Tagged With "donate now"
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"ACEs Resilience and Recovery" presented at Marin Communications Forum
First 5 Marin Children and Families Commission featured Jane Stevens in a Marin Communications Forum event on Monday, May 15. Thanks to the hard work of host Michelle Fadelli of First 5 Marin, a full Embassy Suites ballroom of up to 180 Marin County service providers, from a variety of agencies, gathered.
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ACEs Science Champion Series: Dr. Angela Bymaster: This Faith-Based Physician Integrates ACEs Science with Healing Arts
Dr. Angela Bymaster, a family physician at Washington Elementary School in San Jose, CA, operates her clinic in a portable unit on the school property.
Because the unit faces students as they are dropped off by their families, she gets to “pick up the kids” before they are sent to the clinic, practicing “upstream medicine.”
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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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ACT NOW: Oppose Policies that Separate Children & Families
The Trump Administration has proposed a new rule that could penalize families in their immigration proceedings if they use critical public benefits, such as Medicaid for food-stamps. Nearly half of California's children live in immigrant families , meaning that this rule would do deep harm to families that make up the very fabric of California. It will force families to choose between providing basic needs for their children and keeping their families together. Right now, we have an...
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Action Alert! Campaign for restorative discipline in schools deadline TOMORROW!
The Children’s Movement is helping to promote restorative justice practices in schools by eliminating suspensions or expulsions for “willful defiance” through Senate Bill 607 authored by Senator Nancy Skinner . You can view the letter at this link here , and sign on before the deadline tomorrow, Wednesday 2/21, at 5pm. Five years ago, California schools issued an astounding 709,702 suspensions, nearly half for “defiance/disruption,” a catch-all category used to justify disciplinary action...
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Addressing Childhood Trauma, Center for Learning & Resilience [actionnewsnow.com]
By Deb Anderaos and Julia Yarbough, Action News Now, April 15, 2020 Butte County health representatives say they have long realized the need for coordinated mental health services for family and children dealing with trauma. The Camp Fire drove that point home and now the coronavirus crisis. Julia Yarbough recently spoke with the Executive Director of the new Center for Learning and Resilience. It’s a resource to help meet community needs. First of all, thank you for joining us, and tell me...
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Adult Reentry Grant Program (ARG): Proposals due November 1st.
The Adult Reentry Grant (ARG) Program was established through the Budget Act of 2018 (Senate Bill 840, Chapter 29, Statute of 2018) and appropriated $50,000,000 in funding for competitive awards to community-based organizations to support offenders formerly incarcerated in state prison. The Budget Act requires that funding be allocated as follows: -$25 million be for rental assistance; -$9.35 million to support the warm handoff and reentry of offenders transitioning from prison to...
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Advancing a System of Prevention to Achieve Health Equity [preventioninstitute.org]
What does it take to realize the vision of health, safety, and wellbeing for all? Drawing from successful initiatives that dramatically increased the length and quality of people’s lives, Prevention Institute developed the System of Preventionframework to support health leaders and their partners to delve into systems-level work as they innovate, build practice, advance policy and systems changes, and generate momentum for comprehensive prevention and health equity. Now available in print...
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Adversity and resiliency: The case for integrating ACEs and Strengthening Families approaches
Attached is the PowerPoint that was presented by Diane Kellegrew, Jane Stevens and Katie Albright in a webinar April 16. And below is the slide that ID's the presenters.
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Advocate for Early Childhood Programs in Your School District
California’s funding model for school districts is known as the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). Under LCFF, school districts have flexibility—and an unprecedented opportunity—to spend district dollars on early childhood education. Researchers, economists, and educators all agree: early childhood programs set kids up for success in school and in life. Now is the time for district leaders to make sure that students in your community are getting off to a strong start. And you can help...
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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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Aiming to Help Homeless, UCLA Residents Practice ‘Street Psychiatry’ (californiahealthreport.org)
New programs begun in the last two years at UCLA include a resident-faculty group focused on community psychiatry, as well as health-system and community mentorships. There are also new clinical electives for psychiatry residents at the Los Angeles County Jail and the county’s Office of Diversion and Reentry . The Diversion office was created by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors in 2015 to develop and implement alternatives to the criminal justice system for people with mental illness and...
