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MERCED, Calif. — As he walks to class at the University of California, Merced, Freddie Virgen sees a sea of faces in various shades of brown. He is as likely to hear banda corridos blaring out of his classmates’ earphones as hip-hop. With affectionate embraces, he greets fellow members of Hermanos Unidos , a peer support group for Latinos that is one of the largest student organizations on campus. “When I looked at other campuses, I would find myself feeling that I didn’t belong, like I’d...

State lawmakers and advocates pushing to legalize marijuana this year aren’t just touting legalization as a way to raise tax revenue and regulate an underground pot market. They’re also talking about fixing a broken criminal justice system and reinvesting in poor and minority communities that have been battered by decades of the government’s war on drugs. The focus on justice and equity has sharpened over time, longtime pot advocates say, as it’s become clear that such issues should be...

Gateway Mountain Center's Whole Hearts, Minds, and Bodies program is a nature-based therapeutic mentoring program in Truckee, California serving youth who are receiving or could benefit from services related to mental health, including behavioral, and/or substance abuse issues. A partnership with UCSF researcher Dr. Kathleen Tebb showed that the innovative treatment model “ The Gateway Method” has measurable positive outcomes for... high-risk youth." For more information, see ...

Healing the Heart Through the Creative Arts, Education & Advocacy Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health “ Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars”. Kahlil Gibran The Surviving Spirit Newsletter July 2018 8 Lifestyle Habits May Counter The Health Effects Of Early Life Stress – Forbes The seven essential behaviors of highly creative people – Quartz Common Drugs May Be Contributing to Depression - The New...

“There is a growing recognition that, for people and neighborhoods to be healthy and successful, different sectors must work together and that investments in one sector can bring dividends to another. Housing, for example, is increasingly understood to be an important determinant in life, affecting health, access to education, and the opportunity for upward mobility.” Stuart M. Butler and Marcela Cabello of The Brookings Institution make this point in a new report, “Housing as a hub for...

Nearly two years ago, I moved with my daughter, who was then 7, from Yonkers to a small town in Pennsylvania. It’s minutes outside of New Jersey, but right in the heart of Donald Trump’s America. Sixty-one percent of the people in my county voted for him. Drive through most communities in my town and you’ll still see large blue Trump campaign signs on perfectly manicured lawns. Chances are, you’ll spot at least two newer-model pickup trucks with Confederate flag license plate frames. As I, a...

This story was produced in collaboration with the Hechinger Report . High school auto mechanics teacher Kristina Carlevatti knows what it's like to be one of just a few females in a class. That was her frequent experience while earning a degree in technical and trade education at the State University of New York–Oswego. "There was the sense that you were being judged, like you didn't know what you were doing, so the guys might try to help you or hit on you," she says. Carlevatti has been...

Julie Schwietert Collazo unrolled a giant sheet of paper at her kitchen table in Long Island City, Queens, on a recent morning. As her three children played nearby, she began going down a list of names written on it in purple marker. “Hillary Estefany. Hillary Alejandra,” she read, explaining they were 19-year-old twins whose brother was separated from them after they illegally crossed the Southwest border. Both were being held in Eloy, Ariz., on $15,000 bonds. “Delmi. She’s from Guatemala,”...

“I was 17, I was almost an adult and they couldn’t put me back into foster care,” Ashley tells us as she shares her foster care journey. But they did. And for good reason. Her father, who she had met for the first time when she was a teenager, was sexually abusing her. “He got six years in jail and I’m going to be scarred for life,” Ashley said. While her story is incredibly sad, the fact that she used her voice to talk about it, and got some redemption, is powerful. After last year’s news...

Growing up in Washington, D.C.'s Columbia Heights neighborhood, Rebecca Lemos-Otero says her first experience with nature came in her late teens when her mother started a community garden. "I was really surprised and quickly fell in love," she recalls. The garden was peaceful, and a "respite" from the neighborhood, which had high crime rates, abandoned lots and buildings, she says. Inspired by that experience, years later, Lemos-Otero, 39, started City Blossoms , a local nonprofit that has...

So you’ve been wronged. A friend casually dismissed a goal you set for yourself, or a colleague threw you under the bus, and you feel hurt and angry — maybe you even want payback. Sometimes those negative feelings dissipate over time, but other times they fester and become toxic obsessions. You know that “letting go” is probably the healthiest move, but wanting revenge is often much more appealing. But why? [For more on this story by Caroline Cox, go to...

The Tears You Cry is for all those young girls, teenagers, and adults who have been bullied. Its goal is to raise awareness and compassion, decrease isolation, and to prevent suicide. https://youtu.be/A4noRxyb9xc . I pray The Tears You Cry goes out into the world to do its healing work. Please be in touch with me at artsmedicine@hotmail.com if you have ideas on how to connect with people and organizations who would be interested in using The Tears You Cry in their prevention and intervention...