Tagged With "National Day of Racial Healing"
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A Welcome Message from the Commissioner of New Jersey's Department of Children and Families
Dear NJ Resiliency Coalition Community Members, One of my favorite quotes is from Maya Angelou. She said “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” This statement gives permission and grace for us to change our thinking, change policies, and change the world we live in. During my earlier work as an Assistant Commissioner with the Department of Children and Families (NJ DCF), and then in my work at Casey Family Programs, research about adverse childhood...
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Addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences through a Coordinated Statewide Response in New Jersey
July 31, 2019, By Sana Hashim, MPH, CPH, CHES, Center for Health Care Strategies. States nationwide increasingly recognize the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on their communities, families, businesses, and workplaces. ACEs include all types of abuse, neglect, and other potentially traumatic experiences for children and youth under the age of 18. These exposures are linked to greater potential for risky health behaviors, chronic health conditions, and early death. With this...
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New Jersey Appoints National ACEs Expert to Head Office of Resilience
June 9, 2020, Trenton, NJ – The New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF) today announced that Dave Ellis has been named as Executive on Loan to the State of New Jersey, functioning as the first Executive Director for the Office of Resilience within DCF. Ellis will share his expertise with the state and coordinate statewide efforts to prevent, protect against, and heal from the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). ACEs are stressful or traumatic events, including...
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A Statewide Vision to Address the Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences: A Conversation with New Jersey’s Office of Resilience Leadership
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) — such as abuse, neglect, exposure to violence, family dysfunction, and racism — can negatively impact a child’s developing brain and body, as well as long-term health and social outcomes. In New Jersey, over 40 percent of children are estimated to have experienced at least one ACE, with 18 percent experiencing multiple ACEs. Given the prevalence of ACEs and their potential life-long consequences, New Jersey is coordinating a statewide strategy to...
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Weekly Highlights
Helping Children Heal: Resilience; The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope December 4, 2020 December 7, 2020 https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/4504282835155688464 Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and DCF Commissioner Christine Norbut Beyer invite you to watch this documentary and engage in an interactive conversation about how New Jersey can address Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in our children. Watch: December 4, 2020 , You will receive a link to watch the documentary...
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Nicholson Foundation Funding Efforts to Address ACEs and Build Resilience in New Jersey on Multiple Fronts
Since 2018, The Nicholson Foundation has been working hard to make New Jersey a leader among states in how it addresses, treats, and prevents Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)—traumatic events that can cause children lifelong physical, mental, and social damage. Over the past two years, The Nicholson Foundation has invested $3.5 million in efforts that directly prevent ACEs or build resilience to their effects and complementary programs and services that support healthy child development...
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*NEW PUBLICATION* Chronic Disease Among African American Families: A Systematic Scoping Review
Chronic diseases are common among African Americans, but the extent to which research has focused on addressing chronic diseases across multiple members of African American families is unclear. This systematic scoping review summarizes the characteristics of research addressing coexisting chronic conditions among African American families, including guiding theories, conditions studied, types of relationships, study outcomes, and intervention research.
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Self-Healing Communities Model, Co-Hosted with CTIPP, Second in a series
Self-Healing Communities Model, co hosted with CTIPP Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, 3-4:00 ET (Noon-1:00 PT) Second in a series on state-to-state best practices featuring the self-healing community model Self-Healing Community Model , Washington, developed networks that promoted collaboration across sectors and empowered local leaders to think about whole systems. The use of data helped prioritize efforts and learn what was working. Beyond Washington State, numerous other states are using the...
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The Turrell Fund is proud to present the first Turrell Town Hall featuring Dave Ellis, Office of Resilience, NJDCF discussing ACEs.
Welcome! Thank you for your interest in the first-ever Turrell Town Hall, a virtual discussion series for Turrell grantees, partners, and networks. Hosted and moderated by Evan Delgado, Vice President of Programs at the Turrell Fund, this Town Hall will feature Dave Ellis, Executive Director of the Office of Resilience at the New Jersey Department of Children & Families to discuss statewide developments around Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the key role of Turrell affiliates...
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NJ DCF Commissioner shares thoughts on National Day of Racial Healing
Dear ACEs Connection community, Today is the 5th Annual National Day of Racial Healing. This commemoration was established in 2017 by leaders in social services, faith-based organizations, government and private corporations from around the country to raise awareness and to recognize the need for racial reconciliation. These last several months have certainly shown us that equity among races is a goal not yet realized. The pandemic has disproportionately impacted individuals and families of...
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National Day of Racial Healing hosted by W.K. Kellogg Foundation - Streaming TODAY 1/19/2021 @ 3PM EST.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation is hosting an event on their National Day of Racial Healing which is January 19, 2021. We highly encourage you to attend the events hosted by the foundation, find events near you, and explore creative ways to bring racial healing to your community. To learn more about #howweheal, please visit their website here . THE NATIONAL PREMIERE IS 01.19.21 Mark your calendar and join us for essential and timely conversations on racial healing, equity and justice. As we...