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All hands on deck (from a distance): remote care for traumatized moms and babies
Dear colleague, Coronavirus is forcing providers and allied professionals serving mothers and babies to make unprecedented decisions. Should pregnant women needing care go through our hospital quarantine entrance? Should moms deliver without partners, family or doulas present? Be sent home early before key screenings or jaundice treatment are completed? To make matters worse, our systems aren't ready for basic remote care of mothers and infants now "socially distanced". Prenatal, post-partum...
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All too often, California’s default mental institutions are now jails and prisons (calmatters.org)
Perhaps nowhere is California’s mental health crisis more evident than in its criminal justice system. After decades of failure to create and fund policies that effectively help people with serious mental illnesses, many now say the jails and prisons have become the state’s default mental institutions. Close to a third of California’s inmates have a documented serious mental illness, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. A few decades ago, fewer than half...
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ACEs Science Champions Series: Allen Nishikawa: ACEs Storyteller Helps People Develop Their Resilience
Sonoma County ACEs Connection members Allen Nishikawa and Lena Hoffman at California Policymaker Education Day, 2018 Allen Nishikawa, a sansei, or third-generation Japanese American, majored in political science and American history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he participated in antiwar (Vietnam) marches. But it was his experience as a military brat — moving from school to school across the U.S. and even to Japan as a child — that shaped his own childhood experiences and...
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America’s Cities Are Unlivable. Blame Wealthy Liberals. [New York Times]
To live in California at this time is to experience every day the cryptic phrase that George W. Bush once used to describe the invasion of Iraq : “Catastrophic success.” The economy here is booming, but no one feels especially good about it. When the cost of living is taken into account, billionaire-brimming California ranks as the most poverty-stricken state , with a fifth of the population struggling to get by. Since 2010, migration out of California has surged . The basic problem is the...
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An inside look at Sacramento’s Youth Detention Facility, named best in nation after turnaround [Sacramento Bee]
BY CANDICE WANG cwang@sacbee.com Six boys dove into the water, passing volleyballs and footballs, in a recent scene that seemed more like a snapshot from an afternoon at a community pool, rather than from Sacramento County’s Youth Detention Facility. Only the barbed wire encircling the area showed the difference. The frequent use of the pool, built along with the facility in 1963, is now part of a series of progressive, rehabilitative programs that contributed to the 2018 Barbara Allen-Hagen...
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An Opportunity the Office of Surgeon General Can't Pass Up
I don't know about you, but I've talked to dozens of people applying for the ACEs Aware RFP, due Feb. 10. Watching myself and my colleagues hustle and brainstorm on how to work together to submit ideas for this opportunity has been very inspiring. Although we have no idea how many grant awards will be made, we know that only a fraction of what must be hundreds of RFP submissions will be funded this year. It would be a tragedy to waste the efforts of those who will have spent many hours on...
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Apply now to Showcase your work at the San Francisco National ACEs Conference in October 2018!
Applications due June 18. Application link included in this post
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APPLY TODAY: Help improve jail conditions in California! (Board of State and Community Corrections) BSCC
Every couple of years, the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) revises California's Title 15 and 24 regulations which set standards for the hundreds of local adult detention facilities across all 58 counties. This includes adult jails, temporary holding facilities, and court holding facilities. The standards cover everything from family visits to solitary confinement to nutrition. The revision process has started up again and our coalition is working to make sure a diverse set of...
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Archived Webinar: Childhood Adversity – Data to Help Advocate for Change
The recording and slides for the March 29 webinar, Childhood Adversity: Data to Help Advocate for Change , are now available. In this webinar, panelist Marissa Abbott of the California Department of Public Health discussed how to describe the burden of childhood adversity in your community, how to frame your message most effectively, and how to engage and mobilize your community to address the roots and effects of childhood adversity. In addition, panelist Lori Turk-Bicakci of kidsdata.org...
