Tagged With "End of Year"
Blog Post
2018 "4CA" California Policymaker ACEs Education Day
The second annual 4CA Policymaker Education Day on May 22, brought together 75 community members across California to visit 81 legislators or their staff members and educate them about ACEs, trauma and resilience.
Blog Post
2018 Community Stories from across the state
Thank you everyone for your help to create community stories highlighting the efforts happening to raise awareness about ACEs from across the state for 4CA’s 2018 Policymaker Education Day ! Attached find a 2018 version of the community stories detailing information about community ACEs initiatives from across the state. Please download and share. And see HERE for a list of CA ACEs Connection communities from across the state.
Blog Post
2018 Humboldt County Community Health Assessment
If a health outcome is seen to a greater or lesser extent between groups of people, there is a disparity. Each year in Humboldt County hundreds of individuals die unnecessarily from preventable diseases and conditions. Tackling this issue requires a broad public health perspective, addressing all of the determinants of health: access to care, racism (and other “isms”), personal behavior, social and physical environments, policies and education. Humboldt County as a whole suffers a health...
Blog Post
2018 Policymaker Education Day on Childhood Adversity - REGISTER NOW!
The California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity (4CA) invites you to participate in our 2018 Policymaker Education Day on Childhood Adversity. Last year, we had over 100 4CA representatives who participated in the day-long event. Policymaker Education Day is an opportunity to come together as advocates to educate policymakers about childhood adversity, the long-term consequences of childhood adversity on communities, and garner support for 4CA endorsed legislation. Please register...
Blog Post
2019 Economics of Child Abuse in Mendocino County
Mendocino recently shared 2019 data related to the economic impacts of child abuse. The attached documents are in a printable format.
Blog Post
2019 Rural Justice Summit
Registration for the 2019 Rural Justice Summit is now open. This year's theme is "Creating a Road Map for Change." The goal of the Rural Justice Summit is to open channels of communication between researchers and community members -- including advocates and organizers -- about historic and current struggles with access to resources in the Central Valley. The first day will feature sessions focused on strategic conversations around a set of key rural issues such as farmer justice, youth...
Blog Post
$3 billion state program hopes to improve healthcare for the poor in 18 counties, including O.C. (ocregister.com)
Orange County hopes to get homeless residents into housing – and help them stay there. Riverside County plans to connect former inmates with health clinics and social services. Placer County is opening a respite center where homeless patients can go after they leave the hospital. Those are just some of the pilot projects in a $3 billion experimental effort officials hope will improve the health of California’s most vulnerable populations. The effort is a recognition that improving people’s...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
4CA 2019 Year in Review - CA children’s state policy advances.
On behalf of the CA Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity (4CA) backbone team (Center for Youth Wellness, Children Now and ACEs Connection), we want to give a hearty thank you to the advocates and champions across the state for advancing child-friendly policy and legislation in California in 2019. Here are some examples of what was accomplished this year: More than 730 organizations signed on to the Family Urgent Response System (FURS) budget letter in support of a 24/7 statewide hotline...
Blog Post
4CA Policymaker Education Day is Back!
We're back!! Join us for Policymaker Education Day 2019 on MAY 1!
Blog Post
5 Things to Know as California Starts Screening Children for Toxic Stress [californiahealthline.org]
By Barbara Feder Ostrov, California Healthline, January 7, 2020 Starting this year, routine pediatric visits for millions of California children could involve questions about touchy family topics, such as divorce, unstable housing or a parent who struggles with alcoholism. California now will pay doctors to screen patients for traumatic events known as adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, if the patient is covered by Medi-Cal — the state’s version of Medicaid for low-income families. The...
Blog Post
56 Children, Families Celebrate Adoption in Riverside County Superior Court [desertsun.com]
By Risa Johnson, Palm Springs Desert Sun, November 2, 2019 Forty families and 56 children celebrated adoptions at the 11th annual Adoption Finalization Day Saturday at the Riverside Historic Courthouse. Judith Clark, Riverside Superior Court juvenile presiding judge, said in a news release that the court was honored to participate in an event that "shows the strong commitment of community members, and witnesses the joy experienced by joining parents and children together as a new family.”...
