Blog

The Peace and Justice Institute (PJI) at Valencia College is excited to offer 3 free, online workshops with Dr. Ken Ginsburg , as part of a Community Resilience Series. The first workshop in this FREE series will be specifically for parents: Parenting in an Age of Uncertainty , July 7th from 5:30 - 7:00 pm EST (zoom). REGISTER HERE “As parents, we want to protect our children from witnessing the fear and uncertainty brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. We wish we could take away the disruption...

The Neurobiology of Trauma: Somatic Approaches to Resilience By Jennifer Walsh As we have all come to experience over the past several months, trauma is simply a component of the human condition. While it affects both individuals and communities in a variety of ways, we have all experienced difficult, stressful, or even traumatic events over the course of our lifetime. Although social workers have traditionally worked with these vulnerable populations, there are numerous professionals...

June is normally a time for celebration among the LGBTQ community. But in the age of COVID, there will be no Pride parades, parties, or other personal gatherings with our friends and loved ones. Instead we must consider other ways to celebrate our history and shared experiences. As our nation joins voices together in condemnation of the systemic racism that led to the death of George Floyd, it is also important to hearken back to the prejudices of 50 years ago that launched the gay pride...

My organization is hiring a Marketing and Communications Coordinator which will support the Office of the Surgeon General's ACEs Initiative. See the job description below.

Know about ACEs, but wondering how to apply that information? Join Cowart Trauma Informed Partnership for a live webinar that will help you implement trauma informed care throughout your organization: TRAUMA INFORMED CARE Wednesday, July 1st, at 2 p.m. EDT This introductory level course is essential for anyone who works with the public. Participants will learn what trauma is, understand its possible effects, recognize the signs, and learn how to respond appropriately. Designed to address the...

By Terry Gross, npr.org, June 24, 2020 The killing of George Floyd has ignited protests and inspired conversations — and changes — across the globe. But New York Times Magazine writer Nikole Hannah-Jones says more needs to be done to address America's racial wealth gap. "Very few Americans have created all of their wealth on their own; it's passed down through generations and then built upon," Hannah-Jones says. "Black Americans never really had a chance to do that." Hannah-Jones traces the...

By Hilary Brueck and Canela Lopez Business Insider June 19, 2020 Across the US, people of color are more likely to contract a dangerous case of the coronavirus, ending up in critical care, or dying from COVID-19. Much has been made of the pre-existing conditions that undergird this racial disparity, such as higher rates of diabetes, asthma, lung disease, hypertension, and obesity in communities of color. But the truth is that people of color are not naturally more likely to develop these...

Thoughts & Music to share - “The final stage of healing is using what happens to you to help other people.” - Gloria Steinem “Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day.” – Sally Koch “Take care not to listen to anyone who tells you what you can and can’t be in life.” – Meg Medina

By John Seabrook, The New Yorker, June 22, 2020. The call came in to the emergency department at Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital, a twenty-five-bed facility in Lebanon, New Hampshire, around 2 p.m. on a weekday in mid-March. Patient X had arrived by car, and, by the time he reached the hospital, the pain in his legs was so severe that he couldn’t move. Jesse Webber, a paramedic, donned full personal protective equipment (P.P.E.) before going outside with a wheelchair. Since the onset of the...

By Dr. Sharon McDaniel, The Chronicle of Social Change, June 23, 2020. From the moment of their conception, every African American person begins a personal timeline of racism, for their mother experiences racism in that moment — our babies understand and feel in the womb. Our babies also die in the womb. U.S. News reported that babies born to Black women are more than three times as likely as babies born to White women to die of preterm birth-related issues. For Black and Brown people,...

By Gabriella Velasco and Melanie Langness, Housing Matters, June 24, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately affecting the lives of people who are socially and politically marginalized. The struggles faced by LGBTQ communities, including high rates of homelessness , significant health disparities , high rates of poverty , and increased likelihood of violent victimization compared with heterosexual and cisgender peers, are amplified by current socioeconomic strains. For Black LGBTQ...

By Chaseedaw Giles, The Los Angeles Times, June 23, 2020. Recently, as I scrolled the more than 1 million tweets connected to the hashtag #Black_Lives_Matter, this is what flashed before my eyes: the black-and-white dashcam video of Philando Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, in handcuffs crying, her 4-year-old daughter trying to comfort her; protesters in Berlin standing in solidarity with the BLM movement; a video of a young, Black girl calling herself ugly; police attacking...