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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 California Moves to Screen Children for Childhood Trauma, Poverty Has To Be Part of the Equation
In California, we are coming full circle in recognizing the connection between poverty and health.
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Assembly OK’s Bill to Expand ‘Gravely Disabled’ to Include Mental Illness (scvnews.com)
The California Assembly passed AB 1971 Wednesday, legislation which amends the state’s definition of “gravely disabled” to include medical treatment as a basic human need for those suffering from a serious mental illness, just as necessary to well-being as food, clothing or shelter. AB 1971 is sponsored by Los Angeles County, the Steinberg Institute, and the California Psychiatric Association. The bill passed with bipartisan support by a vote of 66-0. The proposal for the change in state law...
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At $75,560, housing a prisoner in California now costs more than a year at Harvard [LATimes.com]
The cost of imprisoning each of California’s 130,000 inmates is expected to reach a record $75,560 in the next year. That’s enough to cover the annual cost of attending Harvard University and still have plenty left over for pizza and beer Gov. Jerry Brown ’s spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1 includes a record $11.4 billion for the corrections department while also predicting that there will be 11,500 fewer inmates in four years because voters in November approved earlier...
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At Cal State, student homelessness has been hidden until now [LATimes.com]
Racing from her last class of the day at Cal State Long Beach, Shellv Candler had about an hour to get to Wilmington. Her mother was trying to save her a bed at the Doors of Hope Women’s Shelter, but curfew was 6:45 sharp. The college student’s commute by bus and train was stressful. But she and her mother had been through worse. The foreclosure of the family home. Evictions. Relatives who could give them shelter for only so long. Some nights, with nowhere to go, they’d ridden the bus until...
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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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CalFresh food benefits available to seniors and individuals with disabilities receiving SSI/SSP beginning June 1 [Porterville Recorder]
The CalFresh food program in Tulare County and statewide is expanding to serve qualifying individuals who receive Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP) benefits beginning June 1 . There is no change or reduction to SSI/SSP benefits. “A tremendous change in legislation means we can now provide CalFresh benefits to SSI recipients for the first time ,” states Vienna Barnes, deputy director, Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency (HHSA), TulareWORKs. “The...
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California Adds Health & Equity Recommendations to General Plan Guidelines (changelabsolutions.org)
Last fall, California's Office of Planning and Research (OPR) issued new guidelines for general plans , the documents created by the state's cities and counties to guide their future development. For the first time, the OPR guidelines include specific recommendations for how local general plans could address health, equitable development, and public engagement. ChangeLab Solutions, with many statewide partner organizations, helped drive this innovation by submitting a detailed set of...
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California Assembly Health Committee OKs ACEs resolution 16-0
The California Assembly Health Committee today approved, by a vote of 16-0, a resolution to encourage statewide policies to reduce children’s exposure to adverse childhood experiences. California took a page from Wisconsin’s playbook with the introduction of legislation ( California Assembly Concurrent Resolution (ACR) No. 155 ) on May 28. It drew upon ideas from Wisconsin’s legislation ( Senate Joint Resolution 59 ), approved by the legislature this early this year. Both...
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California bill would fund trauma and mental health services for students [AsianJournal.com]
CALIFORNIA schools will once again be able to offer mental health programs for students in kindergarten and grades one to three who are struggling with anxiety and other trauma or stress related symptoms, if a bill introduced in the legislature earlier this week passes. AB 1644 was introduced by Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) and is co-sponsored by Children Now, a statewide youth advocacy organization headquartered in Oakland, and by state Attorney General Kamala Harris. “The...
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California can curb violence against incarcerated children. Here’s how. (ocregister.com)
When I was 16, I was incarcerated in juvenile hall. Whenever I was moved within the facility, I was shackled. They would chain my ankles and handcuff my wrists to a belly-chain. I was bound like this anytime I went to see the nurse, the psychiatrist and whenever I went outside. Twenty years later, I still have scars where the cuffs carved into my ankles. Policies in California’s youth prisons, including the use of shackles, cause serious harm to our children. The vast majority of...