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NJ Takes Another Step to Support Youth and Address Racial Equity in Juvenile Justice System
December 22, 2020 The significance of Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal’s directive to further reform the juvenile justice system is worth highlighting. Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) views this directive, which takes effect January 11, 2021, as another step towards building a juvenile justice system that gives youth the support they need as well as addresses racial equity. A key function of the juvenile justice system is to rehabilitate youth, rather than act punitively, and...
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Black history explains why COVID-19 has ravaged that community | Opinion
By Star-Ledger Guest Columnist By Hamid Shaaban Black History Month is often observed by commemorating Black excellence and honoring the remarkable achievements and contributions of Black people in the United States and around the world. This month, I propose to all my colleagues in healthcare and medicine to promote and advance education about the history of medical racism. That history is Black history and it is often neglected and remains largely unacknowledged. It’s important to...
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Happy Birthday Alice Walker
Alice Walker Alice Walker is one of the most admired African American writers working today. She has written at length on issues of race and gender, and is most famous for the critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Born in Eatonton Georgia, on February the 9th, 1944, just before the end of World War II, Alice Malsenior Walker was the eighth of eight children to Minnie Tallulah Grant Walker and Winnie Lee Walker. Her father, who was, in...
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ACEs Action Plan to make New Jersey a “trauma-informed/healing centered state” launched on February 4 by Governor Phil Murphy and other key officials
Growing up with trauma inextricably linked to racism in southern Illinois, working as a state employee in Minnesota, training folks about ACEs and diversity and equity in several states—these are just a few of the life experiences Dave Ellis brings to the work he is now doing as Executive Director of the New Jersey Office of Resilience. Seven months ago Ellis took the job to head the Office of Resilience with the assurance that there would be a deep and meaningful focus on community...
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ACEs Videos in Spanish
While resources in English on ACEs, toxic stress, resilience, trauma-informed care, and related topics have proliferated in recent years, there is still a dearth of resources in other languages. Below, please find some videos in Spanish (or at least subtitled in Spanish) that explain various aspects of ACEs science. If you know of others, please share them in the comments, and we’ll add them to the list! VIDEOS IN SPANISH Estrés Tóxico y Resiliencia ( Stress and Resilience: How Toxic Stress...
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ACEs Action Plan launched to make New Jersey a 'trauma-informed/ healing centered state'
Growing up with trauma inextricably linked to racism in southern Illinois, working as a state employee in Minnesota, training folks about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and diversity and equity in several states—these are just a few of the life experiences Dave Ellis brings to the work he is now doing as executive director of the New Jersey Office of Resilience. Seven months ago Ellis took the job to head the Office of Resilience with the assurance that there would be a deep and...
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Healing From Childhood Trauma
NEWS POSTED ON SEP 13, 2018 Childhood trauma can really shake you up, but you can heal from it. ACEs are adverse (harmful) childhood experiences that impact brain development. They can damage immune systems and change how people respond to stress. The physical effects of ACEs can show up even decades after the occurrences of toxic experiences themselves. The groundbreaking CDC-Kaiser Permanente ACE Study showed that ACEs are often at the root of some mental illnesses, violence, social and...
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Congresswoman Barbara Jordan
Congresswoman Barbara Jordan was born on February 21, 1936 in Houston, Texas. Known for her strong and commanding oratory skills, Barbara Jordan on July 12, 1976, became the first African American to deliver a Keynote Address at the Democratic National Convention. She also gave a keynote address at the 1992 Democratic Convention. Jordan was the first African American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives from the south in 1972. Barbara Jordan 1976-04-07 Prior to...
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Racial Equity and Philanthropy
“... Philanthropy is overlooking leaders of color who have the most lived experience with and understanding of the problems we are trying to solve.”
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Elijah McClain - The Association Between Abusive Policing and PTSD Symptoms Among U.S. Police Officers
"I'm an introvert, I don't do those things. You all are beautiful and I love you. Please try to forgive me" were the last words spoken by Elijah McClain. He would have been 25. The Association Between Abusive Policing and PTSD Symptoms Among U.S. Police Officers Objective: Initiatives to curb police abuse in the United States are often viewed as “antipolice” or politically unpopular. Efforts to address police violence may be more acceptable if abusive practices are shown to have an adverse...
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Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. How Is It Different From PTSD?
How is Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome different from PTSD? Dr. Joy DeGruy explains how trauma can be passed on generation after generation. POST TRAUMATIC SLAVE SYNDROME As a result of twelve years of quantitative and qualitative research Dr. DeGruy has developed her theory of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, and published her findings in the book Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome – America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing”. The book addresses the residual impacts of generations of slavery...
