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MEREDITH RIZZO/THE MARSHALL PROJECT. IMAGES: MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES, MIGUEL A. PADRIÑAN/PEXELS, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND DIE JIM CROW RECORDS By Maurice Chammah, The Marshall Project, August 3, 2023 One morning in 2019, Kenyatta Emmanuel Hughes was released from Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, New York, and traveled 70 miles south to Carnegie Hall. That night, he stood before a crowd — flanked by a horn section, string quartet and backup singers — and sang...

Crisis interventionist Vicki Lucas, left, is accompanied by Emily Spencer, center, who works for Lucas on a freelance basis-part of a larger network of assistants that Lucas maintains for intervention work throughout the state and the country, as they provide Sherry Hill’s daughter, right, with a chance to speak on a phone with Hill outside of a 7-Eleven convenience store in Pasadena on May 11.(Christina House / Los Angeles Times) By Thomas Curwen, Los Angeles Times, August 3, 2023 Sherry...

By Nyla Holland, brunocoelho/Shutterstock, Housing Matters, August 2, 2023 Access to public transportation connects people to work, health care, entertainment, and more. But not everyone has equal access. Historically, low-income communities and communities of color have been cut off from public transportation. Across the country, highways and large infrastructure projects were often built in ways that furthered racial segregation and isolated people of color, including building on Native...

By Stephan Manning and Yeşim Uygur, Illustration: mustafahacalaki/iStock, Stanford Social Innovation Review, August 3, 2023 Addressing entrenched social problems in local communities like inequality, violence, or environmental degradation is as much about changing local cultures and mindsets as it is about reworking the socioeconomic structures around them. Cultural norms and values, such as gender roles and attitudes toward nature, guide economic and social interactions in communities.

By Daniel Amen, Image: Chelsea Victoria/Stocksy, mindbodygreen health, August 2, 2023 Your childhood upbringing plays a major role in your brain development. If you grow up in a happy, functional home, it supports the developing brain. However, when you experience childhood trauma—such as the death of a parent, neglect, sexual abuse, or other traumatic incidents—it negatively impacts the way your brain develops. Sadly, this can have lasting consequences on your mental health and cognitive...

Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences (PACEs) Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences (PACEs) refer to the range of experiences and events that individuals may encounter during childhood, which can significantly influence their development, well-being, and long-term outcomes. PACEs can have lasting effects on physical health, mental health, social functioning, and overall quality of life. Positive Childhood Experiences: Positive childhood experiences encompass a variety of supportive...

A Black Prisoners Caucus meeting at Clallam Bay Corrections Center from the documentary “Since I Been Down.” (Facebook/Since I Been Down) By Darrell Jackson, Waging Violence, July 27, 2023 To survive in prison, inmates usually accept a “convict code” that demands toughness and makes us wary of others. To thrive in prison, I learned to embrace organizing for social change and discovered the rewards in thinking of others first. Contributing to a collective has helped me find deeper purpose in...

By Eric W. Dolan, Photo: from article, PsyPost, July 30, 2023 Childhood stress is linked to decreased hippocampal volume — a brain region important for memory and learning, according to new research published in PNAS Nexus . The study indicates that positive parenting practices act as a protective factor, but only when perceived positively by the youths themselves. The new findings contribute to our understanding of the impact of childhood stress and the factors that can promote resilience...

By Caroline Kitchener, Photo: Carolyn Van Houten, New York Magazine, August , 2023 Brooke High was not ready to face her family. Sitting on the edge of her bed, hair dripping wet, the 19-year-old listened to her twin daughters cry in their high chairs on the other side of the door. One hurled what sounded like a plate. Then a bottle. Her husband, Billy High, also 19, was supposed to be watching them. But Brooke could hear one of his TV shows playing on his phone. She waited a few minutes,...

Bessel van der Kolk at his home in Massachusetts. Photo: Frankie Alduino By Danielle Carr, New York Magazine, July 31, 2023 It’s bad news when your university creates a committee to ensure that you don’t publish any research papers without its approval. It’s worse news if the only other person facing similar scrutiny is a man investigating alien abductions. This was the situation facing the trauma researcher Bessel van der Kolk in the mid-’90s when Harvard Medical School informed him that...

By Yesenia Fuentes, Photo: Yaorusheng/Getty Images, Atmos, July 26, 2023 Stephanie Wills has been legally blind since birth. She was born with chorioretinal coloboma, a condition where a person’s retina does not fully develop in utero. The affliction, which Wills has in both eyes, makes sunlight painful. She often keeps her eyes closed and sleeps during the day to capitalize on the night’s sunless hours. In Panama, the tropical Central American country where Wills lives, sunlight is...

With summer winding down, and about 49 million U.S. student s preparing to head back to the classroom, our History. Culture. Trauma. podcast series examines America's challenged school system and its need for trauma-informed supports and solutions. "In recent years, COVID-19, school shootings, affirmation of LGBTQ students, institutional racism, critical race theory, teacher burnout, and parent's rights have transformed America's schools into cultural battlegrounds," said podcast host Ingrid...