Healing Communities

In the 1920s, the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, also known as Black Wall Street, was one of the most prosperous African American communities in the United States. Filled with booming businesses and thriving entrepreneurs, the district served as a mecca of Black ingenuity and promise, until the evening of May 31, 1921, which marked the start of the devastating Tulsa Race Massacre. More than thirty-five city blocks were burned to the ground and hundreds of Black city dwellers were...

Viola Ford Fletcher is also still waiting for justice. By TONY NORMAN • Pittsburgh Post-Gazette America has been telling Viola Ford Fletcher to wait for justice ever since she was 7 years old. Now a spry 107, Fletcher is running out of patience with America. Delivered by midwife on a farm in Lawton, Okla., on May 10, 1914, Fletcher was born 138 years after the American experiment commenced in 1776. As a Black daughter of Oklahoma, she had no more reason to believe in America’s promises than...

In recognizing Nurses Week, and School Nurse Day, as an urban community school nurse, I am strongly encouraging you in urban communities to become vaccinated. This COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of so many of our loved ones especially in under-served under-privileged communities. Many are hesitant and resistant in becoming vaccinated with reasons as diverse as the neighborhoods. Awareness and access is critical in turning the tide in this pandemic. Research and science supports...

As we are all facing ongoing adversity, we are learning to navigate our struggles in innovative ways. Join our conversation with Common, Grammy and Academy Award winning artist and activist, and Dr. Apryl Alexander, prominent psychologist, as they discuss the many paths we can create to cope and come together with our communities to begin healing. Register HERE

April is also Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). Currently, the Division on Women (DOW) supports statewide community-level primary prevention efforts to prevent sexual violence. To advance these efforts, we work with non-traditional partners and consider them as experts in their own lives and community pillars for change . We believe that impactful primary prevention efforts begin with community engagement and providing tools to communities so they can empower themselves. As such, our...

Great documentary. Please watch, share your thoughts, reactions and ways we can build healing communities here in NJ. This video shows in detail how we infuse language, pedagogy and praxis to move individuals and community healing. We Came to Heal” follows H.O.L.L.A!’s Healing Justice Movement - over a three years period capturing Healing Justice circles, the Healing Justice Summits and H.O.L.L.A!’ s human healing-centered praxis led by The Youth Organizing Collective (Y.O.C). We believe to...

You are invited to attend: NJ Spotlight News Virtual Roundtable: Maternal Health in New Jersey: Pursuing Equity Through Systemic Change Thursday, April 1, 2021 from 4:00 PM - 5:15 PM Online via teleconferencing This will be an online event only. Please register to have a teleconferencing link emailed to you Thursday, 4/1, at 3pm with a repeat send at 4pm. Alarmingly, in the United States mothers are dying at the highest rate in the developed world with the crisis being most severe for Black...

A new national report estimates a shortage of about 7 million affordable and available rental homes for Americans living at or below the poverty level. Such a gap, as explained by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, also exists in New Jersey, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the problem. "I think what we've seen is, this crisis actually makes worse some of those conditions that were in place pre-COVID," Arnold Cohen, senior policy advisor for the Housing and Community...

Some corporations have come out in support of Black Lives Matter, and they give great detail their support of diversity. However, if we are to address racism in the workplace, we need to discuss racial microaggressions — something that businesses rarely address. Microaggressions are defined as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults to...

Please join The Nicholson Foundation for Show+Tell New Jersey: Innovations in Health and Early Childhood Tuesday, April 20 1 PM - 2:30 PM EDT REGISTER The Nicholson Foundation is pleased to be partnering with Promise Venture Studio to bring you Show+Tell New Jersey: Innovations in Health and Early Childhood , a virtual event that will highlight 12 outstanding programs working to improve the health and well-being of children and families across New Jersey . In just 90 minutes, you’ll hear...

A painful but pioneering infant mortality study is a challenge we “can’t walk away from,” as Minnesota DFL Rep. Kelly Morrison, who’s also a physician, aptly put it during a recent legislative briefing. Black babies in the U.S. have long been at much higher risk of dying than white newborns. But a study from a team that included two University of Minnesota researchers yielded a stunning finding: The hospital death rate for Black infants drops by a third when a Black doctor cared for them...

An amazing conversation with Ms. Alethea Bonello, Dr. Dawn Stewart, Dr. Sinead Younge, Dr. Tiesha S Nelson, and Dr. Joanne Spence discuss mental health concerns relevant to women of Caribbean ancestry. Thank you Caribbean Community manager @Adrian Alexander for sharing this. www.AHealingParadigm.com Twitter: @DrIfetayo Instagram: @AHealingParadigm LinkedIn: @Ifetayo Ojelade YouTube: @Ifetayo Ojelade