Twelve parent and youth leaders, reentry and educational leaders, and community organizers represented the region of San Diego in Sacramento on July 11th. Aligning with about 80 other community members and professionals statewide, everyone met with and educated legislative staff on the impact of ACEs, community trauma, community healing and resilience building.
Organized by the 4CA steering group led by Center for Youth Wellness, Children Now, and ACEs Connection Network, the ACEs science education day showed how ACEs science and trauma-informed and resilience-building practices based on ACEs science are being integrated into every sector of our communities.
Will Ing, program officer with The California Endowment gave the opening remarks, followed by Kelli Boehm who provided information about the differences between advocacy and lobbying. Gail Yen and Kelly Hardy from Children Now also assisted.
State Senator Holly J. Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) received a standing ovation before and after her invigorating speech. Mitchell, as reported in ACEsTooHigh.com,was the floor manager for Concurrent Resolution No. 155 passed three years ago to encourage statewide policies to reduce children's exposure to adverse childhood experiences.
Our first legislative meeting was with Nicole McGrath from the office of Assemblymember Brian Voepel's office, who represents the 71st District. Youth Voice leaders Lizette and Salvador shared their thoughts on why ACEs science and trauma-informed practices are imperative. We will be following up with a meeting with Voepel when he is in San Diego in August.
We then met with Craig Wilson, legislative director for Senator Joel Anderson, from the 38th District. Wilson pointed out that Anderson focuses on public safety, human trafficking, community trauma and restorative justice. We invited Senator Anderson to have a presentation from Youth Voice on ACEs sciences.
We ended our day in a discussion with Hans Hemann, chief of staff for Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula of the 31st District, which lasted for 35 minutes.
Several of the delegations representing local ACEs initiatives and who have groups on ACEs Connection prepared fact sheets to share with legislators. These community profiles contained local data on ACEs and highlighted specific results of community efforts to reduce ACEs and promote resiliency. These profiles show legislators how ACEs science is driving real action in their districts. The profiles can be used beyond this one day to continue to educate about local ACEs efforts, specifically to engage community support, media interest, and in follow-up meetings with legislators in every district.
For a complete compilation of all the community profiles, please see Donielle Prince's post; https://www.pacesconnection.com/...lifornia-legislature
For more information about this 4CA Policymaker Education Day, visit the event information page on the website: http://www.4cakids.org/education-day
Attached are community profiles that represent the grass roots and community-based organizations and youth/parent leaders in this post.
- Community Profile: National Conflict Resolution Center
- Community Profile: SAY San Diego
- Community Profile: San Diego Trauma Informed Guide Team
- Community Profile: Youth Empowerment
- Community Profile: Youth Voice
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