Blog Post
6th Annual Merced County Parent Institute - Dream Big Conference
Accomplishments start with dreams, and dreams start with inspiration. When it comes to inspiring children to dream big, it all starts with parents. That was the message heard by more than 500 people who attended the sixth annual Merced County Parent Institute Conference, a turnout that helped make Saturday’s event the most successful yet in its six-year history. The free event, organized by the Merced County Office of Education, the Merced Union High School District and the state Child Care...
Blog Post
8th Annual Foster Care Youth Conference- 3/21
Registration is now open for the 8th Annual Foster Care Youth Conference! The conference is open to all foster care and transitional aged youth (ages 14-24) in Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano or Yolo counties. The conference will provide approximately 150 foster care/kinship and transitioning youth with an opportunity to participate in workshops covering resumes and interviewing, communication, trade demos, hair and barbering, fashion, art and sports. Eligible youth will receive a stipend for...
Blog Post
A 2014/2015 Visionary of the Year nominee continues to reshape the conversation about childhood [SFGate.com]
Since her nomination for the Visionary of the Year award in 2015, pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris has remained steadfast in her goal to broaden the conversation about the link between childhood trauma and health. In a world where many still believe mental and behavioral health is disconnected from physical health, Burke-Harris’ continues to make a compelling case for how the two are synchronous. “The definition of trauma is changing. Trauma used to be mental and behavioral...
Blog Post
A Black Immigrant Woman Is Now the Most Powerful Health Official in California [vice.com]
By Richard Morgan, Vice, July 18, 2019. It was an early summer morning at the San Ysidro Health Center, situated on the Mexican border. A flu outbreak gripped a nearby ICE detention center, where a larger humanitarian crisis continued to unfold, threatening the future of hundreds of children. In a small conference room, brimming with 20 or so of the San Diego area’s most diverse academic and activist minds, Nadine Burke Harris sat at the head of the table. The 43-year-old pediatrician from...
Blog Post
A community planned to boost child care. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill to do it [latimes.com]
By John Myers, Los Angeles Times, July 19, 2019. SACRAMENTO — Some of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s staunchest supporters say they are baffled by his decision to block two Bay Area cities from raising local taxes — money that, in one community, would be used to boost child-care services for working-class families. The governor’s decision late last week to veto legislation on the issue may not be the final word for either city, but it caught local leaders off guard on an effort that had been decidedly...
Blog Post
A fast, easy way for pediatricians to screen kids for ACEs...and other health issues
Last November, the California Department of Managed Care gave its stamp of approval to a new version of Whole Child Assessment 2.0 , a tool that screens for children’s adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). It was recommended as part of recently passed legislation calling for trauma screening for children in California. But the Whole Child Assessment 2.0 (WCA) does more. It also queries patients about other critical safety and health issues, including whether they have enough to eat, whether...
Blog Post
A good compromise will result in California becoming a 'sanctuary state' [LA Times Capitol Journal]
California is about to become a so-called sanctuary state. What does that mean? It means California will refuse to help federal agents deport people who came here illegally but are staying out of trouble and contributing positively to the state. But it means ratting out the bad guys to the feds — the convicted robbers, killers, drug traders and other assorted criminals. “If you’re a violent felon, we don’t want you in this country,” says state Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles).
Blog Post
A Haven From Trauma’s Cruel Grip [NYTimes.com]
San Francisco — The sun was preternaturally bright the day Clare Senchyna’s 26 year-old son Camilo, her only child, was shot and killed in a random act of violence in San Francisco. On that morning two years ago, Ms. Senchyna drew the orange curtains in her bedroom, pulled up her blankets and stayed in bed for much of the next several months. It seemed to her an appropriate response to the end of the world. Her son, an emergency medical technician, had been out celebrating the completion of...
