Tagged With "local work"
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10th Annual Community Empowerment Through Black Men Healing Conference
DESCRIPTION Register Here This year's theme is “Sankofa, Go back to the past and bring forward that which is useful.” The goal is to examine the past 10 years of efforts to prevent community trauma and possible strategies to build resilience and a future of healing. Since 2009, this conference has provided an opportunity for meaningful community engagement and access to national and local educators, and community practitioners to discuss and introduce practical culturally sensitive trauma...
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12 Myths of the Science of ACEs
The two biggest myths about ACEs science are: MYTH #1 — That it’s just about the 10 ACEs in the ACE Study — the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study . It’s about sooooo much more than that. MYTH #2 — And that it’s just about ACEs…adverse childhood experiences. These two myths are intertwined. The ACE Study issued the first of its 70+ publications in 1998, and for many people it was the lightning bolt, the grand “aha” moment, the unexpected doorway into a blazing new...
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2017 Pinwheel for Prevention Awardees
15 th Annual Minnesota Pinwheels for Prevention Tribe/Community Awards Each year, Minnesota Communities Caring for Children (MCCC) recognizes statewide tribes and communities that have consistently worked to create safe and healthy environments for children and families. We want to celebrate the crucial work of these communities that are creating spaces and opportunities for their children to thrive by enhancing prevention initiatives and family and children’s services. We are happy to...
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Free 2017 Spring Webinar Series: The Practice and Power of Engaging Parent Leaders
May 23, noon-1:30pm: The Practice and Power of Engaging Parent Leaders with Lisa Deputie & Roxy Foster This webinar is about understanding the best practices of engaging parents with professionals. We will focus on strategies that empower parents to create change for themselves, their families and communities. We will discuss and explore the following questions : Why would parents want to be involved? Why would staff want to be engage in parent involvement? Why is parent involvement...
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2017 Spring Webinar Series: Trauma-Informed Approaches in Minnesota Schools
April 12, noon-1:30: Trauma-Informed Approaches in Minnesota Schools Dr. Mark Sander, Hennepin County; Stacy Bender-Fayette and Sharleen Zeman-Sperle, Peacemaker Resources Many Minnesota schools are trying innovative approaches to promote social emotional learning and to make the classroom a safe learning environment for children who have experienced trauma. This webinar is a chance to hear from three such innovators: Dr. Mark Sander, a psychologist working in the Minneapolis Public Schools...
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ACE Interface Trainer Spotlight: Barb Sorum
Minnesota Communities Caring for Children (MCCC) is the only nonprofit in Minnesota to focus on the prevention of child abuse and neglect before it starts. One way we do this is by educating communities about how our early experiences shape lifelong health and well-being. A lot of our work is influenced by the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, which showed that certain experiences in childhood can cause toxic stress and result in physical changes in brain development. Using a...
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ACE Interface Trainer Spotlight: Linsey McMurrin
Linsey McMurrin, an SEL and Prevention Specialist with Peacemaker Resources, is an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. She is program manager of Girls Lead on the Go!, a leadership program for young women, and is an organizer of the Bemidji Area Truth and Reconciliation Initiative, a grassroots effort to promote truth-seeking, healing and change through increasing understanding and building relationships among area indigenous and non-indigenous communities. Linsey is certified...
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ACE Interface Trainer Spotlight: Ruth Charles
ACE Interface Presenter Ruth Charles, MSW, PhD, LCSW Professor, Social Work Dept Winona State University What led you to want to become a certified ACE Interface presenter? I teach at Winona State in the social work department and coordinate the IV-E Child Welfare Scholar program which integrates social work students into the public foster care system. I am always looking for new information to bring to my classes. When I learned about the ACE research, it made perfect sense! The evidence...
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ACE Trainings: Developing A Cohort of Action and Expertise (Hennepin County, Minnesota)
YOU ARE INVITED TO JOIN IN ACTION PLANNING TO SUSTAIN ADVERSE CHILD EXPEREINCES (ACE) WORK IN THE COMMUNITY and SCHOOLS On September 22 nd , a group of community members and organization leaders attended a presentation of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). The September presentation was the just beginning of a journey to raise awareness about ACEs, support the development of resilience and ultimately engage individuals in community transformation in the northwest suburbs of Hennepin...
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ACEs Science in Education: The Next Big Challenge is Systems Change #ACEsCon2018
One of the first sessions of the 2018 ACEs Conference: Action to Access discussed the barriers and opportunities for increasing access in the field of education. The main question was: "How can one achieve systematic changes within the field of education?" The session was moderated by Michelle Flowers, a passionate advocate, and the principal of Kinney High in Rancho Cordova, CA, which is part of the Folsom Cordova Unified School District. It included a dynamic and diverse panel of education...
