Tagged With "Family First Prevention Services Act"
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Does Preschool Pay Off? Tulsa Says Yes [npr.org]
In 2001, not long after Oklahoma had adopted one of the nation's first universal pre-K programs, researchers from Georgetown University began tracking kids who came out of the program in Tulsa, documenting their academic progress over time. In a new report published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management today, researchers were able to show that Tulsa's pre-K program has significant, positive effects on students' outcomes and well-being through middle school. The program, which...
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Dr. Ken Epstein Speaks About Trauma-Informed Work
In recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month, the California Departments of Public Health, Health Care Services and Social Services, and multiple community partners welcomed Dr. Kenneth Epstein to speak about his work highlighting trauma and resilience-informed practices. The event was also co-sponsored by ACEs Connection Network, Kaiser Permanente, and UC Davis Medical Center. Dr. Epstein leads the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s (SFDPH) Trauma-Informed Systems Initiative,...
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Dr. Melissa Merrick Explains CDC's Vital Signs/ACEs Report [Prevent Child Abuse America]
Dr. Melissa Merrick, president & CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America, provides four key takeaways from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest Vital Signs/ACEs report , of which she is the lead author. Merrick also identifies several practical solutions for creating the conditions for safe, stable and nurturing relationships and environments for all children, families and communities, which are fundamental to preventing ACEs. Among these solutions is strengthening economic...
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Dr. Melissa Merrick Named New President & CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America [preventchildabuse.org]
Prevent Child Abuse America, June 18, 2019. Chicago—Prevent Child Abuse America (PCA America) announced today that after a nationwide search its board of directors has selected Dr. Melissa Merrick (right) as the organization’s next president and chief executive officer. Merrick brings more than 18 years of clinical, research and leadership experience related to the etiology, course and prevention of child abuse and neglect. Merrick currently serves as a senior epidemiologist at the National...
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Dr. Vincent Felitti ACEs - January 17, 11am-12:30pm DHCS Auditorium
CA Department of Health Care Services and Department of Public Health welcome Dr. Vincent Felitti, Co-Principal Investigator of the O riginal CDC-Kaiser Adverse Childhood Experiences ( ACEs ) Study, 1995-1997 The DHCS Office of the Medical Director and CDPH would like to invite you to hear Dr. Felitti speak about the seminal ACE Study, one of the largest investigations of childhood abuse and neglect and later-life health and well-being. The ACE Study now includes more than 80 publications...
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Early Childhood Education Matters—Here’s How to Make It Great [PSMag.com]
By the time a low-income child enters kindergarten in America, they’re already woefully lagging their more advantaged peers — 11 months behind in math and 13 months behind in reading, according to a recent report from the Center for American Progress. (Chart: Center for American Progress) The figure at left, from the CAP report—“How Much Can High-Quality Universal Pre-K Reduce Achievement Gaps?”—illustrates the gulf between both low- and high-income children and minority and white children.
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Early Childhood Is Critical to Health Equity [rwjf.org]
The first few years of life are crucial in establishing a child’s path toward—or away from—health and well-being across the entire lifespan. This report, produced in partnership with the University of California, San Francisco, examines some of the barriers to health equity that begin early in life, and promising strategies for overcoming them. Key Findings Poverty limits childrens’ and families’ options for healthy living conditions. Poverty can limit where children live, and can lead to...
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Essentials for Childhood Case Study: Collective Impact through Strategic Opportunities
The California Department of Public Health, Safe and Active Communities (CDPH/SACB), Steve Wirtz and Marissa Abbott co-authored a case study showcasing the methodology, successes, and opportunities for improvement from the 2013-2018 Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative. Read more about the lessons learned and how the EfC Initiative will move forward from 2019 and beyond by clicking the attachment below.
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Essentials for Childhood Framework
From the CDC’s Injury Prevention & Control, Division of Violence Prevention: "Safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments are essential to prevent child abuse and neglect and to assure all children reach their full potential. The Essentials for Childhood Framework proposes strategies communities can consider to promote relationships and environments that help children grow up to be healthy and productive citizens so that they, in turn, can build stronger and safer families and...