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Adverse Childhood Experiences: Inside NJ's Plan to Address a Perennial Harm
Last month New Jersey unveiled a unique action plan to help families and communities protect against and heal from the effects of adverse childhood experiences that can cause harm to individuals and families for generations. After a year of living under intense pandemic pressures, the need has likely never been so great. Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, impact four of ten youngsters in New Jersey across racial and economic lines according to a 2019 report . These traumas – such as...
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Juliette Hampton
Healthy racial identity development among older white youth is a bit more complex. Often, white students must come to understand that society attaches meaning to their whiteness and that they have a choice about how to be white in a multicultural society. The American Civil Rights Movement was a movement of the people. Black and white, male and female, Jew and Christian, rich and poor -- ordinary people who came together across differences to advance this nation's core value of equality and...
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Racial disparities in Covid-19 case rates among young people were prevalent early in the pandemic, CDC study says By Deidre McPhillips, CNN
(CNN)Early in the pandemic, young people from all racial and ethnic minority groups had higher Covid-19 case rates than non-Hispanic White people under the age of 25, according to a study published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Between January and April, case rates compared to young White people were about 1.5 times higher among young Asian people, about 2.5 times higher among young Black people and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, nearly 4 times higher...
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Just Belonging: Finding the Courage to Interrupt Bias | Kori Carew
A moment of racial tension presents a choice. Will we be silent about implicit and unconscious bias, or will we interrupt bias for ourselves and others? Justice, belonging, and community are at stake. Kori Carew is a community builder who generates awareness and understanding of critical human issues by creating the space and climate for open dialogue that is meaningful, enables people to expand their perspective and drive positive change. With grace and truth, she is a disruptor, womanist...
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Anna Arnold Hedgeman
Through her work with various local and national organizations, Anna Arnold Hedgeman always fought for equal opportunity and respect, particularly for African American women. Throughout her long life, Hedgeman advocated for civil rights, education, social justice, poverty relief, and women. Anna Arnold Hedgeman was born on July 5, 1899 to Mary Ellen Parker and William James Arnold II in Marshalltown, Iowa. From an early age, her father emphasized education and a strong work ethic, and she...
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Dr. Gabor Maté – Trauma as disconnection from the self
“Trauma is not what happens to you, but what happens inside you as a result of what happened to you” Scotland is in the midst of a growing grassroots movement aimed at increasing public awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). We now have glaring scientific evidence that childhood adversity can create harmful levels of stress, especially if a child is left to manage their responses to that adversity without emotionally reliable relationships. The vision for ACE Aware Nation is that...
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A Conversation on Race and Privilege with Angela Davis and Jane Elliott
A Conversation on Race and Privilege with Angela Davis and Jane Elliott is the latest installment of the student-led Social Justice Solutions series. Each year, we invite activists, thought leaders, and the community to explore action-oriented strategies to affect social change. This year we are honored to host two luminaries who have long been on the front lines of pushing the national conversation on race and racial justice forward.
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Breonna Taylor - One Year Later - No Accountability
Before Breonna Taylor's name became synonymous with police violence against Black Americans, she was an emergency medical technician in Louisville, Ky. The 26-year-old Black woman's friends and family say she was beloved, and relished the opportunity to brighten someone else's day. Exactly one year ago, Louisville police gunned her down in her home. Now, her name is a ubiquitous rallying cry at protests calling for police reforms, and many social justice advocates point to her story as an...
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Connections Matter New Jersey - Join the Movement!
Eighteen months ago, nobody could have predicted how much the world would have changed, or how much we would have learned to appreciate the incredible power of connections. In October 2019, a group of 30 state and community leaders gathered together to be the first class of trained Connections Matter NJ facilitators leading the effort to spread this important message across the state. The message is this: Everyday connections are more important than we ever believed. Science tells us that...
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The Path Forward
A discussion on racial equity in housing and an inclusive economy One in three households — nearly 100 million people across the U.S. — struggle with housing costs that jeopardize their financial security, according to the Aspen Institute. As one of the biggest determinants of financial and physical health, housing can influence a person’s access to education, health care and job opportunities, and has the ability to transform entire communities and strengthen the economy. And yet, while the...
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Antonia Hernández
According to Antonia Hernández, she “went to law school for one reason: to use the law as a vehicle for social change.” Decades later, she can claim numerous legal victories for the Latinx community in the areas of voting rights, employment, education, and immigration. From legal aid work, to counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, to head of a major civil rights organization, Hernández has used the law to realize social change at every turn. Antonia Hernández was born in Torreón, Mexico...
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Find Solutions for Racial Health Gaps
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...
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Let’s Talk About Racial Microaggressions In The Workplace
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...
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Amanda Blackhorse
Amanda Blackhorse has always seen Native American women fighting against injustice. Blackhorse, member of the Navajo Nation, a social worker and mother of two, served as the named plaintiff in the 2006 lawsuit Blackhorse et al v. Pro-Football Inc. Blackhorse continues to fight for justice and respect for Native Americans and is one of many Native American activists who deserves credit for the proposed name change from the Washington Football Team, formerly called the “Redskins.” Born on...