By Dominic Cappello
Anna, Age Eight Institute at Northern New Mexico College
“What percentage of our children should be traumatized?” This is a question New Mexico state senator Bill Soules is asking his fellow lawmakers. He believes 100% of children, students and families should be trauma-free. The senator has been the strongest advocate for our Anna, Age Eight Institute in Santa Fe and our 100% Community initiative focusing on the data-driven prevention of ACEs and childhood trauma.
100% Community is New Mexico’s first data-driven, cross-sector and county-focused strategy developed to end the epidemic of adverse childhood experiences, trauma and social adversity. It provides the insights, frameworks and concrete steps for change agents within governmental and nongovernmental systems to build the capacity to increase the health, safety and resilience of children, students and families.
Empowering 100% of Our Communities
The underlying assumption of the 100% Community initiative is that governmental and nongovernmental systems can, when guided by data and innovative leadership, provide the vital services needed to ensure a healthy, safe and resilient society, one where children, students, families and communities are trauma-free and thriving. The more effective the systems are in meeting the needs and goals of its residents of all ages, the more society benefits by developing well-adapted, educated and productive citizens.
The goal of 100% Community is to help state, county, city and education systems function at peak performance, through a process of continuous quality improvement, that provides all residents with a positive user experience and empowerment.
Successful cities and counties empower everyone. 100% Community shows the way leaders and all residents work together to achieve meaningful and measurable results.
100% Community Is A Plan of Action
If you believe that all children should grow up with the resources to be trauma-free and empowered to succeed, 100% Community is a model for you to explore. If you enjoy using data, technology and a collaborative process, with a focus on problem-solving and big picture thinking on an agency and systems level, 100% Community may be what you’ve been looking for in your county.
By working on a county scale with buy-in from local elected leadership and stakeholders, a locality can achieve groundbreaking results, reducing ACEs and trauma while raising the quality of family, community, educational and economic life for all residents.
100% Community focuses on strengthening the skills of future and current elected, community, and agency leaders in governmental and nongovernmental agencies in continuous quality improvement to ensure vital services meet the needs of 100% of residents.
The Results-Focused Strategies
The main thesis of 100% Community, quite simply, is that protecting all our children is entirely possible, but only when we know the scope of the challenges faced by families in each unique community. The book 100% Community provides a detailed, data-driven analysis of the scope of the problem and how to strengthen ten key systems, called “survival services” and “thriving services,” designed to protect 100% of our children and strengthen families and communities. The proven strategies proposed have the power to heal families, illustrating how we can all take courageous and compassionate steps toward designing family-focused and child-centered communities. 100% Community is serving as the guide for data-driven ACEs prevention programs—from New Mexico to Arizona and Kentucky.
All the tools, books and insights needed to implement the 100% Community initiative can be found by visiting our Anna, Age Eight Institute site www.AnnaAgeEight.org
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