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Essentials for Childhood Initiative 5/13 Webinar: Health Equity and COVID-19: Opportunities to Improve Child Wellbeing through Policy
The Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative invites your participation in a webinar entitled, “Health Equity and COVID-19: Opportunities to Improve Child Wellbeing through Policy” taking place on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 from 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM for a special guest presentation with Dr. Flojaune Cofer, Senior Director of Policy with the All Children Thrive (ACT) California project. This interactive webinar will examine what success could look like in addressing COVID-19 by describing equity...
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Essentials for Childhood Initiative Membership Re-Convenes!
The California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative , a collaborative project between the California Department of Public Health, Safe and Active Communities Branch (CDPH/SACB) and the California Department of Social Services, Office of Child Abuse Prevention (CDSS/OCAP) has received funding to continue efforts through August of 2023 to decrease child maltreatment risk factors and increase protective factors to provide safe, stable, nurturing relationships, and environments (SSNR&E)...
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Essentials for Childhood Initiative: October 30th, 2019 Convening Summary Document
The California Department of Public Health, Injury and Violence Prevention Branch (CDPH/IVPB), (formerly the Safe and Active Communities Branch) and the California Department of Social Services, Office of Child Abuse Prevention (CDSS/OCAP), co-hosted an Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative convening on Wednesday, October 30, 2019. This event, entitled “Defining Goals and Strategies to Achieve Child Wellbeing,” took place at the California Endowment in Sacramento from 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM...
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Federal funding opportunity primary prevention of abuse and neglect
The purpose of this FOA from the federal Administration on Children, Youth and Families - Children's Bureau is to fund cooperative agreements that support the development, implementation, and evaluation of primary prevention strategies to improve the safety, stability, and well-being of all families through a continuum of community-based services and supports. During the project period, grantees will address site-specific barriers and mobilize communities to prevent child maltreatment,...
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ACEs Science Champions Series: First 5 San Mateo County (CA) Forges Ahead with Trauma-Informed Initiative
Each year for the past 20 years, First 5 San Mateo County has spent nearly $7 million to help meet the needs of children from birth through age five, and support their families. In 1998, First 5 was established and funded in California by Proposition 10, which funneled tobacco tax dollars into transforming the early childhood system and guaranteeing better outcomes for all counties in the state. In January 2018, the First 5 San Mateo County started a planning committee based on incorporating...
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For ACEsConnection members only -- a "sneak preview" of 'Resilience'!
Resilience , a documentary that looks at the birth of the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study and how it spawned a movement across the world, will be coming to your personal screen in April, says Lynn Waymer, KPJR Film’s community engagement strategist. The production team is working out the details to make the documentary, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival to sold-out houses, available to ACEsConnection.com members on Sunday, April 10, at 6 pm PT/ 9 pm...
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Futures Without Violence - Safe, Healthy, and Ready to Learn
Interesting report from Futures Without Violence: Safe, Healthy, and Ready to Learn: Policy Recommendations to Ensure Children Thrive in Supportive Communities Free from Violence and Trauma
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Great parenting resource for Strengthening Families 5 Protective Factors
Here is a great website from the Five for Families public awareness campaign that explains the Strengthening Families 5 Protective Factors to parents. It has parent-friendly language, videos, questions to consider, and parenting ideas. https://fiveforfamilies.org/
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Have You Accessed the CDC’s VetoViolence Website?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Injury and Control, Division of Violence Prevention’s website VetoViolence, offers training, tips, and tools designed specifically for prevention practitioners. This tool showcases evidenced-based, practical strategies and approaches to prevent violence that can be found in the CDC Technical Packages. To learn more, click here: https://vetoviolence.cdc.gov/apps/violence-prevention-practice/approach-search
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Health care for 7 in 10 CA children funded by Medicaid or CHIP
Proposed cuts and changes to public health insurance programs would have a disproportionate effect on California kids compared with kids in the nation as a whole.