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Building Brainerd's resilience: Could research on childhood trauma change society? [BrainerdDispatch.com]
What if one area of research could prevent some of society's biggest problems? Researchers say an ever-expanding pool of data on the effects of childhood trauma—and how to counteract those effects—might be the key to alleviating countless societal problems. These include criminality, substance abuse, mental health problems and some of the leading causes of death. Those who work with children, in health care and with incarcerated populations in Crow Wing County are seeking to bring local...
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Bush Fellowships awarded to 24 who can use the $100K to develop leadership skills[MinnPost]
This article describes the award by the St. Paul, Minnesota-based Bush Foundation of 24 fellowships to individuals in North and South Dakota, Minnesota and 23 Native nations to develop leadership skills. Some of the awardees are doing work trauma-specific work such as Susan Marie Beaulieu who is teaching ACEs in Native American communities. Others are using the arts, drumming and other culturally-grounded approaches to heal communities. One is a state legislator (not seeking re-election),...
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Changing the question: ACEs gaining momentum, awareness in Winona (MN) [WinonaDailyNews.com]
When someone acts out or becomes violent, the first question often asked by parents, teachers, friends, family and others is: “Why did you do this?” Winona State University social work professor Ruth Charles and several other community leaders are working to change the framing of the question, asking instead: “What happened to you that would make you behave this way?” First defined in a study that began in 1995, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), established a link between childhood...
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State rep and family advocate, Rena Moran, envisions a trauma-informed Minnesota
Minnesota has the potential to become a trauma-informed state if the hard work is done to raise awareness of ACEs and the impact of toxic stress on brain development, says third-term state representative Rena Moran (D-St. Paul). Moran led the effort...
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Teen pregnancy prevention program for Native American youth expands to Minnesota [caih.jhu.edu]
By Center for American Indian Health - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, June 4, 2019. Nationally, teen pregnancy rates have declined by 67% since peaking in 1991. Yet significant disparities remain. Native American teens have the highest teen birth rate of any U.S. group and 4 in 10 Native American women begin childbearing in adolescence. Working closely with tribal partners, the Center for American Indian Health (Center) developed Respecting the Circle of Life, a...
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The Science of How Our Minds and Our Bodies Converge in the Healing of Trauma [brain pickings]
“A purely disembodied human emotion is a nonentity,” William James asserted in his revolutionary 1884 theory of how our bodies affect our feelings . Two generations later, Rilke wrote in a beautiful letter of advice to a young woman : “I am not one of those who neglect the body in order to make of it a sacrificial offering for the soul, since my soul would thoroughly dislike being served in such a fashion.” And yet in the century since, we’ve made little progress on making sense — much less...
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Trauma and School Children: Can the Law Empower These Students? [The Legal Intelligencer]
M.M. grew up in an inner-city neighborhood in Boston. While in utero, M.M. experienced fetal distress while exposed to crack cocaine. As an adolescent, his mother was repeatedly incarcerated due to drug use. Because M.M. never knew his father, he transitioned in and out of foster homes, and at times, found himself homeless. Growing up, he also frequently witnessed street crime. Unsurprisingly, M.M. suffered episodic depression throughout his youth. Even though M.M. was ultimately provided...
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Trauma-Informed Care is Not a Program For Your Clients
Understanding the long-term impact of developmental trauma, how trauma impacts the brain, and the science of resiliency is a powerful first step toward change. It is exciting to watch people begin to let this knowledge soak in… and even more exciting when they begin to ask “Now what?” As I have worked with organizations across the state, I have found that often what they are really looking for is the curriculum or recipe book that they can follow for their clients or students. Even those...
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Trauma-Informed Director of Operations Job Opportunity - Minneapolis, Minnesota
The Mother-Baby Program at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has received a transformational gift to create a Center for Family Healing to support the health and wellbeing of children and families, rooted in core values of equity, social justice, and the healing power of relationships. The Center for Family Healing is seeking applicants for the Director of Operations position that will provide strategic and operational oversight of the five components of the Center:...
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Trauma-Informed is Messy Business…
Words like trauma-informed and resiliency get thrown around a lot these days. And for many, the visions they call up are a bit too glossy. You see resiliency and trauma-informed aren’t always pretty. Resiliency can look like closing the bathroom door and collapsing in tears… but then washing your face and going back into the world, carrying the belief that you can survive and the hope that things will get better. It looks like begrudgingly going on that walk with a friend, when the little...
