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A recent report by Lord Richard Layard suggests that “ Happiness depends on health and friends, not money ”. The conclusions presented argue that the UK government should focus more on providing better healthcare and resources for dealing with mental health issues in a variety of societal contexts, rather than trying to combat poverty and make people wealthier. For the record, I’ve no issue with Lord Layard, and I’ve no doubt that his intentions are honourable and intended to be helpful. It...

Asylum-seeking families, recently released from a couple of South Texas immigrant detention centers, kept showing up at San Antonio's bus station at all hours of the night with basically no resources and no idea what to do next. That's why Raices, a San Antonio nonprofit that provides legal assistance and other help to refugees, created its emergency shelter program (called "Casa de Raices") for asylum seekers last year. Immigrants usually stay at the shelter for just up to 48 hours – enough...

[Photo by Stefano Corso ] “I hate the police” and other comments, profanity-filled, are shouted to Houston Police officers as they enter a classroom filled with teenagers. This is week one of the 11-week Teen and Police Service (TAPS) Academy. Mistrust is high as these adjudicated youth meet their TAPS officers for the first time. Through a Texas Education Agency-approved curriculum that grants one high school credit to students upon completion, TAPS Academy officers and teens alike learn...

Communities Against Hate Grant An Open Society Foundations Initiative "This rapid-response initiative of the Open Society Foundations aims to support, protect, and empower those who are targets of hateful acts and rhetoric. The initiative is designed to bolster communities’ ability to resist the spread of hate and strengthen protections for their most vulnerable neighbors. We applaud the many local and national leaders, community-based organizations, and families who are rising to this...

Imagine you’re a ninth grade student in a public high school. Everyone you know is straight and you’re not. There are no resources at school for you. The school doesn’t care about your identity. Imagine further that you go to school every day to learn only about people who do not share your identity. Nothing in the history of America depicts the life you’re living. No one who has faced the same challenges you face has made a valuable contribution to history. Do you want to go to school? Do...

When Leo Hall was 8 years old, his mother sent him to a tutoring program that served the African American and low-income neighborhood of the Cabrini-Green public-housing projects where they lived in Chicago. There, he met a volunteer tutor, Daniel Bassill, who helped him with homework, played chess and backgammon with him, and talked about growing up. "Dan was there as a male friend, a mentor, somebody I could talk to," Hall recalled. He was "a father figure, a big brother, a friend." That...

Eric Schmitt-Matzen looks every bit like Santa Claus. His 6-foot frame carries 310 pounds, leaving “just enough of a lap for the kids to sit on,” he says with a gentle Kringley chuckle right out of Central Casting. No fake facial fuzz for this guy. Schmitt-Matzen’s snowy beard is the real thing, albeit regularly bleached to maintain its whiteness. His shag is so spectacular, in fact, it won first place in the “natural full beard, styled moustache” division of a 2016 national contest...

Hanna Boys Center, in partnership with the Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance, announced today it will be offering a free screening of the documentary film: RESILIENCE: THE BIOLOGY OF STRESS AND THE SCIENCE OF HOPE, on January 18th, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. This event will include the film, a panel discussion and question and answer time from the audience. It is designed for organizational leaders, educators, mentors, health care providers, caregivers and parents to better understand the impact of...

According to recently released Centers For Disease Control and Prevention statistics, West Virginia still leads the nation for overdose deaths. More than double the national average, West Virginia saw 39.3 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2015. Rates in southern West Virginia are substantially higher — In Raleigh County, the rate is 78.7 and in Wyoming County, the rate is 108.3. These statistics were reviewed Tuesday at a West Virginians for Affordable Health Care forum in Huntington, a city...

There’s been a lot of talk about diversity in science lately: Minority scientists have written op-eds about their struggles; science’s top journals cover the issue extensively; and one 47-year-old untenured female scientist recently sued the National Institutes of Health for gender discrimination. But what if we’re getting it all wrong? Yes, there are very real benefits to expanding the number of racial, sexual, socioeconomic, and other minorities in charge of labs; the problem is in our...

From an acorn of an idea to bring all of our health care providers together to come up with one area we could all work on collaboratively, to the finished product where we have over 60 organizations involved in helping our residents make healthy choices in diet, exercise and lifestyle. The Year of Wellness has accomplished much over the past 12 months. We have a monthly newsletter promoting free and low-cost events, which represent interests of all ages and ethnicities, and include all areas...

People along the southern stretch of the Mississippi River are more likely to die from heart problems than anywhere else in the United States. Suicide and homicide will claim the most lives in the southwestern part of the country. Deaths from chronic respiratory diseases are greatest in eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia. And mental and substance abuse disorders cause the most deaths in Alaska, eastern Arizona, New Mexico, eastern Kentucky and southwestern West Virginia. What causes...