Tagged With "full-time jobs"
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37th Annual Child Abuse Prevention Symposium Recap
"Speak Out! Confronting the Culture of Child Sexual Abuse and Secrecy" was the theme of Santa Clara County's 37th Annual Child Abuse Prevention Symposium which featured a Keynote conversation with Olympic Gold Medal winning gymnast and current UCLA Assistant Gymnastics Coach Jordyn Wieber. Jordyn, and other athletes and survivors of former USA Gymnastics team doctor and serial child sex abuser Larry Nassar, earlier spoke to a U.S. Senate Subcommittee about a “culture of silence” more...
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5 myths making it hard for veterans to land the right job -- and what you can do [
What if you spent years in a job gaining valuable experience and honing useful skills, yet every interview or job lead is a dead end? That's the unfortunate reality for many of today's veterans in Orange County. According to a report by the University of Southern California School of Social Work, more than 60 percent of Orange County veterans believe employers don't understand or value their skills, almost 30 percent of post-9/11 vets are unemployed, and three-quarters earn below the...
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A Snapshot of California's Working Poor [ppic.org]
By Sarah Bohn, Caroline Danielson, Tess Thorman, and Vicki Hsieh, Public Policy Institute of California, October 2019 Employment does not eliminate poverty. Struggling workers in California can face many barriers to exiting poverty, including low wages, a high cost of living, and a changing job market. Minimum wage increases may be helping some of the working poor, but exiting poverty is complex. Additional policy responses are critical. Employment hours Policies that promote more...
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A South LA high school's journey back from the brink (edsource.org)
Claudia Rojas had a regular routine she followed most days during the 2012-13 school year, the year she took a job as one of three principals at the newly opened Augustus F. Hawkins High School in South Los Angeles. She would get up in the morning, have breakfast and then cry her way to work. Hawkins, as it’s known, is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Pilot School program , which was established in 2007 to relieve overcrowding at Belmont High School in central L.A. The...
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Attorney General Becerra Announces Final Regulations to Implement Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) (oag.ca.gov)
SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today announced that the regulations drafted by the California Department of Justice (DOJ) for the collection of data pertaining to law enforcement stops under Assembly Bill 953 (AB 953), the Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) of 2015, are now final. Beginning July 1, 2018, law enforcement agencies, starting with the nine largest agencies, will begin collecting stop data and reporting the information to the DOJ. “Public safety is...
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AVA Regional Academies: Building Trauma-Informed, Resilient, and Healthy Communities
Last week, I was fortunate to be a part of a small group of professionals in San Diego to attend the Academy on Violence and Abuse preconference session for the 30 th Annual San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment. The conference draws over 1,800 professionals in the maltreatment field from around the world each year. The session, titled: Building Trauma Informed, Resilience, and Healthy Communities: Regional, National, and Global Perspectives , had an ambitious...
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Avoiding The ER: Paramedics Link Patients To Local Mental Health Treatment [CA Healthline and USA Today]
For Kelly Kjelstrom, plugging the gaps in mental health care can mean something as simple as a late-night taco and a friendly chat with a patient. Kjelstrom, 45, is a community paramedic in Modesto, California. Part of his job is to help psychiatric patients avoid the emergency room, where they can get “boarded” for days, until they are released or a bed opens up at an inpatient facility. When a 911 call involves a potential mental health crisis, specially trained paramedics like Kjelstrom...
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ACEs Science Champions Series: Because of Andres Perez, 10,000+ Latinx parents in Northern California embrace trauma-informed parenting
Andres Perez immigrated to San Jose, Calif., from Mexico in 1990. He was 24 years old, undocumented, knew little English, lacked job skills, and had a pregnant wife to support. He hit the ground running by completing an ESL program in San Jose City College, and, while working days at any job he could find, at night he earned an associate of science degree with specialization in electronics and computers in 2002. Fortunately for thousands of Latinx parents and their children, he never worked...
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Black People Disproportionately Homeless in California [calmatters.org]
By Kate Cimini, Cal Matters, October 5, 2019 Just a few years ago, Yolanda Harraway was living in a tent on the streets of Chinatown in Salinas, an agricultural hub struggling with a growing homeless community. Harraway’s slide into homelessness began when her son was taken from her custody by Child Protective Services. She struggled with addiction and had several felonies on her record, which cut her off from various state and government-funded housing options. She also had a hard time...