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California Child Trauma Advocates Eye Policy Impact
Jeremy Loudenback from the Chronicle of Social Change posted a story about last week's California Policy Convening on Childhood Adversity that the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW) hosted in San Diego. Here's the beginning: Last...
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California Child Welfare Policy and Progress, Winter Issue [Insight]
The California Child Welfare Co-Investment Partnership Report This issue of in sights provides an overview of the latest legislative developments in California, including data and perspectives on the policy and practice transformation taking place with the Continuum of Care Reform (CCR). Beyond a comprehensive summary of child welfare state legislation, this issue also includes a discussion on the key provisions of the Family First Prevention Services Act. The issue concludes with...
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California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative’s “Enhancing the Collective Vision” Slides Are Available and Opportunity to Participate in an Orientation Webinar
The California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative convened more than 65 stakeholders on Friday, July 12, 2019 to assess the current state of collective action around adverse childhood experiences (ACEs); align EfC Initiative goals and project interventions with existing efforts; identify mutually reinforcing activities; and establish a collective agreement on how to strategically promote Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships, and Environments (SSNR&E), to prevent and reduce child...
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California healthcare providers adapt ACEs screening from in-person to virtual environment
Dr. Amy Shekarchi, a pediatrician based in Los Angeles, CA, was helping to lead the rollout of ACEs screening among 50 health care providers at six clinics affiliated with the L.A. County Department of Health Services when the COVID-19 pandemic hit—days before she was set to launch the effort. “We had trained everybody in doing face-to-face [ACEs screening], and when COVID-19 happened we thought, let’s not throw the screening out. Everybody was ready,” says Shekarchi, who is the pediatric...
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California Is Giving Doctors Incentives To Ask Patients About Childhood Trauma [capradio.org]
By Sammy Caiola, Capital Public Radio, December 9, 2019 California health officials want children and adults on Medi-Cal to get screened for traumatic childhood events that can cause negative health effects down the line. Now the state has started giving doctors and nurses tools to do the screenings. People who experience adversity early in life have much higher chances of substance abuse, depression, or chronic diseases than their peers, according to national research. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s...
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California lawmakers pass limits on restraint and seclusion in schools (edsource.org)
California school staff would be barred from physically restraining K-12 students or isolating them in “seclusion rooms” unless the student’s behavior creates an imminent physical threat under a bill approved by the Legislature this week. The bill, which now goes to Gov. Jerry Brown, also reinstates a requirement that school districts report data on the use of restraints and seclusion to the California Department of Education. And it prohibits certain restraint techniques that are considered...
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California Legislative Update – Fall 2019
Five of the bills that the California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity (4CA) was tracking this legislative session were signed or incorporated into law! They are: Assembly Bill 741 (Kalra), which requires the Department of Health Care Services to provide trainings for personnel who administer trauma screenings in a pediatric or primary care providing setting for children in Medi-Cal. The substance of this bill was included in the Governor’s May Revise budget, and funded at $50 million...
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California Legislature Passes Bill Setting Juvenile Justice Minimum Age at 12 [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
A bill that would largely exclude California youth under the age of 12 from prosecution is now headed to the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown (D) after passing out of both chambers of the state legislature. Senate Bill 439 would direct counties to seek alternatives to the juvenile justice system for children 11 and younger. State Senator Holly Mitchell (D), a co-sponsor of the legislation, hopes that the state could use a new pot of state money aimed at diverting young people from the justice system...
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California moves to curtail expelling children from preschool — yes, preschool [edsource.org]
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...
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California Mulls Guidelines for School Telemental Health Programs (mhealthintelligence.com)
California lawmakers are pushing a bill to develop a statewide policy for telehealth and telemedicine that will give students remote access to mental health services. AB 2315 , which is now headed to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk, calls on the California Department of Education and Department of Health Care Services to develop connected care guidelines within two years for the state’s public schools, including charter schools. The bill passed unanimously in both the Senate and State Assembly. “For...
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