Congregants worship at Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, Texas. Photo: Screenshot/WFAA To read more of Bill Browning's article, please click here. The Cathedral of Hope — an LGBTQ+-affirming United Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas — has made a concerted effort to defend the queer community from “persecution,” as the state government targets drag queens and transgender people. The church recently held a service where they blessed drag queens and pledged to “stand for justice, proclaim love, and...

It’s time to take action and make our voices heard to build healthy, resilient communities! The Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP) is organizing trauma-informed advocates, activists, and stakeholders to urge their U.S. Senators and Representatives to support two bipartisan, bicameral bills that would significantly help prevent, address, and mitigate the negative impacts of trauma through community-based/led initiatives.

The brain doesn’t fully develop until about the age of 25. This fact is sometimes quite surprising and eye opening to most adults. It can also be somewhat overwhelming for new parents and professionals who are interacting with babies and young children every day, to contemplate. It is essential to realize however, that the greatest time of development occurs in the years prior to kindergarten. And even more critical to understand is that by age three 85 percent of the core structures of the...

Successful health equity strategies must be inclusive, and focus on all marginalized and minoritized persons and their communities. Any lesser view will continue to yield a faulty health equity equation.

(This is a review of what I believe is an important new resource for the PACEs [for positive and adverse childhood experiences] science movement. Opinions expressed are my own, and are shared as a parent, advocate, author, and longtime student of trauma, healing, and prevention. Thoughts are also shared through my lens as someone who believes, deeply, in the incredible importance of and value in building healthier, more compassionate communities to support and nurture pregnant and new...

In Trauma-Informed Parenting Program: TIPs for Clinicians to Train Parents of Children Impacted by Trauma & Adversity , distinguished psychologist and renowned expert, Dr. Carryl P. Navalta, presents a practical and hands-on guide for clinicians working to improve emotion regulation of trauma-affected children. Readers will discover how to assess, conceptualize, and treat children dealing with the effects of exposure to various forms of trauma and adversity and to provide their clients'...

Image: GUS BOVA To read more of Gus Bova's article, please click here. L indsay Spinney was born in the same hospital where she now works in the newborn intensive care unit. A 43-year-old registered nurse at Ascension Seton Medical Center—a 524-bed Catholic hospital in central Austin—Spinney has spent almost six years caring for babies born sick or premature, some so small their weight registers only in grams or ounces. It was her dream job. But reality at the hospital soon diverged from...

Transgender people begin leaving states with anti-LGBTQ laws. Laws restricting gender-affirming care have prompted some families to move. To read more of Kiara Alfonseca's article, please click here. Laws in place Jamie, another parent who asked to be referred to by a pseudonym for safety reasons, moved their family from Texas to Colorado to protect her gender nonconforming teenager. They said the move took up a lot of their savings -- a costly but important decision families say they had to...

Ben David, co-chair of the North Carolina Chief Justice's Task Force on ACEs-Informed Courts, shares plans to sustain the work done during the two-year term of the Task Force, to "care for our own" speaking of North Carolina's children, youth, families, communities, victims of crimes, members of law enforcement, the judiciary and court officers and staffers. He also shared Chief Justice Paul Newby's hopes of "getting ACEs-informed courts" into the culture, and said a national conference for...

PACEs Connection is excited to kick off our 2023 Creating Resilient Communities (CRC) Annual Accelerator Program.

Jack Morgan/Lanier High School's Día de Muertos altar Author: To read Jack Morgan's article, please click here. People throughout South Texas are celebrating Día de los Muertos by building colorful altars and decorating them with photos of their lost loved ones, flowers and their favorite foods. The citywide celebration Muertosfest has included a monument specifically honoring the children and teachers lost to the Uvalde school shooting Muertosfest’s Chris Davila said 80 altars were set up...

Photo: Rachel Zein for the Texas Tribune Author: Brian Lopez, August 11, 2022 Author of 'Critical Race Theory' Ban Says Texas School Can Still Teach About Racism For the past year, Texas educators have struggled with a new law targeting how history and race are taught in the state’s public schools. Now, eight months after the enactment of a law designed to de-emphasize the role of slavery and racism in American history in Texas social studies classes, state Sen. Bryan Hughes , R-Mineola, the...