Blog

New Hanover Resiliency Task Force Chairman Scott Whisnant thanks Executive Director Mebane Boyd for her leadership, and his "Resilient Vision Award." The July 27, 2019 meeting of the New Hanover Resiliency Task Force marked the first year of the group’s work since hiring a coordinator, but the gag gifts handed out in celebration told the real story of the community building, affection, and joy experienced in the members’ work together. New Hanover County’s Chief Planning Officer, Beth...

By Lenny Bernstein, The Washington Post, August 13, 2019 An influential group of health experts recommended Tuesday that doctors screen all adults for use of illegal drugs, another step toward curbing the epidemic that claims tens of thousands of lives each year. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said that health providers should attempt to determine whether their patients 18 or older are using illicit drugs, including nonmedical use of prescription drugs. But the panel said it did not...

Corey Mitchell, Education Week, August 9, 2019 In the wake of the largest U.S. immigration raid in a decade, educators in Mississippi this week were left to console and support children with detained parents. Now, school administrators and other educators across the country face the prospect that workplace raids could happen in their districts—and must address the fear and uncertainty that is likely gripping millions of their students. Nationally, at least five million children have at least...

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, August 7, 2019 To advance equitable and inclusive policies, we need greater diversity in policy and law research. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Policies for Action program is launching a new funding and mentorship opportunity for early-career policy researchers. We seek historically underrepresented, post-doctoral scholars to study existing policies and law reform so everyone may have a fair and just opportunity to live their healthiest life. [ Please click...

By Monica Humphries, Nationswell, August 14, 2019 IT’S GOING TO TAKE MORE THAN JUST A BAN ON LUNCH SHAMING. AS SCHOOLS STRUGGLE TO FEED CHILDREN WITHOUT PLUMMETING INTO DEBT, LEGISLATORS AND ORGANIZATIONS ARE LOOKING AT SOLUTIONS. Stephanie Woodard still remembers the weight of a roll of pennies in her pocket, hoping it would be enough to pay for lunch. The professional learning specialist for Fort Bend International School District recalls sneaking into her father’s bedroom and digging...

Cissy's Note: I work with people who challenge systems and policies, who reform or start non-profits, and who see hope and promise where others see despair or destruction. While some folks shake their heads or shrug indifferently in the face of injustice and suffering, others organize, mobilize, and channel their time and energy towards making a change. Maybe a physician hosts an annual conference bringing trauma-informed approaches to medical practice. Perhaps a woman shares ACEs 101...

By Elizabeth Lawrence and Elinor Aspegren, USA Today, August 14, 2019 Revelle Mast wanted to be an architect when she was a kid. She changed course in high school, deciding to pursue chemical engineering to address the threat of climate change. But, last year, she made another life decision: to go into politics. “I realized about a year ago that was not feasible on the time scale that climate change is happening,” Mast said. “Nine months ago, I quit my engineering job and went full time into...

By Kelefa Sanneh, The New Yorker, August 12, 2019 Sixteen years ago, in 2003, the student newspaper at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, a historically black institution in Tallahassee, published a lively column about white people. “I don’t hate whites,” the author, a senior named Ibram Rogers, wrote. “How can you hate a group of people for being who they are?” He explained that “Europeans” had been “socialized to be aggressive people,” and “raised to be racist.” His theory was...

By Alex Leeds Matthews, Center for Health Journalism, August 13, 2019 When reporters talk about socioeconomic status, it’s rarely defined. Usually, we’re thinking of a broad category of measures related to this nebulous idea: income, education, percent of federal poverty level, housing status and others. But all these little pieces that we stitch together into the broader notion of socioeconomic status are not equivalent. For example, while there is a relationship between income and...

By Jeneen Interlandi, The New York Times, August 14, 2019 The smallpox virus hopscotched across the post-Civil War South, invading the makeshift camps where many thousands of newly freed African-Americans had taken refuge but leaving surrounding white communities comparatively unscathed. This pattern of affliction was no mystery: In the late 1860s, doctors had yet to discover viruses, but they knew that poor nutrition made people more susceptible to illness and that poor sanitation...

September 23rd- 26th, Community Resilience Initiative (CRI) will be holding a trauma-informed boot camp , in which participants can spend an exciting week learning our Course 1, Course 2, and/or Course 3 information. Many of you have already attended Course 1 and 2, and are eager to learn more strategies. Course 3 describes training on topics that teach the knowledge and skills required by individuals who have more regular and intense contact with individuals who may be adversely affected by...

It was an absolute pleasure to engage in a soulful conversation with Karen Salmansohn to discuss her upcoming book, Instant Calm: 2-Minute Meditations to Create a Lifetime of Happy; her personal story of triumph; the philosophies of Aristotle (along with other fascinating letter-A subjects from Encyclopedia Britannica); and much more.