma-informed groups rev up to address race, inclusion
Eighteen-year-old Kia Hanson has always enjoyed her time as a youth leader at the East Oakland Youth Development Center (EOYDC). She’s worked mostly with five- and six-year-olds since she began in 2016. Recently, she tapped into new skills, especially if the kids were having a meltdown. Kia Hanson “If they’re off, we ask them, ‘What’s wrong?’ ‘Do you want to talk about anything?’,” she explains. “Basically asking before assuming they’re mad at the world for no reason.” What made the...