Tagged With "Equity in Child Welfare"
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NJ Resiliency in Action: How Leaders for Life Helped Gloria, A Struggling Mother in Newark
My name is Gloria and I’m a 36-year-old Puerto Rican mom of five children — three boys and two girls — who was born and raised in Newark. In December 2016 I was able to move my family out of a small two-bedroom apartment in Bradley Courts housing project to a four-bedroom apartment on Clinton Place and that’s where my family became a part of the Leaders for Life (L4L) family. One of my sons is a special needs child who is always looking for friends and a place to play. He started finding new...
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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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AG Grewal and Education Commissioner Dehmer Announce Statewide “Handle With Care” Program
TRENTON – Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and Interim Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer today announced a new Statewide “Handle With Care” Program to support schoolchildren in New Jersey who have experienced traumatic events. “Handle With Care” (HWC) is designed to promote partnerships between law enforcement and schools to provide a safe and supportive academic environment for children exposed to "adverse childhood experiences,” or ACEs. ACEs, if unaddressed, can lead to problems such...
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Human Services & Children and Families Unveil $25 Million Plan to Support Continued Access to Critical Home and Community-Based Services During the Pandemic
New Jersey is using federal Coronavirus Relief Fund resources to provide up to $25 million to help providers of home health, developmental disability, child welfare, and homeless services remain open and accessible during the pandemic. Human Services and the Department of Children and Families will be reimbursing for the added costs they are incurring due to COVID-19 for essentials such as PPE and enhanced cleaning. Qualifying COVID-related expenditures include: Personal protective...
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Weekly Highlights
Murphy signs bill to release thousands of N.J. prisoners early beginning the day after Election Day On October 19th, Governor Murphy signed legislation to free those trapped inside New Jersey jails, prisons, and halfway houses, where they face the worst COVID-19 outbreak of any prison system in the country. We anticipate that over 2,000 men and women within 8 months of their release date will gain relief from Public Health Emergency Credits, and will be released in the first week of...
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Weekly Highlights
Native American Heritage Month When COVID-19 hit the Navajo Nation, it limited students’ educational opportunities after schools closed, eliminated essential school services, exposed ongoing inequities, and made health and economic hardships families face worse. Navajo health officials said COVID-19 started spreading across the nation after a tribal member attended a basketball tournament in early March then went to a church revival the next day in Chilchinbeto, a small community south of...
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NJ medical school program requires all first-year students to learn about ACEs science
In 2015, Dr. Beth Pletcher, a pediatrician and associate professor specializing in genetics, was at the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Washington D.C. when she heard two speakers that forever changed her work with medical students. Dr. Beth Pletcher “I went to two talks on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that were so mind-boggling to me that I decided on my drive back to New Jersey that I had to do something about it,”says Pletcher, director of the Division...
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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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Nashville’s Purposeful Twist on ACEs: All Children Excel
In 2015, the pieces that became ACE Nashville began to fall into place. A five-year Community Health Improvement Plan included the support of mental and emotional health as one of its three goals. A core team of individuals from the Metro Public Health Department (MPHD), Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee and the Family Center, a non-profit focused on breaking generational cycles of child trauma, began to meet weekly. And a citywide “consensus workshop” in April of that year—drawing 44...
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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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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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Child Mind Institute Summit: Telehealth and the Coronavirus
Child Mind Institute Summit: Telehealth and the Coronavirus About this Event The Child Mind Institute Summit on Telehealth and the Coronavirus follows the publication of our 2020 Children’s Mental Health Report. This thought-provoking discussion featuring Child Mind Institute President Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz and California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris will explore the mental health impacts of the pandemic on youth and families, and how innovative treatment solutions can improve...
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NJ ACES ACTION PLAN SOCIAL MEDIA KIT
We’re asking for your help to spread awareness about the ACEs Action Plan. Below are links to graphics and a video for download, suggested post copy for social media and flyers that can be shared digitally or printed out for display. Please join us in sharing these materials across your social media accounts, via email, websites, newsletters or blog posts. Graphics can be downloaded here: https://www.nj.gov/dcf/news/publications/aces.html Remember to use #ResilientNJ and/or #ACEsAction...
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PreventingACES.pdf
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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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Op-Ed: Training next-generation NJ pediatricians to address effects of childhood trauma
DR. SHILPA PAI AND DR. CHRISTIN TRABA | FEBRUARY 12, 2021 | OPINION , HEALTH CARE Gov. Phil Murphy released a statewide action plan on Feb. 4 to promote resilience and address the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in New Jersey. The Office of Resilience at the New Jersey Department of Children and Families will be leading the statewide implementation of this plan, but partners from all sectors — including pediatricians — have a critical role in ensuring its success. ACEs are...
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Dr. Natalia Tanner was the first African American board certified pediatrician in Detroit, Michigan.