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Board of State and Community Corrections Awards $96m In Prop 47 Grants
SACRAMENTO (June 13, 2019) – The Board of State and Community Corrections today approved grant awards from a voter initiative that reduces from felonies to misdemeanors certain low-level crimes and directs state savings to programs primarily focused on mental health and substance-use disorder treatment. It is the second round of Proposition 47 funding approved by the Board, to which voters allocated the bulk of the state savings for rehabilitative grants targeting Prop 47-impacted...
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Building Bridges to Resilience in Santa Barbara County
The full moon was setting and the sun was rising as organizers from KIDS Network, Children & Family Resource Services, Casa Pacifica, and the Department of Behavioral Wellness began setting up the 2019 BRIDGES TO RESILIENCE Conference on October 14 th at the beautiful Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. The stately halls and ballrooms were a flurry of activity as staff prepared to receive over 350 community members who work with children, youth and families in Santa Barbara County.
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Building Community Health
Dr Sandy Escobar is transforming healthcare in East Palo Alto, one family at a time.
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Building Resilience Through Understanding Substance Use Disorders and Their Impacts on Others
The reach of substance use disorders in America is far more significant than people think. 21+ million Americans struggle with substance use disorders. Their substance use and addiction-related behaviors impact 100 million more Americans. These are the moms, dads, husbands, wives, children, brothers, sisters, grandchildren.... Together, these two groups represents more than one-third of the American population!
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Building Trust Cuts Violence. Cash Also Helps. [NYTimes.com]
DeVone Boggan could teach a class on the art of making a statement. In 2010, he invited a group of the most dangerous gun offenders in Richmond, a Bay Area city of about 100,000 residents, to a conference room at City Hall. At each seat was a name card starting with “Mr.” and an information folder labeled “Operation Peacemaker.” Wearing a suit and his signature fedora, Boggan began the meeting by apologizing on behalf of the city for not reaching out to the men sooner. Peace in Richmond, he...
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ACEs Connection Network seeks qualified applicants for SF Bay Area Regional Facilitator position
ACEs Connection Network is looking for a qualified person to work with communities, organizations and individuals in the San Francisco Bay Area to prevent, address and heal the trauma of ACEs and build resilience. This position will focus on working with existing efforts, avoiding duplication and re-enforcing cooperative, coordinated efforts to channel the diversity and richness of ACEs science and trauma work in the Bay Area. For the job posting and application instructions, see ACEs...
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ACEs screening in CA — a Q and A with Dr. Dayna Long
Last year, the California Department of Health Care Services rolled out its plans for universal screening for trauma among its pediatric and adult Medicaid population. Beginning January 1, 2020, California physicians were able to receive an incentive payment of $29 for each pediatric patient screened for ACEs using the PEARLs ( Pediatrics Adverse Childhood and Resilience Study) tool. Dr. Dayna Long talked with ACEs Connection staff reporter Laurie Udesky about ACEs science, what led to the...
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Affordable Housing, Healthcare for All Among Atkins Bills Advancing in Legislature (eastcountymagazine.org)
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday passed nine bills authored by Sen. Toni Atkins, including SB 2 – the Building Homes and Jobs Act – which would create a permanent source of funding for affordable housing. Also advancing out of the Appropriations Committee were SB 179 – the Gender Recognition Act – which would make it easier for transgender, nonbinary and intersex Californians to obtain state-issued identity documents that reflect who they truly are, and SB 562 – the Healthy...
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Children’s mental health a cause for concern in report on California youth policies
According to the 2020 California Children’s Report Card California from Children Now, California is doing a better job serving children in some areas like health insurance, discipline, and absenteeism. However, CA received an 'F' grade for its school mental health services. https://edsource.org/2020/childrens-mental-health-a-cause-for-concern-in-report-on-california-youth-policies/623070?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
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As Newsom rethinks juvenile justice, California reconsiders prison for kids (calmatters.org)
Though it’s not on the parchment, Moreno, 21, earned his Johanna Boss High School diploma over the past two years at a state prison for juveniles in Stockton. And as one of fewer than 800 remaining youths in the custody of the soon-to-be-shuttered juvenile division of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, he said, that accomplishment—behind razor wire—was more than just a step toward a future job or a rite of passage. “Being the first one [in the family] to graduate,”...
