Blog

Rep. Joseph Kennedy III drew on the spirit of his grandfather Robert F. Kennedy this morning, casting juvenile justice as an urgent civil rights issue in a rousing and eloquent keynote address at the inaugural Probation System Reform Symposium . He applauded the 200-plus symposium attendees, many of them people who work with children in the system, for being on the front lines of this movement and putting reforms into place that de-emphasize punishment and throwing children deeper into the...

By now, no one is debating the fact that economic inequality has grown substantially in the past few decades . It seems that almost every day there’s a new report showing that incomes and wealth continue to grow for the richest while everyone else struggles to make do. But when it comes to solutions, the conversation stalls. That may be because people are focusing on the wrong parts of of inequality, says Kevin Leicht, the head of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign’s sociology...

In the not too distant past, I am sure you can all remember a time driving in a car while not wearing a seatbelt. In fact, many grown adults can recall a time when, as children, they would crawl around the backseat of the car and even sit in the rear window while the car zoomed down the interstate. Today, I fret, with good reason, as to whether I adjusted the straps of my daughters NASA-approved car seat appropriately to keep her safe while, with my hands at 10 and 2, I cautiously inch my...

I spent the nineties growing up in San Francisco, which, like many cities in that decade, churned with swirls of startling change. Boulevards were beautified (although a shaggy indie scene managed to thrive on side streets). Coffee changed from canteen sludge to crisp black java, and still cost less than a sandwich . New museums opened. Trendy people pursued “desktop publishing” in warehouses long left to rot. Urban life means riding a pendulum between extremes: a city is always en route to...

On February 23, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced a $100 million, three-year strategy to begin inquiries into the roots of violence against Indigenous women. Grassroots groups are asking why the United States has not responded to this crisis by allocating more resources to investigate violent acts on its soil. Valentine’s Day in Fargo, North Dakota, was cold this year: It was snowing and the wind blew sharply. A small group of about 12 to 14 Native American women and supporters,...

There she sat at a fast-food restaurant, single mom alone with her daughter. The place was mostly empty. A worker was mopping the floor, and the little girl was fascinated with his chore. Her mom was glued to her cell phone. The little girl’s dinner sat at the table, untouched except for a few french fries she’d poke in her mouth as she ran back to the table every so often. Maybe it’s because I’m cognizant of what kids of divorce go through and aware of how tough parenting alone can be, but...

An exciting initiative—Building Community Resilience collaborative established by Nemours (part of Moving Health Care Upstream )— is underway in five communities across the country to help child health systems connect with community-based resources to address social determinants (e.g., housing and access to public transportation) in places where children live, learn and play. This post by ACEs Connection member Wendy Ellis includes a short video (less than 3 minutes) about the initiative and...

Over the years, this column has offered up “3 Things Students Wish Teachers Knew,” “3 Things Parents Wish Teachers Knew,” and “5 Things Teachers Wish Parents Knew.” Recently, it was called to my attention that I have never written about what school counselors might like readers to know about their profession

Like most complex subjects, no single label will ever suffice to describe Dove Springs, the Southeast Austin neighborhood where I grew up, but here are a few: Mexi­can-American, working-class, poor, overlooked, humble, proud, violent, peaceful, ugly, beautiful. Among the labels that are least likely to come up: affluent, privileged. One of the challenges facing the neighborhood is literacy. Dove Springs' Consuelo Mendez Middle School is on the Texas Education Agency's 2015 list of schools...

The research, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, used data from a nationally representative sample of over 2,000 American vets who were surveyed twice - once in 2011 and again in 2013 - in a study led by the Veteran's Affairs (VA) National Center for PTSD . Each time, the survey asked the veterans whether they had experienced suicidal thoughts in the past 2 weeks, and also about a host of other factors associated with suicidal thinking. The results showed that around 86% of...

Language is powerful. When we talk about people who come into contact with the criminal justice system and refer to them as “offenders,” “inmates,” or “convicts,” we cause these people’s offenses to linger long after they’ve paid their debt to society. Such labeling is both dehumanizing and stigmatizing, ascribing scarlet letters to people based on actions that arguably represent the worst days of their lives rather than who they are sons, sisters, parents, and community members. After...

There is a growing trend in education, mental health, social services, and health care: becoming trauma-informed. For those in ministry, “trauma informed” can be a confusing phrase, bringing up images we might not naturally associate with the church and its mission and ministry. Trauma results from something that occurs in a person’s life that is experienced as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening. An event, circumstance or series of events that are traumatic leaves lasting...