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Using Minnesota Student Survey Data to inform Community Action
In this webinar Melissa Adolfson will present information on ACEs and Protective Factors from the 2016 Minnesota Student Survey, and discuss how those data can help communities determine where to take action to reduce the impact of ACEs. As communities across Minnesota engage in the Understanding ACEs: Building Self-Healing Communities work, this is a great source of information to support the work! This webinar repeats a workshop that was offered at the ACE Collaborative Gathering in St.
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Want to crack ACEs in the Corporate world? Read this-
Business is the toughest door to get in when it comes to ACEs work, but chambers of commerce hold (some) of the keys to government when it comes to shaping the local civic space. If you're inclined to leverage the profit world, this brief can serve as a sign post to find the sweet spot between ethical responsibility and economic prosperity. The Future of Work Begins with a City's Youngest Residents
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We’re Hiring! Regional ACE Training Coordinators
Regional ACE Training Coordinator- Southwest MN Job Profile and Reporting Relationships The Regional ACE Training Coordinator is responsible for coordinating the organization’s ACE Interface training and Self-Healing Communities program partnership with Family Service Collaboratives and Children’s Mental Health Collaboratives in their region in coordination with the Director of ACE Collaborative Partnerships. This position plays a key network weaving role in the learning community approach...
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Webinar: Defining and Unpacking the Social Determinants of Health & Health Equity
Join the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) on November 29 as it hosts the first webinar in its Culture of Health Webinar Series. Date/Time : November 29, 2018, 4:00 – 5:00 pm EST The National Academies report Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity identified 9 social determinants of health and how these determinants impact our health and the health of our communities. The report also defined health equity as the state in which everyone has the opportunity to attain full health...
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Welcome!
Welcome to Minnesota's ACEs Connection page! There is a great deal of energy in Minnesota about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), trauma-informed approaches, and resilience. For the past two years the Trauma-Informed Approaches...
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What If I Told You?
What if I told you that I was a victim of child sex abuse? As a survivor of child sexual abuse , I have a clear understanding of the importance of addressing stigma and shame as it pertains to sexual abuse, sexual assault and rape. Victims, especially young children, often do not disclose sexual abuse. Those who are witnesses of child sexual abuse, or who are trusted by survivors enough that they confide in them, are often ill-equipped to handle the responsibility. And, many times, parents...
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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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Workshop looks at childhood trauma’s effect on development [Mankato Free Press]
NORTH MANKATO — A Thursday workshop focused on the impact adverse childhood experiences can have on health outcomes later in life. Also known as ACEs, adverse childhood experiences include sexual abuse, neglect, substance abuse by a family member and a wide range of other traumatic experiences. As highlighted Thursday, the more ACEs in a child’s life, the greater the risk of negative health outcomes. The workshop was organized to educate regional child development advocates on ACEs and what...
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Bemidji ACEs and EI Workshops
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Duluth ACEs and EI Workshops
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Mankato ACEs and EI Workshops
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Sauk Rapids ACEs and EI Workshops
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Exciting Upcoming Events in Minnesota!
Midwest ACE Summit | November 10-11, 2016 Eagan, Minnesota | Click here for more information You have likely already heard about the Midwest ACE Summit from previous posts in this group. What you haven't heard is an exciting update about the event -- Laura Porter of the Foundation for Healthy Generations in Washington will be facilitating the final plenary session at the Summit! This rounds the keynote speakers out to four: Sam Simmons, Dr. Henry Emmons, Dr. Roy Wade, Jr. and Laura Porter.
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"Faces of ACEs: The Lifelong Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences" Conference 2019
Friday, April 12, 2019 marked an exciting, auspicious, and perhaps pivotal day in the history of Monroe County, Indiana. That’s a lot of adjectives—and pressure—to pile onto just another glorious spring day in Bloomington. But I think many folks who virtually congregate on a site that supports communities implementing trauma-informed and resilience-building practices grounded in ACEs science would agree that a county’s first-ever ACEs conference deserves a little ballyhoo. But this ACEs...
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Feature: Central Minnesota ACEs Collaborative
Sometimes the problem is so big we struggle to see how we can make a difference. It is like that first step you take at the base of the mountain. You know it is the first of many. You know that you have a long way to go to the finish. It is easy at that point to get discouraged; to feel helpless; or even to deny your ability to actually do what was set out to be done. You may want to quit or you do quit! Mother Teresa said, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the...