Dr. Natalia M. Tanner, M.D: The first African American to be accepted into the residency program at the University of Chicago. The first African American woman fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The first African American on the staff of Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit. The first woman and African American to serve as president of the Michigan Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Natalia M. Tanner, M.D. built a long and distinguished career in pediatrics.
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Dr. Valerie L. Thomas - Inventor of the Illusion Transmitter (3D movies)
Valerie L. Thomas was born in February of 1943 in Maryland. She was fascinated with technology as a very young child. Around the age of eight, her curiosity about how things worked inspired her to borrow a book called, “The Boy’s First Book On Electronics," which she took home hoping that her father would help her take on some of the projects in it. After all, he liked to tinker with radios and television sets. But he did not help her. Thomas attended an all-girls high school that did not...
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Black Enterprise - Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Virtual Summit 2021
PLEASE CHECK THE CALENDAR FOR DETAILS.
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A Call to Connection: Making Childhood Trauma Personal | Dr. Allison Jackson | TEDxRVA
Silence gives consent. Choosing a story of silence raises our chances of mortality rates when ACEs are involved. ACE stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences. If silence is a killer then why do we do nothing? How can community help? Dr. Allison Jackson is a Trauma Informed Care Specialist. She makes a compelling case for, “connection as a cure” to counter a lot of damage done by trauma. This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. It was filmed...
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Shani Davis Wins Gold
On February 18, 2006 in Turin, Italy, Shani Davis became the first African American to win a Gold medal in an individual Winter Olympics. Among many other accomplishments, Davis won the 2005 World Allround Championships in Moscow, Russia. He won Gold and Silver medals in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada. Davis was born on August 13, 1982 in Chicago, Illinois. He was raised by his mother on the southside of Chicago where as a small child he excelled in roller-skating. He...
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Eleventh Annual New Jersey Children's Ball
Call for Nominations NJAAP Champion for Children Award The NJ Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics, is pleased to announce a CALL FOR NOMINATIONS for the CHAMPION FOR CHILDREN AWARD The Champion for Children Award recognizes the strengths and accomplishments of a person and/or group of people and will be presented on Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at The Palace at Somerset Park. We are asking any and all to submit their nomination via the instructions listed below. Deadline for submissions...
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Rutgers launches research center for infant, toddler care policy
PATRICK LAVERY | NJ1015 NEW BRUNSWICK — A new offshoot of the National Institute for Early Education Research headquartered at Rutgers University, the Infant and Toddler Policy Research Center has been created to put a sharper focus on what New Jersey can do better to help children, specifically in their first three years of life, and support their parents and caregivers. NIEER founder and senior co-director W. Steven Barnett, a Rutgers professor, said every year of a child's life matters,...
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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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Black History NJ: The Complete Series
Jersey Joe Walcott Arnold Raymond Cream, aka Jersey Joe Walcott, was born in Merchantville, NJ, on Jan. 31, 1914. He held the record for the oldest heavyweight champion for more than four decades. His father, an immigrant from Barbados, died when Walcott was 15, which forced him to go to work to provide for his mother and younger siblings. At 16-years-old, he began boxing professionally and adopted Jersey Joe Walcott as his moniker… Carla Harris Montclair resident Carla Harris is an author,...
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N.J. teachers, child care, transportation workers to become eligible for COVID vaccine, Murphy says By Matt Arco | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
New Jersey teachers, child care and transportation workers will be eligible starting March 15 for the coronavirus vaccine, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday morning. The governor, appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” said it’s “an imperative” to have those people vaccinated and hinted he would provide additional details at his regular COVID-19 briefing in Trenton at 1 p.m. Murphy followed with a Tweet indicating the new group would includes “additional public safety workers.” “We’re phasing...
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Building a Community Partnership in a Pandemic: NJ Pediatric Residency Advocacy Collaborative Christin Traba, Shilpa Pai, Sara Bode and Benjamin Hoffman
Abstract: The New Jersey Pediatric Residency Advocacy Collaborative (NJPRAC) is a statewide collaborative with faculty leads from each of the 10 New Jersey pediatric residency programs. The 2 major goals of the collaborative were to build community partnerships between pediatric residency programs and local organizations and develop a core advocacy curriculum. In this article, we focus on how the NJPRAC built community partnerships with Family Success Centers (FSCs) across the state over the...
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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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Trauma Informed Care
Trauma Informed Care Newsletter | Issue 4, February 2021 Do you remember your first job as a helper? Mine goes back more than 25 years when I was hired as a Treatment Foster Care therapist for Community Impact Programs in Racine, Wisconsin. Transforming Systems of Care: What's Going On in Racine County, Wisconsin By Tim Grove, Senior Consultant Do you remember your first job as a helper? Mine goes back more than 25 years when I was hired as a Treatment Foster Care therapist for Community...