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As schools adopt social-emotional programs, a new guide offers help [EdSource.org]
Parents, teachers and students streamed into the library of Palo Alto’s Gunn High School on a warm evening this spring to hear about a new plan , coming this fall, to help high school students develop empathy and coping skills through “social and emotional learning.” For starters, the audience wanted the answer to a question that has dogged the jargon phrase for years: What is social and emotional learning and why should schools get involved in it? The term is bedeviled by abstractions, but...
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Assistance dog trained to help witnesses, victims in Stanislaus County court [Modesto Bee]
The woman, a victim of an assault, sat in the courtrooms witness chair and started to talk. As she told a judge what happened and how it affected her giving whats called a victim impact statement the woman started...
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Cal WORKs Training Academy: Compassion Fatigue
Front-line and case workers for the TANF program (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) are at high risk for compassion fatigue. They hear approximately 30 stories of trauma, abuse and hardship each day. Complaints from workers vary from “How many stories of torture will have to I hear.” “It feels like I am spitting at a forest fire.” “After 12 years in the field, I am now on blood pressure medication.” This year the Cal WORKs Training Academy featured a workshop on compassion fatigue...
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California ACR 140: Positive Parenting Awareness Month, Jan 2020
Child advocates across the State of California are working on the passage of Assembly Concurrent Resolution 140 (ACR 140) authored by Assembly Member Mark Stone (D-Monterey Bay). The initiative seeks to designate January 2020 as Positive Parenting Awareness Month across the state and build upon the county-level proclamations that have spread from Santa Cruz County where it was conceived and launched 8 years ago. Positive parenting is a known remedy for the public health problem of child...
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California campuses confront a growing challenge: homeless students [calmatters.org]
The dream was always the same, Arthur Chavez says. He was following a bumblebee through a forest, stumbling over puddles and branches. When he caught the bee, he’d find himself onstage, wearing a suit, in front of an applauding crowd. After the third time, Chavez decided the dream was a sign. He quit his job at a Fullerton gas station and enrolled in community college, on his way to a bachelor’s degree. His first semester as a transfer student at Sacramento State, he started participating in...
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California Community Reinvestment Grants Program [business.ca.gov]
The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) is pleased to announce the release of the California Community Reinvestment Grants (CalCRG) program Draft Grant Solicitation for public review and comment. The Draft Grant Solicitation consists of two sections: 1. The Guidance and Overview section provides an overview of the program, application requirements, application evaluation, and program administration. 2. The Scoring Criteria section provides an outline of the...
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California judiciary panel delays evictions, foreclosures until summer due to COVID-19 [fresnobee.com]
By Danielle Bergstrom, The Fresno Bee, April 7, 2020 On Monday the California Judicial Council approved emergency orders essentially halting most evictions and foreclosures through the summer. The order is a welcome respite for many renters and homeowners struggling to pay their rent and mortgage this month due to job losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is no rent forgiveness on the table — and renters are urged to learn their rights in these uncertain times. [ Please...
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Updated Community Health Assessment now available [Humboldtgov.org]
The Community Health Assessment (CHA), a comprehensive overview of the health of the Humboldt County community, was presented at the Board of Supervisors meeting this afternoon. The Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) Public Health report looks at traditional public health measures of illness, mortality, nutrition and physical activity in the community. The CHA also includes data about income, housing status, community safety and access to care, as underlying...
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Volunteer 'Cuddlers' Offer Comfort to Newborn Babies at Valley Children's Hospital [yourcentralvalley.com]
By Kristen Mitchell, YourCentralValley.com, September 15, 2019 Not every newborn gets to go home from the hospital right away. Those needing extra care at Valley Children’s Hospital also get extra love from cuddlers through a volunteer program. Their job is to hold and cuddle with newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit when their parents can’t be there. One of the roughly 70 cuddlers is Donna Garcia. She snuggles with babies twice a week. [ Please click here to read more .]
