About 18 months ago, Anita Vaughn of Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women and Marlon Foster of Knowledge Quest wrote a column on behalf of the ACE Awareness Foundation—and made a promise.

They pledged that Shelby County would become a statewide and national example of how a communitywide alliance of families, educators, faith leaders, business leaders, nonprofit managers, elected officials, law enforcement and healthcare providers can transform a community by preventing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) for all children.

Today, this promise is not only alive, but also is poised to thrive.

[For more of this story, written by Ellen Rolfes, go to http://www.commercialappeal.co...xperiences/95430090/]