Tagged With "social problems"

For the past two years, one of the most persistent and hotly contested questions in Anchorage has been what to do about the number of unlawful homeless encampments cropping up in public spaces. Local officials have been bombarded by disgruntled community groups calling for a solution and in December 2017, the Anchorage Assembly passed an ordinance that promised to help the community “gain control of our spaces.” Under the ordinance, residents of illegal homeless encampments have 10 days...

The state’s fiscal crisis is no tiny problem. Oil prices are volatile, reserves are depleting and the state is facing a financial deficit. At this year’s Innovation Summit, held in Juneau in early February, Governor Walker addressed more than two hundred of the state’s top entrepreneurs, politicians, investors and leaders. He discussed his budget plan and the need to diversify and shift the state away from a mono-focus on a non-renewable oil industry. Tough budget cuts, Walker explained are...

This is the story of two childhoods that brought two grown men to opposite sides of a table in Mountain View, one after a life of pain and one of privilege. The meeting was a little awkward. A fine art painter was recruited to learn about a recovering addict, now a car salesman, and depict how childhood events had shaped his life. "It's certainly not something that I'm used to," said painter David Pettibone. "I was absolutely nervous going in. I wasn't quite sure of the questions I was going...

The National Conference on Health and Domestic Violence (NCHDV) seeks submissions that highlight research reports, practice innovations, advocacy initiatives, educational advances, and/or community programs that address one or more aspects related to domestic/sexual violence, other forms of violence, and health. The Call for Abstracts (CFA) invites leaders working in the fields of health and domestic/sexual violence to present their work at the 2020 Conference. Submission Deadline: Monday,...

  Representatives from local governments, tribal governments, businesses, and community organizations gathered Monday to discuss ways to work together. Organizers of the Mat-Su Collective Impact Event said the main focus was to find ways to...

Dr. Linda Chamberlain from Homer, Alaska introduces the Domestic Violence and ACEs toolkit that she developed and tested throughout the Arctic.

Please find attached the 2016 booklet for the Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) project, including Alaska and the other 13 communities that have been selected to participate in this 2 year learning collaborative. This is a great summary of the work happening in all 14 communities across the country. I look forward to working with you all in Alaska!

Dr. Chris Blodgett spoke on Thursday, Nov 3rd at the Anchorage Loussac Library to a room of nearly 140 people and 60 more online. His talk "From ACEs to Action: How Communities Can Improve Well-Being and Resilience" was approximately two hours long. Access the webinar video, audio file, and slides here.

As part of National Public Health week there will be a public showing of "Paper Tigers" at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Admission is free. Light refreshments will be provided. Thank you to Kate Wright, ACEs Connection member, for creating this opportunity for students and other community members to see this important film.

Before Deanna Beck had ever heard of the 1998 ACE study, before she became principal of Northwood ABC Elementary School in Anchorage, she was a special education teacher who saw the ways trauma scrawled through her students’ lives. On the one-minute reading tests Beck administered, she would notice steady progress—40 words a minute, then 50—followed by dramatic drops; a child would suddenly be stumbling along at three or four words a minute. She began to ask the kids what had happened.

"A comprehensive model of building community capacity in Washington helped make dramatic reductions in rates of health issues and social problems ." We are on our way to creating a more resilient nation. Washington State demonstrates how influential it is to build up local community's self-sustaining resiliency programs! Read the article See the report See Executive summary

In this interview published February 5, Senator Heitkamp (D-ND) specifically addressed  trauma in the Native American community—both historical and individual—and says that the proposed Commission on Native Children must develop...

What if health issues, addictions and premature death are caused by the role of repressing childhood trauma? Vincent J. Felitti, M.D., made this case to a packed room at the Walter Soboleff Building Tuesday, backing up his assertions with decades of study, research and analysis. His conclusion was that repressed adverse childhood experiences can manifest in adults by altering their well-being, causing disease and even premature death. “Addiction is the unconscious, compulsive use of...

The Alaska Mental Health Board and the Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse have explored these questions and found that childhood trauma has profound costs. A national study demonstrates that costs of childhood trauma begin immediately ( $48,000 during childhood for every substantiated report of harm ), and those costs continue for decades into the future. The report,  Economic Costs of Adverse Childhood Experiences in Alaska , takes an initial look at potential savings with...

"The state’s public health director, Doctor Jay Butler, leads that team and says prescriptions are only one part of the problem. 'Things that we still need to do address access to treatment for people with addiction, undoing some of the stigma that is associated with a variety of addictions, and then also getting into the more fundamental questions, such as how do we mitigate and prevent adverse childhood experiences, which we know is one of the drivers that puts people at risk for substance...

Quote: "creating the *conditions* for safe, stable and nurturing relationships and environments for all children, families and communities, which are fundamental to preventing ACEs." Oh boy! Hoo-ray! Just one problem, the one core condition needed is hinted at but NOT DIRECTLY ADDRESSED. Trauma theory even explains why this ONE SIMPLE and OBVIOUS condition is NEVER explicitly stated in our clearly fully Trauma-organized culture - PERPETRATING VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN - MODELING VIOLENCE TO...

In Fresno, volunteers from local churches were already working with the schools, mentoring kids and running weekend recreation programs. Community-based non-profits were in conversation with educators; pastors were talking to social-service providers. The problems were clear: nearly 30% of Fresno’s residents living in poverty (the rate tops 40% for Black residents), with a 20-year gap in life expectancy between the richest and poorest parts of this sharply segregated city. For several years,...

From National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities, January 12, 2018 Culture plays a substantial role in reducing disparities among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations; experts acknowledge culture’s critical importance to intervention success and sustainability. Yet many questions remain about the mechanisms that produce this protective effect. For more than a decade, researchers at the Center for Alaska Native Health Research have been collaborating with...