Blog Post
A National Agenda to Address Adverse Childhood Experiences
What are ACEs and Why Do They Matter? In 2016 1 , nearly half of U.S. children – 34 million kids – had at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) and more than 20 percent experienced two or more. The new brain sciences and science of human development explain how ACEs can have devastating, long-lasting effects on children’s health and wellbeing. These events resonate well beyond the individual child to have far-reaching consequences for families, neighborhoods, and communities. ACEs...
Blog Post
A New Program Helps Foster Kids in Orange County Avoid Homelessness when They Age Out of Public Care [ocregister.com]
By Theresa Walker, The Orange County Register, December 20, 2019 For three years after he aged out of foster care, at age 18, Christian was homeless. During that time, he was hit by a car and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He was in a coma for six months and his speech and memory were affected. Over most of the last year he’s lived at The Link, a homeless shelter in Santa Ana. This week, Christian, now 22, moved into his own one-bedroom apartment, in Tustin. That change is the result of...
Blog Post
A Public School That Not Only Keeps Children Safe, But Heals [nonprofitquarterly.org]
After the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida earlier this year, schools are at the epicenter of national debates on gun violence and mental health. How can teachers and administrators deal with troubled students? And how can they make schools safer for all? It’s not the first time that schools have been asked to address social problems that originate far outside their hallways. In a nation where more than 40 percent of kids are from low-income families, school teachers and...
Blog Post
A push for mental health care at colleges: Depression and anxiety ‘really eat up our kids’ (calmatters.org)
When student leaders from 23 California State University campuses came together last fall to set priorities for the academic year, improving campus mental health services received more nominations than any other issue. It beat out even that perennial concern, tuition costs. Cal State Student Association president Maggie White said she’s not surprised. “We’re seeing wait times at counseling centers that are exceeding two or three weeks, people turned away after a few appointments because...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
A Trauma-Informed Approach to Supporting Families Impacted by Addiction
RFQ ANNOUNCEMENT: Celebrating Families! California Expansion Project Update: Due to the expanding ACEs response in California, and subsequent interest in Celebrating Families! we are extending the due date for proposals to May 24 th. Invitation to Expand Celebrating Families!™ Statewide The California State Office of Child Abuse Prevention (OCAP) recognizing the effectiveness of Celebrating Families! (CF!), has awarded Prevention Partnership International (PPI) a $100,000, 2-year challenge...
Blog Post
A Trauma-informed, Resiliency-based Community of Practice for Prison Educators
An article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review titled " How Philanthropy Can Create Public Systems Change " describes how Renewing Communities, a five-year, multifunder initiative aimed increasing education of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students by California’s public colleges and universities, partnered with the NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research in order to address educator burnout through a trauma-informed and resiliency-based community of practice.
Blog Post
A Win for California's Families (CA FRC Assoc)
On October 2 nd , Family Resource Centers and the family strengthening field as a whole reached a critical victory, when Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 436 into law. SB436 built on the findings of the 2017 monograph Family Resource Centers: Vehicles for Change, Volume II, the Evolving Field, as well as a recent study commissioned by the David & Lucille Packard Foundation, to establish in statute an inclusive and clear definition for Family Resource Centers. SB436 represents...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
Bail or Jail? Tool Used by San Francisco Courts Shows Promising Results (kqed.org)
Last year, San Francisco began using an algorithm to assess whether someone accused of a crime and awaiting trial is safe to be let out of jail. Fifteen months later, prosecutors say the risk assessment tool appears to be working: According to information provided to KQED by the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, just 6 percent of defendants who were released from jail based on the “public safety assessment,” or PSA, over those 15 months committed a new crime; 20 percent failed to...
Blog Post
Bay Area school redesigns its program to help students graduate [EdSource]
Theresa Harrington, July 9, 2019 Wen Jazhun Brown first transferred to De Anza High as a junior, poor grades made him an unlikely candidate to graduate on time. His GPA was low and he had failed biology. That changed after school counselors, college advisers and teachers helped him see he could reach his goal of becoming a police officer by retaking courses and working hard to successfully complete others. He graduated last month and will enroll this fall at Sacramento State University “My...