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Health Equity Policy Platform for COVID-19 Response and Recovery
From Human Impact Parters: A COVID-19 Public Health Response & Recovery Policy Platform Decades of underinvestment in our public infrastructure and neoliberal policies that gutted protections for working people, our healthcare, and our wider safety net are vividly exposing their consequences. People of color — most harshly Black, Latinx, and Native people — are disproportionately experiencing the consequences of these conditions. In this context, directly impacted communities are naming...
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Helping Working Families Succeed: Paid Leave in the Spotlight [ascend.aspeninstitute.org]
By Anne Mosle, Ascend: The Aspen Institute, May 28, 2019. Earlier this month, the House Ways and Means Committee held the first hearing this Congress on paid family and medical leave. As witnesses shared their testimony and legislators asked questions and made statements, it became clear that there is bipartisan support for ensuring working people should not have to choose between their family and a paycheck. We will all need to give or receive care at some point in our lives, and we all...
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Hidden Crisis Report - ACEs in CA
Attached find the full report from Center for Youth Wellness (CYW) d ata report of ACEs in California, prepared in partnership with Public Health Institute (November 6, 2014).
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How do you tell the story of a huge early childhood program over time? [centerforhealthjournalism.org]
Thanks — for nothing, Mr. Reiner. When I started my reporting on the 20th anniversary of California’s Proposition 10 — now known as First 5 — I fully expected to have filmmaker Rob Reiner’s quotations and retrospective as a central piece of the package . After all, he was the sponsor of the ballot measure that created the tobacco tax-funded system for programs serving young children from birth to age 5. And, he welcomed me into his Beverly Hills office for an interview when the measure was...
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How Work-Life Balance Helps a Baby’s Brain [LinkedIn.com]
Most of us understand that a baby’s earliest months and years are the most critical for brain development. But did you know that a baby’s relationships with parents and caregivers actually stimulate that process? That’s right: An infant’s connections to nurturing, trusted adults help build the foundation for emotions, language, behavior, memory, physical movement – you name it. Right from the start, as parents, we need to bond with these brand-new little people, teach them how the world...
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Immigrant Health: Anchoring Public Health Practice in a Justice Framework [aphapublications.org]
By Barbara Ferrer, American Journal of Public Health The nexus between policy actions and immigrant health is central in this issue of AJPH in two articles by Young and Wallace (p. 1171) and Rothstein and Coughlin (p. 1179), serving as a reminder of the need for public health practitioners to adopt a framework that explicitly connects the dimensions of social determinants of health with population health outcomes. Such a framework incorporates a root cause analysis to elucidate the factors...
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Infants and Toddlers Need Strong Parents [clasp.org]
Parents play the most active and significant role in their baby’s healthy development. Young children learn and grow in strong families where parents are able to successfully face the challenge of nurturing their children. During the first three years of life, experiences are shaping a child’s brain and providing the foundation for later development. Parenting support services, which range from informational resources to more intensive interventions, can help improve parenting skills,...
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January California Essentials for Childhood Newsletter
California Essentials for Childhood has just released its second newsletter. The full newsletter can be found attached. Check it out!
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July California Essentials for Childhood Newsletter
California Essentials for Childhood has just released its fifth newsletter. The full newsletter can be found attached. Check it out!
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Know Your Rights: Paid Leave for Workers Impacted by COVID-19
From California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, March 23, 2020 As Californians are urged to stay home to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, workers across the state and their families are feeling the impact on their jobs and income, making the need for paid leave more apparent than ever. Join the California Work & Family Coalition, Legal Aid at Work, and the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence for short web-conferences addressing the access to paid leave and learning...
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Love in the TIme of Coronavirus: Inequities and Supporting Children
This blog is re-posted from positiveexperience.org/blog/ Link there for associated resources, and for the other blogs in the series. Having safe, stable, and equitable environments to live, learn and play forms the second of the 4 Building Blocks of HOPE. Children need homes where they feel safe and secure and have their basic needs met. Children thrive in an environment that encourages curiosity and provides opportunities for learning to play and interact with other children. Today’s blog...
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Low wages undermine efforts to improve the quality of preschools, federal report says [EdSource.org]
Efforts in California and other states to raise the quality of child care and preschool programs are being undermined by the low wages that workers earn in jobs that now require more skills and education, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Education released Tuesday. In California, preschool teachers were paid an average salary of $31,720 in 2015, about half of what California kindergarten teachers earned that year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the report said.
