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Although the presenters in this webinar discuss activities outside of California, the policy recommendations are important for all states. From the Build Initiative, the webinar discusses needed new investment approaches – from a strength-based, racial equity, and community- building perspective – for children in the first 1000 days of life. It offers new state and community investment approaches as potential “purple” solutions that address inequities and persistent structural barriers to...

The human mind is one of the most complex structures in the universe. Even in early infancy, it is capable of taking in a wide variety of inputs. Still, in our early years, we’ve only unlocked a small portion of its potential. Our brains actually continue to develop into our twenties . Accordingly, the U.S. Government embraces a definition of youth that continues until we turn 25. Nurturing the development of young minds to stay healthy through adulthood is a primary goal of SAMHSA’s Project...

One out of five California adults with children living in their homes were beaten, kicked or physically abused when they were children, and one in ten were sexually abused, according to data released recently by a children’s health foundation. Experts believe that’s an undercount. “I think it’s probably a low estimate,” said Cassandra Joubert, director of the Central California Children’s Institute at California State University, Fresno. “I think these kinds of events within families are...

Hey, All! In case you didn't hear the news, our new Resources Center is up and running. This is a work in progress, but you can find a host of resources to support your work. Please see Jane's initial post below! - Jen Welcome to the ACEsConnection.com Resources Center! As of October 2016, we are launching this new version. We think that it's a skeleton of its future self, i.e., we'll be adding more categories and more information to each category. Our goal is to make this useful, but not so...

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...

By age three, young children from lower-income families have heard 30 million fewer words than children from upper-income families. Research shows that these inequities during the preschool and kindergarten years largely persist throughout life. At this month’s Clinton Global Initiative America Meeting, The National Diaper Bank Network announced that it is thrilled to be teaming up with Too Small to Fail , a joint initiative of the Clinton Foundation and The Opportunity Institute, to provide...

Preschools around the United States and in California are deeply segregated, a new report from Penn State finds. Around the country, white children are overwhelmingly going to preschool with only other white children, and more than half of all black and Latino children under five attend preschool where 90 percent of the students are children of color. That's also the case in California, one of two states with the lowest enrollment of white children in public preschool programs. In fact, a...

The Aspen Institute announced Tuesday it has launched a commission to accelerate the transfer of research about social and emotional skill-building — which includes developing the interpersonal skills that organizers say contribute to success in school, college and work — into teaching practices across the nation. Seven Californians are members of the National Commission on Social, Emotional and Academic Development. Linda Darling-Hammond , president of the Learning Policy Institute, is one...

When it comes to children's brains, Rahil Briggs describes them as ... sticky. "Whatever we throw, [it] sticks. That's why they can learn Spanish in six months when it takes us six years," says the New York City based child psychologist, "but also why if they're exposed to community violence, or domestic violence, it really sticks." Briggs works at the Healthy Steps program at the Montefiore Comprehensive Health Care Center in the South Bronx, screening children as young as 6 months for...

From the organizers of the 2016 ACEs Conference , San Francisco, CA, October 19th -21st, 2016. Please consider submitting your project today! We know building connections and learning across fields is the best way to advance practices that support children. That’s why we’re very excited to invite you to submit your work to the 2016 Conference on Adverse Childhood Experiences Project Showcase . We’re looking to highlight research, programs, tools or other initiatives that: Highlight the role...

The latest adverse childhood experiences survey from the California Department of Public Health shows that 42% of the population has an ACE score of 3 or higher; 16% have an ACE score of 4 or higher. Those with an ACE score of 4 or higher are: 3x more likely to be current smokers 4x more likely to have a depressive disorder 2x more likely to have asthma 2x more likely to be obese 4x more likely to have COPD 3x more likely to have a stroke Here are a few other highlights from the six-page...

The Community Cure for Health Care | Stanford Social Innovation Review T welve-year old Anna has asthma. She lives in a low-income neighborhood and gets her care at a clinic affiliated with a major teaching hospital. Despite high-quality medical care, Anna’s asthma is not well controlled. Last year she missed almost two weeks of school, had two urgent care visits, and a brief but scary (and expensive) hospital stay. Her pediatrician believes that the old, rent-subsidized apartment where...