Blog

Becky Haas, community crime prevention manager for the Johnson City Police Department, hopes the Trauma Informed Care system created here will spread throughout the nation. Johnson City is on the verge of becoming a completely Trauma-Informed Care community, which local officials believe can improve the health, education and social lives of everyone who lives in the region. And Johnson City’s efforts to create this system of care could spur a national movement. That belief was apparent...

The unemployment rate is 3.9 percent. Businesses are desperate for workers. Yet at the same time, a large group of people can’t find a job. The skills people have often don’t match the skills employers need. One solution is training them for a specific field: a short, intensive course that prepares students for skilled work in construction, auto mechanics or hospital patient care. In New Jersey at the moment, these jobs can pay $19 or $20 an hour to start. These programs can be very...

If you live in a city, you have probably walked by a newly redesigned public space that just happens to be…completely empty. In fact, millions of dollars are spent every year renovating public spaces in an effort to attract users. So, why do so many revamped areas remain unused and unloved after so much thought and economic resources are put into reenvisioning them? The Center for Active Design (CfAD) has spent the last four years exploring that very question in an initiative “ Assembly ,”...

If a pair of powerful Pennsylvania state senators get their way, a burgeoning approach to managing student behavior could become a mandate. State Sens. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh, and Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia, announced a proposal last week to create a “trauma-informed system of education.” The central plank of their proposal is a requirement that all teachers, school board members, and school employees “with direct contact with students” receive trauma-informed training. The details don’t...

MCKINNEY, Texas — As a prospective tenant, B.R. Williams learned early on she needed a script to woo potential landlords: Mention her stellar rental history. Emphasize that Section 8 housing vouchers are “pro-landlord,” with most of the rent direct deposited each month. Always utter the magic words, “This is a no-fail system.” Sometimes the pitch worked. But even then, Williams often would show up to look at an apartment, only to be told that it was no longer available. “I guess they...

In recent decades, the percentage of American citizens who receive some form of assistance from the federal government has significantly increased. According to the most recent research , 96 percent of Americans have benefited from at least one such government program, be it Medicaid, Medicare, student loans, nutritional assistance, welfare, disability, or the mortgage interest deduction. In a new report released by the Brookings Institution, researchers Richard Reeves and Christopher...

When Army surgeon Rhonda Cornum regained consciousness after her helicopter crashed, she looked up to see five Iraqi soldiers pointing rifles at her. It was 1991 and her Black Hawk had been shot down over the Iraqi desert. Dazed from blood loss, with a busted knee and two broken arms, the then-36-year-old medic was subjected to a mock execution by her captors, sexually assaulted, and kept prisoner in a bunker for a week. Her crisis included textbook causes for post-traumatic stress—a...

Mindfulness meditation can help us lead happier, healthier lives…at least according to science. Yet many of us still balk at the idea of practicing it ourselves. Perhaps we fear that meditation is too new agey, or it might slow us down or lead to complacency. Some might fear mindfulness could come at the expense of productivity, a moral compass, or even the vitality that gives us our edge. But new research studies bust some of the common myths around mindfulness meditation. Rather than...

In their work covering crime in New Orleans, Richard Webster and Jonathan Bullington often saw neighborhood kids who’d been witnesses, lost family members and were present at crime scenes. And they wondered — what does that do to kids? The two NOLA.com | Times-Picayune reporters spent one school year finding out. Their series, “ The Children of Central City ,” tells the story of a group of kids, their families and schools, but also the science behind trauma and what it means for all of them.

The Center for Youth Wellness is looking for a contractor for a Detroit Based Feasibility Study.

A bill that would largely exclude California youth under the age of 12 from prosecution is now headed to the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown (D) after passing out of both chambers of the state legislature. Senate Bill 439 would direct counties to seek alternatives to the juvenile justice system for children 11 and younger. State Senator Holly Mitchell (D), a co-sponsor of the legislation, hopes that the state could use a new pot of state money aimed at diverting young people from the justice system...

In most places around the country, bail hearings are open to the public. The idea is that if the government is going to try to imprison you, the news media and your family and friends should be able to see what goes on and make sure it’s done fairly. Not so in Dallas County, Texas, where people accused of crimes have their bail set behind closed doors — without any family, lawyers, social workers or journalists present. A class action lawsuit against the county compelled a district court...