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Walk With Us: Building Community Power and Connection for Health Equity [rwjf.org]
By Aditi Vaidya, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, August 20, 2019 While many think of the Bay Area of California as the center of big tech and wealth, my memories of Oakland take me back to its Port truck drivers. Working an average of 11 hours a day, waiting in long lines at the Port of Oakland to pick up their loads, truck drivers in the Bay Area were isolated—living in the rigs they decorated with photos of their children and families. You can guess all of the reasons this is...
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We Have a Vision for Health Equity in California [calhealthreport.org]
California has made great strides in improving our health care system, and now more than 91 percent of our residents have health insurance. However, coverage does not guarantee health and significant racial inequities persist. For example, in California, Latinos and African Americans have twice the prevalence of type-2 diabetes and are twice as likely to die from the disease. The prevalence of asthma among American Indians and Alaska Natives is three times greater than the state average and...
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We're Hiring a Southern CA Community Facilitator
Join the ACEs Connection Team. We are interested in someone that lives in Southern CA, works with folks impacted by ACEs, and is fluent in Spanish. Link here to read the Job Description and apply https://www.tsne.org/regional-community-facilitator-aces-connection
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Webinar covered how to build trauma-informed connections via telehealth
When Dr. Erika Roshanravan, a family physician with CommuniCare in Woodland, CA, thinks back to her patient visits prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, one way she drew their deep-seated concerns was to ask the reason for the visit and to interject throughout, “Is there anything else?” And it’s asking that question during phone and video visits that has also helped her understand the true reason for her patients’ needs now, she told people who attended an ACEs Aware webinar on April 29 entitled:...
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Webinar recording available: Making Meaningful Change—Addressing ACEs through Public Policy
On February 18, 2020, nationally recognized experts discussed policy and advocacy strategies on local, state, and national levels using evidence from studies they have conducted with legislators and the general public. Speakers shared advocacy and messaging "how to’s" including communicating the effects of structural racism as an ACE, fostering equity as an essential component of resilience, and leveraging the power of community-based ACE, trauma and resilience networks to inform policy.
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Webinar Slides and Recording: Transformational Resilience for Climate Change Traumas and Toxic Stresses with Bob Doppelt
Recorded live October 28, 2019. Find the slides attached below. The webinar recording: You will learn: how climate change creates personal, family, and community traumas and toxic stresses; how those traumatic stressors trigger feedbacks that expand and aggravate ACEs and many other person, social, community, and societal maladies; why current approaches are woefully inadequate to address what is already occurring and rapidly steaming toward us and why prevention is the only realistic...
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Welltopia: A new online resource for Californians
Welltopia , a new website launched today by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) and the UC Davis Institute for Population Health Improvement (IPHI), offers a wide range of essential resources to help Californians,...
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What Will It Be Like When the Lockdown Lifts? [psychologytoday.com]
By Bryan E. Robinson, Psychology Today, April 15, 2020 Although we don’t know exactly when, at some point in the future self-isolation will end, and many of us will return to offices, restaurants, and houses of worship. But what will that look like? One thing for sure, we will never return to normal; we will return to “a new normal.” And each of us will have repair work to do as we re-enter the world of physical proximity to coworkers and reconnecting with friends, neighbors, and loved ones.
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Will Paradise be Rebuilt Without its Largest Low-Income Housing Complex [calmatters.org]
By Matt Levin, Cal Matters, November 8, 2019 Nancy Rich wants to go back home. It’s not just the longer commute that’s wearing on her. Rich, 65, drives an hour each way from her one bedroom apartment in Marysville to her job in the mailroom at the Chico Enterprise-Record newspaper. She works a full swing shift, meaning she doesn’t get home until about 3 a.m. It’s not just the annoying bathroom leak, which she has to keep stuffed with bath towels, or the rumors of car break-ins and burglaries...
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Wisconsin state agencies end year one of trauma-informed learning community; goal is to be first trauma-informed state
Here in California, many people think that it’s only liberal Democrats who have a corner on championing the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and putting it into practice. That might be because people who use ACEs science don’t expel or suspend students, even if they’re throwing chairs and hurling expletives at the teacher. They ask "What happened to you?" rather than "What's wrong with you?" as a frame when they create juvenile detention centers where kids don’t fight, reduce...
