Before the creation of DCYF, funding and services were not always connected. The draft strategic plan helps our agency focus on how we serve children, youth, families and our communities as one entity. This framework helps to build on existing funding and services to strengthen our ability to serve families as well as to disrupt racial inequity and disproportionality in our systems. There is more work ahead for us to accomplish the priorities set out in the draft plan. The process to gather...

By Ryan White, Center for Health Journalism, July 23, 2020 Harvard’s Jack Shonkoff, a luminary in the field of early childhood, has spent years showing that events in the earliest years of life have profound implications for how budding brains develop, and in turn, shape a child’s later potential at school and work. Now, Shonkoff says it’s time to connect the brain to the rest of the body. “The message now is to say that there is a revolution going on in molecular biology and genomics and in...

Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families | Featured Posts | Date Posted: Wednesday, August 26, 2020 WILMINGTON, Del. – Governor John Carney on Wednesday announced Delaware was one of four states chosen by the National Governors Association to participate in a learning collaborative focused on recognizing and responding to adverse childhood experiences. The State of Delaware will join teams from Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wyoming in the Improving Well-being and Success of...

The March meeting of the New Jersey Education Association’s ACEs Task Force opened without an agenda. It was a virtual gathering with more than 50 people—educators, social workers, professionals in pediatrics, juvenile justice and child abuse prevention. The pandemic had landed emphatically close to home, with a governor’s order to close all schools on March 18, and participants were grappling with what that meant for their students, their families and themselves. So ACEs Task Force co-chair...

Five years of convening Newark’s ACE Impact Team has taught Keri Logosso-Misurell a crucial lesson: Fight the urge to reinvent the wheel.

In Fresno, volunteers from local churches were already working with the schools, mentoring kids and running weekend recreation programs. Community-based non-profits were in conversation with educators; pastors were talking to social-service providers. The problems were clear: nearly 30% of Fresno’s residents living in poverty (the rate tops 40% for Black residents), with a 20-year gap in life expectancy between the richest and poorest parts of this sharply segregated city. For several years,...

Student suspension rates dropped. Teacher retention rose. Membership in the PTA swelled from zero to more than 200. More kids said in a survey that there was at least one adult at school whom they could talk to if they had a problem. The data—a comparison of the Bounce Coalition’s pilot school and one with similar demographics—told the Kentucky resilience-boosting group that they were on the right track. The Bounce Coalition formed in 2014; the catalyst was a grant from the Foundation for a...

After a shooting at a historic Baltimore high school in February 2019—a 25-year-old man, angry about the school’s treatment of his sister, who was a student there, shot a special education assistant with a Smith and Wesson handgun—conversation in the city centered on whether school resource officers should be armed. Students said that was the wrong question. When City Council’s education and youth committee, chaired by council member Zeke Cohen, held hearings on school violence following the...

Kitsap Strong is excited to launch the 3rd Annual Resiliency Summit! In the hopes of making an engaging and inclusive virtual education experience, we have arranged for a full month of Lunch Time Learning sessions during the Month of October! This month-long (Monday - Friday) lunch and learn series will be a hope-filled experience in connecting, learning, and growing together to build a more resilient community! We are honored to offer increadible sessions provided by: Roberto Dansie-...

The week of the fall equinox was Mino-Bimaadiziwin Wellness Week at the Saginaw Chippewa Academy (SCA) in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, a pre-K through 5th grade school of about 130 students. “Mino-Bimaadiziwin” is an Anishinabe phrase meaning “to live the good life.” At the school, it started with “Mindfulness Monday”—students were encouraged to wear their favorite “thinking cap”—then segued to “Take care of our bodies Tuesday,” a “Love Your Community Wednesday" that included talking circles, and...

Are you curious about starting an ACEs Initiative in your community? Are you wanting to learn the fundamentals of organizing an initiative or coalition? Join one of these upcoming webinars to learn how to start and organize an initiative! 1. How To Start an ACEs Initiative in Your Community These webinars will be held monthly on the second Monday of the month by Alison Cebulla, the Community Facilitator (CF) for the Northeast USA, Mid-Atlantic USA, and Canada for ACEs Connection. You are...

Join Alfred White, founder and owner of The League of Extraordinary People, on Sunday nights for real talk about health and wellness for the BIPOC Community! Learn about how to heal from trauma, adversity, and chronic stress. Alfred will be going LIVE on the TLOEP Facebook page ! Here is the link to the Facebook and Instagram . On March 7th, Alfred will introduce viewers to TLOEP and our guiding principles. On March 14th, Alfred will lead viewers in an exploration of The Set Up: Living with...

After the last traumatic 2 years, this course gives teachers, parents, and other adults working closely with kids the skills they need to make sure that every child knows that they are safe and that they matter.

Registration and more info on these and other Sound Discipline workshops here. Reimagining Resilience 1: Using a Trauma Lens online, Feb 8 & 15 Reimagining Resilience 2: Developing Firmness Tools online, March 3 & 10 We are all continuing to navigate the stress and impacts of the COVID pandemic. Our school systems and staff are maxed out. Just making it though the day is a lot! Youth-serving organizations and community partners are exhausted from meeting the needs of young people and...