Blog Post
Bay Area school slated for 'redesign' gets new operating agreement [Richmond, Ca - Edsource.org]
By Theresa Harrington , Edsource.org A Bay Area school district and its teachers’ union have reached a groundbreaking agreement that will put money and resources behind the effort to turn around a school with declining enrollment and chronically low test scores. Stege Elementary, a K-6 school in Richmond in the East Bay, will see longer school days, a longer school year and more teachers, who will each receive $10,000 extra pay. The extra money acknowledges that it is a “significantly...
Blog Post
BCSD wellness centers provide free services for students as they head back to school [Bakersfield.com]
By Ema Sasic August 7, 2019 The first day of school is just a few days away and school supplies are not the only items parents need to cross off their back-to-school checklist. Bakersfield City School District's four wellness centers are encouraging parents to stop by to make sure their children have all their required immunizations before the first day of school and are ready for the upcoming school year. The district has recently opened school wellness centers to promote physical, mental...
Blog Post
Behavioral Health Integration in Medi-Cal: A Blueprint for California (California Health Care Foundation)
People with behavioral health conditions — that is, mental illness and/or substance use disorder — often experience poor health overall. They are less likely to receive preventive care, have higher rates of major chronic illnesses, and often experience a lower quality of care for their physical health needs. Those with a diagnosis of serious mental illness or substance use disorder die on average over 20 years earlier than those without such a diagnosis, often from preventable physical...
Blog Post
Berkeley Program puts Students Seeking Housing in the Homes of Older Adults [berkeleyside.com]
By Robin Estrin, Berkeleyside, December 2, 2019 Marcia Garcia, 29, moved to the Bay Area in August, admitted to UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy for a master’s degree. Searching for housing, she quickly learned that options were scarce—and expensive. But thanks to a new program that pairs up graduate students and University retirees with room to spare, she found something affordable: a first-floor bedroom with its own entrance, in a house owned by Cal alumna Linda Artel. “I like...
Blog Post
Beyond Paper Tigers is Back!
Back for the second year, Beyond Paper Tigers conference will take place June 28th and 29th in Walla Walla, WA. Featuring Dr. Ken Ginsburg from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia as the keynote speaker, BPT builds on the story of one community and how they've learned that embracing trauma-informed care and implementing ACEs science truly takes a village. Operationalizing the latest in brain science, BPT will provide concrete strategies for intervention with youth, families, and communities...
Blog Post
Bi-partisan trauma resolution introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives
A bi-partisan resolution “Recognizing the importance and effectiveness of trauma-informed care” ( H. Res. 443 ) was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on July 13 by Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and co-sponsor Danny K. Davis (D-IL). The impetus for the resolution resides with the First Lady of Wisconsin, Tonette Tonette Walker Walker, who has taken a strong leadership role in advancing trauma-informed policy and practice statewide through Fostering Futures and of late with the new...
Blog Post
Bill would require more mental health screening for some state convicts (pressdemocrat.com)
A state legislative bill that would require judges in certain cases to consider a defendant’s mental health during sentencing was approved by the Legislature this week and is headed for Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk. The bill, AB 154, would require judges to make a recommendation to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that a convicted felon receive a mental health evaluation if mental illness played a role in the crime. North Coast Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael,...
Blog Post
Bipartisan trauma resolution passes the House unanimously
In the late afternoon on Feb. 26, the House of Representatives unanimously passed H. Res. 443 , a resolution recognizing the importance and effectiveness of trauma-informed care and calling for a national trauma awareness month and trauma-informed awareness day. The impetus for the resolution resides with the First Lady of Wisconsin, Tonette Walker, who has taken a strong leadership role in advancing trauma-informed policy and practice statewide through Fostering Futures , and has elevated...