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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...
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You Can't Be Trauma-Informed If You Can't See the Trauma
Trauma-informed care should be like universal precautions – in the same way you wouldn’t clean up a blood spill without wearing gloves, you should always assume that someone has experienced trauma and treat them accordingly. Only it doesn’t happen that way. Once our indignation or any other parts of our wounded selves come into play, that usually goes out of the window unless you have been conditioned to wear a trauma-informed lens. And even then, there will be times we fail. Let me give you...
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Youth court banishes blame; leads with ACEs science
YMCA Marin County Youth Court in San Rafael, California In her opening statement, 17-year-old youth advocate Eva advises jurors how to proceed and summarizes her “client’s” good qualities. “As you will see, Julian is genuine, well-spoken and friendly. I recommend asking him about his friends and family, his future plans and his activities outside of school.” (First names only of all minors are used to protect their privacy.) Welcome to the YMCA Marin County (CA) Youth Court, one of 1,400...
Ask the Community
Anyone using MHSA or other funds in innovative ways to address ACEs or trauma?
Question: Please share examples of innovative uses of existing funding to address ACEs and trauma. For example, Mental Health Services Act has a funding category called "Innovative Projects" which might be a way to fund ACEs and trauma related efforts. Are you aware of any CA communities that have found ways to utilize MHSA or other funds in unexpected ways - that have the potential of addressing trauma and ACEs? See below and attached for more background re MHSA. Background: The CA...
Ask the Community
New Program Director Job, LCSW for Sexually Exploited Youth Residential Prog
Program Director, Commercially Sexually Exploited Youth, Hayward Click here for more information: Residential Program Director LCSW required This is a unique opportunity to get involved with the launch of a brand new, well-funded program and influence program design from its outset. Further the program allows for rich wrap-around services for clients. The Residential Program Director provides clinical care, supervision and program leadership to transition age youth in need of intensive out...
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SF Police Commission head Suzy Loftus resigns for sheriff’s job [SFGate.com]
San Francisco Police Commission President Suzy Loftus resigned Tuesday, leaving the oversight board without a powerful voice amid a sustained push for reforms in the police force. Loftus is joining the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department as assistant chief legal counsel for the law and policy team, and Sheriff Vicki Hennessy determined the role could create conflicts of interest with the duties of a police commissioner. Wednesday will be Loftus’ final meeting after almost five years on the...
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Simulation Participants Learn the High Cost of Being Low Income [mercurynews.com]
By Anne Gelhaus, Bay Area News Group, November 4, 2019 Jack Jolly, 25, almost lost his job for being late, had his pay withheld and got evicted, all with in the space of a month—or an hour, depending on your perspective. Jack was the role played by Kyle (participants didn’t give last names) in a Nov. 2 poverty simulation staged by West Valley Community Services and the city of Cupertino, in partnership with Step Up Silicon Valley. Kyle was one of about 30 participants who each adopted the...
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Single state agency needed to coordinate California's 'patchwork' of early childhood education programs, new report urges (edsource.org)
California will continue to lag behind other states in providing enough child care slots and diverse preschool options for all its nearly 2.5 million children under the age of 5 until it develops a more unified system that provides affordable care and makes it easier for families to enroll. That is a key recommendation in a recent report published by the Learning Policy Institute . Researchers say California needs to have one state-level agency that will help coordinate the state’s...
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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 Blocks: A 3-Part Series on California's Childhood Poverty
In a new 3 part series Starting Blocks, KQED examines the ways public policy often fails California’s youngest residents and their families, especially those living at or below the poverty line. They look at traditional issues like paid parental leave, subsidized child care and maternal health, but also issues like housing, criminal justice, immigration policy and even natural disasters to see how children are adversely affected, often in ways that are unexpected or unintended. Parents in...
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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 grant will allow for free, low-cost workforce training (thecamarilloacorn.com)
In a first for the Ventura Community College District, a state grant will make the district’s workforce training program free or nearly free to local companies. What’s more, funding for the program, which trains employees to upgrade their job skills, could keep flowing for years to come, officials said. “We’re really excited,” said Holly Correa , director of grants for the college district. “This is a great way to up-level the skills of workers in our county, provide a service to the...