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Make Time for Yourself—A Self-Care Guide for Busy Parents from Yolo County Children's Alliance
Yolo County Children’s Alliance is excited to share our new self-care resource for parents and caregivers for Child Abuse Prevention Month. Make Time for Yourself—A Self-Care Guide for Busy Parents talks about the importance of self-care and provides many ideas to try. The guide is available in English, Spanish, and Russian at www.yolokids.org/forfamilies/ . To help parents prioritize self-care, the guide divides specific self-care ideas into those that only take 5 minutes to do and those...
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Mapping Trauma Informed Care throughout First 5 Associations
On April 15th, representatives from 6 counties met on a conference call to discuss recent First 5 activities around Trauma Informed Care (TIC). Since our first gathering at last year's Association Summit, we have been meeting quarterly via conference call and have learned that there is a lot going on with TIC. So much is going on that we decided to send out a survey gathering data to map all our TIC efforts across the state. Please let us know if you are at a First 5 and are interested in...
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Maryland Essentials for Childhood Hosts Advocacy Day at the State Capital
Maryland Essentials for Childhood, a statewide initiative educating policy makers and communities on the science of ACEs, developing brains, and how we can build resilience for children, families and communities in Maryland, is poised to meet with Maryland elected officials this coming Thursday, ,February 7th, 9-1 pm. We will educate legislators on the science and policies that reduce or mitigate ACEs and other childhood trauma. Key policies being considered by the General Assembly are:...
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May California Essentials for Childhood Newsletter
California Essentials for Childhood has just released its fourth newsletter. The full newsletter can be found attached. Check it out!
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Learning How to Convince Leaders to Create Trauma-Informed Programs, Systems and Environments.
How do you build a narrative around ACEs science, bolster it with data and convince your leadership that integrating it is critical for the community you serve? Representatives from San Francisco Bay Area health and social service agencies had an opportunity on December 5 to learn about ACEs science, find data sets to help them make a case for supporting ACEs education and resiliency programs, and then role play ways to deliver powerful messages. Donielle Prince, ACEs Connection Network’s...
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Meet Dan Torres: Leading a Washington Effort to Ensure Safety, Stability and Nurturing for All Children
Dan Torres was traveling the country, working with state and regional agencies that were trying to improve outcomes for families involved in their child welfare systems. As an associate at the Center for the Study of Social Policy, his area of expertise was family support. While agencies and community groups were exerting incredible effort and changing the game for some, he couldn’t escape one question: How do we work more on preventing families from becoming involved in child welfare...
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Meet the Essentials for Childhood Initiative Team (Part 1/2)
Meet some of the Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative team members: Elena Costa – Elena Costa is the new Program Coordinator for the Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative with the Safe and Active Communities Branch (SACB) at the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). Elena joined the EfC Initiative in April of 2019 and is excited to work with the membership of the Initiative to promote Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships, and Environments (SSNR&E) and assist with...
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Meet the Essentials for Childhood Initiative Team (Part 2/2)
Meet some of the Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative team members: Angela Ponivas is the Chief of the California Department of Social Services Office of Child Abuse Prevention (CDSS/OCAP). She has been in the OCAP almost five years, working at a systems level on behalf of children and families. Angela provides executive oversight of the development and execution of Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative activities at CDSS. Prior to working for the State, Angela was the Executive...
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Modeling prosocial behavior increases helping in 16-month-olds [sciencedaily.com]
Shortly after they turn 1, most babies begin to help others, whether by handing their mother an object out of her reach or giving a sibling a toy that has fallen. Researchers have long studied how this helping behavior develops, but why it develops has been examined less. A new study looked at the role of imitation to find that when 16-month-olds observe others' helping behavior, they're more likely to be helpful themselves. The findings come from researchers at the University of Münster and...