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Finding My Own Meaning Through REACH Stewartville
My own history of ACEs is too long for this blog post, but I have a score of 8/10. What is important though is that this score has brought me strength, purpose, and direction as my position of REACH Program Coordinator at Stewartville Middle and High School in Stewartville, MN. I grew up in Stewartville and am now raising my family here. REACH stands for Relationships, Education, Accountability, Character, and Hard work. REACH is an elective class offered to students in grades 7-12. Students...
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From Trauma to Resilience training in Minneapolis, MN
Only 15 SPOTS remain for our training, From Trauma to Resilience: Fostering Hope Through Trauma-Informed Care! On September 27, participants will come together for our day long comprehensive training. This training is designed to assist participants in developing their unique skillset needed to support individuals who have experienced adverse childhood experiences and traumatic events. Objectives: Increase awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and impact on well-being. Explain...
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Growing Up in Today's World is NOT Easy: One Student's Story
Growing up in today's world is NOT easy. I have heard hundreds of students tell me this. Despite this fact, many of them have also told me that many of the adults in their lives don't seem to understand this, including parents, teachers, and society. Adults who are disconnected from the reality of the lives of the youth that they are around will not be able to completely understand how to provide the support that might be needed for those youth needing it most. I recently met a young woman...
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Harvard Infographic on ACEs and Toxic Stress
This was just posted by Harvard. I thought all of us could use access to it, for use in our schools and the settings we work in. The full image is on the attached PDF.
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Help #GreatChildhoods Happen This April!
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, a national month dedicated to recognizing the ways that people can get involved in the healthy development of children. Prevent Child Abuse America and Minnesota Communities Caring for Children are spreading the message that everyone plays a role in helping great childhoods happen. Get involved with child abuse prevention by taking part in activities like mentoring children and parents, advocating for family-friendly policies, and donating time and...
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Helping Students Overcome Toxic Stress through Science-Based Teaching Practices (stresshealth.org)
“What our students really crave the most is predictability from the adults interacting with them,” says Roger Sapp, a student success teacher at KIPP. For that reason, the one-on-one session is not a reward for being “good” or withheld if something bad happens. The kids who need it can count on it – every day. The scene is from a video by Edutopia (aka the George Lucas Educational Foundation), which has produced a series of more than 20 powerful, engaging shorts on how children learn in...
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Hi!
Hello Minnesota ACEs Action! As your Regional Community Facilitator, I am excited to work together. I have an affinity for homegrown movements. I, myself, am a part of a thriving collective impact in Nashville, TN called ACE Nashville. I have extensive experience creating a local movement and I hope I can be a resource for you, not just on ACEs Connection but also with your efforts within your cities and communities. I have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to collective impact and...
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Hiring: Evaluation and Community Education Manager
Minnesota Communities Caring for Children (MCCC) is a statewide nonprofit organization that empowers parents and builds the capacity of communities to create environments where all children thrive. Our mission is to empower parents and communities to build supportive relationships, nurture children, and prevent child abuse and neglect. Job Profile The Evaluation and Community Education Manager is responsible for coordinating the organization’s ACE Interface training program and network of...
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How To Apply The Brain Science Of Resilience To The Classroom [NPR]
Neuroscience isn't on many elementary school lesson plans. But this spring, a second grade class at Fairmont Neighborhood School in the South Bronx is plunging in. Sarah Wechsler, an instructional coach with wide eyes and a marathoner's energy, asks the students to think about the development and progress that they've made already in their lives. "You probably don't remember, but there was a time when you didn't know how to speak and you were just like 'Wah wah wah blah blah blah, mama,...
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In Minnesota, Recruitment of Native American Foster Homes Stymied by ‘Lifetime Prohibitions’ [Chronicles of Social Change]
by Christie Renick "Shana King, a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, spent more than three years in foster care as a teen. She lost her own children to the system during a struggle with heroin. Since then, she has gotten her children back, bought a home, and received a national award for her work as a mentor. She badly wants to be a foster parent to American Indian children in Hennepin County, Minnesota's most populous metro area. But because of the drug history, the county...
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Introducing Emily Clary, MCCC's Director of ACE Collaborative Partnerships
Emily Clary is responsible for helping develop and coordinate the ACE Interface training and Self-Healing Communities partnership with the Children’s Mental Health and Family Services Collaboratives across the state. Emily holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Sociology from Beloit College. Emily is deeply committed to sharing research about Adverse Childhood Experiences and...