Blog Post
Black youth experience highest felony arrest rate in California [Kidsdata.org]
The felony arrest rate among African American/black youth in 2015 was substantially higher than other racial and ethnic groups in California. At 24 arrests per 1,000 youth, the rate among this group is about 8 times higher than the felony arrest rate among white youth. Encouragingly, nearly all of the 21 counties with data have seen improvements in felony arrest rates for African American/black youth over the past 17 years. Since 1998, San Francisco County saw a particularly sharp, though...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
Board of State and Community Corrections Awards Grants for Youth Diversion
SACRAMENTO – (June 13, 2019) The Board of State and Community Corrections approved two grants worth millions of dollars for programs designed to prevent young people from entering the justice system or from furthering their involvement in it. Just over $1 million was awarded to Native American tribes, and $29.1 million was awarded to cities and counties. Preference points for the larger grant were given to local governments who also plan to serve Native American youth. The Youth Reinvestment...
Blog Post
Breakdown: California’s mental health system, explained (calmatters.org)
"Mental health advocates have long described California’s fragmented mental health system with words like “struggling” and “broken.” Evidence of its consequences can be found in our jails and prisons, our hospitals and clinics, our schools and colleges. The problem touches those living in comfortable middle class suburbs, remote rural towns, and on the streets of the state’s biggest cities." "Not only do a sixth of Californians experience some mental illness, but 1 out of every 24 have a...
Blog Post
Breathing ‘A Chore’: California Wildfires Threaten The Health Of Young And Old (californiahealthline.org)
“We are in a situation now where the wildfire season doesn’t really have its normal beginning or end,” said Lori Kobza, spokeswoman for the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District. The 629,000 acres burned this year follows large swaths torched last year in Ventura, Santa Barbara, Napa and Sonoma counties, causing dozens of deaths, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Many scientists attribute the more frequent and ferocious fires in the...
Blog Post
BRFSS ACEs Modules in California
In 2008 California was the first and only state to include the ACEs module in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey. The results were reported at a BRFSS conference in 2009. The state also included ACEs modules in...
Blog Post
Bring That Beat Back: The Power of Arts to Heal Youth in the Justice System (chronicleofsocialchange.org)
Today, Cummings leads a circle of drummers that include a handful of young men who are incarcerated for offenses like stealing a car, petty theft, substance abuse and delinquency. "I want them to know who they are, to find their identity," Cummings said. "Music is a healing weapon." Cummings is a teaching artist with the Rhythm Arts Alliance, a group that works with incarcerated youth in camps overseen by the Los Angeles County Probation Department. Last week, Cummings' group and other arts...
Blog Post
Bringing Baby to Work May Soon Be Reality in Some California Offices (nbcsandiego.com)
California lawmakers will consider a proposal to allow parents to bring their newborns to work at state offices. Assembly Bill 2481 was introduced by Assemblyman Randy Voepel, the former mayor of Santee, with bipartisan support. The program is for babies between 6 weeks and 6 months when they still sleep a lot and before they can crawl away. The infant-to-work program would initially be an option only at state offices, and if passed, would be tested out for a year. "This is a voluntary...
Blog Post
Brown Signs Law to Ease Licensing Path for Relatives, Vetoes Foster Care Mobile Response Plan [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
As California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) prepares to leave office at the end of the year, the last round of child welfare legislation under his watch includes a new law to ease the path of relative caregivers under the Continuum of Care Reform (CCR), the major child welfare initiative developed during his time as governor. The Continuum of Care Reform is designed to reduce the state’s reliance on congregate care by placing more foster children with families, including more with relative...
Blog Post
Budget Breakdown: Money For Diversion, Probation, Reform, And More [witnessla.com]
By Taylor Walker, Witness LA, January 14, 2020 On Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled his plans for the 2020-2021 budget, a $222.2 billion proposal that features important changes to probation and pretrial diversion, jail reforms, and a potential prison closure, among other big changes in the world of justice. Below, WitnessLA has compiled some of the highlights from the governor’s proposed criminal justice spending. Based on Newsom’s January budget proposal, spending for the...
Blog Post
Budget Hearing on Trauma Screening (Assembly Bill 340)
Our state is leading the way in addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)! This year, California will become the first state to require and pay for ACEs screening for children under the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment program, per recommendations from the Trauma Screening Advisory Workgroup created as part of Assembly Bill 340 . The Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services hearing on Monday, February 25th will discuss the recommendations from the AB 340...