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Most kids on public coverage have parents who work for big companies, new study finds [centerforhealthjournalism.org]
By Giles Bruce, Center for Health Journalism, July 3, 2019. The conventional wisdom is that kids are on government health insurance because their parents are unemployed or work at small businesses with meager benefits. A study released this week debunks that theory. Research from the PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia found that the majority of children insured through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) — more than 70% — have a parent employed by a large...
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Moving Upstream to Address Contributors to Toxic Stress in Pediatric Primary Care [chapinhall.org]
By Angeline Spain, Angela Sander, and Amanda Brown, Chapin Hall at The University of Chicago, October 2019 Healthcare in the U.S. is increasingly moving “upstream” to address the risk of social determinants of health. One common strategy is the early screening of needs and connection to services. Chapin Hall, in collaboration with national and local partners, is conducting an evaluation of innovations designed to promote screening for contributors to toxic stress during pediatric well-child...
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New CDC Campaign: THE STAY HERE-OS: FIGHTING WHAT’S OUT THERE, IN HERE
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released a new family-centered advertisement campaign that provides simple tips and guidance for what parents can do to help their families stay safe. Please see below: We are excited to share with you this fun, family-centered campaign that arose from Ad Council research of audiences, and a need to provide simple tips and guidance for what parents can do to help their families stay safe. It’s expected to get a lot of media attention...
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NEW Essentials for Childhood Kidsdata.org ACEs Topic
On behalf of California Essentials for Childhood, I am very excited to announce the release of a new Child Adversity and Resilience data topic on Kidsdata.org! This has been a collaborative effort between the CA Essentials for Childhood Initiative's Shared Data and Outcomes Work Group and the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health. I represent ACEs Connection Network on Essentials and am the co-chair of the Shared Data & Outcomes Work Group so I couldn't be more thrilled about...
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New PI briefs and videos connect community safety and early childhood development [PreventionInstitute.org]
Early childhood is a critical time that shapes opportunities and outcomes for a lifetime, yet little attention has been given to the deleterious impact community violence can have on young children. New PI resources explore the linkages between safety and child development, making the case for preventing violence and community trauma. When community environments are safe, they can provide thriving conditions for communities, families, and young children. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation...
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New Prevention Institute Report Offers Framework for Preventing Community Trauma, Building Resilience
A new Prevention Institute report, featured Wednesday in USA Today , offers a groundbreaking framework for understanding the relationship between community trauma and violence. In doing so, the report provides insight into how we can overcome the inequities that contribute to a cycle of inner-city gun violence, poverty, unemployment, and poor health in communities of color. As additional treatment models are developed for individual trauma, there is a growing need for addressing trauma as a...
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New Report Explores Paid Family Leave: How Much Time is Enough?
A growing body of research is finding that, on the whole, job-protected paid family leaves of adequate duration and wage replacement lead to more income and gender equality, significant reductions in infant, maternal and even paternal mortality, improved physical and mental health for children and parents, greater family stability and economic security, business productivity, and economic growth.
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New Sesame Street Tools Help Build Resiliency [rwjf.org]
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Sesame Workshop share a common vision of giving all children—especially the most vulnerable among us—a strong and healthy start in life. We know that childhood experiences lay the foundation for children to grow into productive and successful adults, and promoting healthy behaviors and supporting families from the very beginning can help kids thrive. But it’s equally important to address challenges that can undermine their healthy development. That’s...
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New Study Supports Positive Effects of $15 Hour Minimum Wage [irle.berkeley.edu]
The recent Congressional Hearing on Preventing Childhood Trauma included a robust dialogue about the correlation between poverty, trauma and ACEs (time stamp 2:49). Panelists were asked what policies could positively impact income as a means to prevent and mitigate the effects of trauma and ACEs. Raising the minimum wage was not discussed. The following press release, describing new research from the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment , supports it as an effective strategy , one...
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Next "A Better Normal" community discussion series: April 2, 2020/ Secondary Traumatic Stress and Caregivers
Our next COVID-19 "Better Normal" community discussion is Thursday, April 2, with Vic Compher and Rodney Whittenberg, producers of CAREGIVERS (Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion, Their Pain). These wonderful folks are bringing an entire team of people from the secondary traumatic stress committees from the Philadelphia ACE Task Force (PATF).