Hello Alaska ACEs Action members! I want to introduce myself, as I am the new Program Director for the Alaska Resilience Initiative and will be working to enliven this ACEs Connection group and make it an active and useful space for us to learn and organize together.
The picture is of me with my now two-year-old daughter, Ida Luna. I am mama to her and to a baby boy due in late July. I just began at the Alaska Children's Trust a few weeks ago as the Program Director for the Alaska Resilience Initiative, meaning I will be working with communities, organizations, tribes, and stakeholders across Alaska to strengthen our network of people who are doing work to prevent trauma, reduce the negative effects of trauma, and build resilient families and communities. Alaska is one of the 14 communities that are part of the Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) grant, and so what we do here in Alaska will be informing national conversations about how to approach these issues. I am so thrilled to be in this position and to work with all of you on this.
I came to this position after 5+ years at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) working on ACEs, domestic and sexual violence, maternal child health, and health equity issues. It has been such a privilege to work all over Alaska and collaborate with rural communities to understand and solve problems and build on strengths. Prior to that work, I have done grant-writing, community based participatory research, victim advocacy, education around sexual violence, and teaching -- I was a 3rd grade public school teacher in a Spanish-English bilingual program and have worked with middle and high schoolers in after school programs and other settings. I am a licensed master social worker and a tobacco cessation counselor working my hours towards certification. I also bring my background as a visual artist, community organizer, and volunteer with the Advancing Native Dialogues on Racial Equity project into this position.
I will be posting more with events, news, ideas for how we can recruit more people to join this group, etc., and I very sincerely encourage you to post on this group. Your posts do not have to be polished and perfect -- they won't be re-posted all over the internet, just used to connect with other Alaskans and let us know what is going on in your community/organization/place of worship/school/tribe or in your own thinking and learning process. Please don't be shy!
Ciao for now,
Laura Avellaneda-Cruz
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