August 2022

By Heather Stringer, Photo: José Luis Villegas, California Health Care Foundation, August 24, 2022 Valerie Andrews, director of a community-based organization (CBO) in South Sacramento, was focusing on the fentanyl drug problem among Black residents in her area when a different issue began demanding her attention: hospitalization due to asthma. It was 2019, and she was talking to yet another distraught mother who had taken her child to the emergency room because of a severe asthma attack.

On July 3, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 188 also known as the Creating a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act. The CROWN Act amends the California Education Code and the Fair Employment and Housing Act’s definition of race to include traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyles. Protective hairstyles include, but are not limited to, “braids, locks, and twists.” The legislation makes California the...

“Reimagining Child Wellbeing: Local Policy Strategies to Prevent and Reduce Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in California’s Communities” is a resource developed in collaboration with the All Children Thrive, California (ACT) project and the California Department of Public Health, Injury and Prevention Branch (CDPH/IVPB) and California Department of Social Service, Office of Child Abuse Prevention’s (CDSS/OCAP) ’s , Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative . This resource was created...

The California Department of Public Health, Injury and Prevention Branch (CDPH/IVPB) and the California Department of Social Service, Office of Child Abuse Prevention’s (CDSS/OCAP) ’s, Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative is pleased to share a new report titled “Statewide Child Abuse and Neglect Non-Fatal Injury Trends Observed in California Hospitals and Emergency Departments During the COVID-19 Pandemic”. The purpose of this new report is to assess changes in the frequency, severity,...

The BulletPoints Project has launched its free, on-demand continuing education cours e, “ Preventing Firearm Injury: What Clinicians Can Do .” The Preventing Firearm Injury continuing education course teac hes medical and mental health care providers how to identify patients who are at increased risk for firearm injury, to engage in conversations about firearm injury prevention with patients, and to intervene appropriately for the level and type of risk. The course focuses on several...

This policy workshop provides advocates, activists & movements the knowledge and tools to increase their capacity to effectively engage in policy advocacy with a lens toward diversity, equity, and inclusion. Over the course of this series, participants will be provided an actionable framework to define opportunities for change, identify policy levers, engage community stakeholders, and influence policymakers. Each interactive session will allow space for participants to examine how the...

By Betty M Rosales, Photo: Ashley A Smith, EdSource, August 11, 2002 A s community college students return to their campuses, many will find one new resource to count on: a hub where they can seek support in meeting their basic needs. Known as basic needs centers, the resources offered differ from campus to campus, but most tend to help students who are experiencing housing and food insecurity. Others also offer other support like paying for auto insurance, finding low-cost medical care,...

By Caitlin Yoshiko Kandil, Photo: Marissa Leshnov, The Guardian, August 7, 2022 W hen Sol Mercado was incarcerated, one of her few sources of comfort was to dig her hands into dirt. Coming from a family of sugarcane and coffee farm workers in Puerto Rico, a love of gardening was in her roots. But it wasn’t until she was in prison and started participating in a gardening program that she truly connected with this part of her heritage. “It’s a huge coping skill to be working with the soil,...

August is Family Fun Month, and the HOPE National Resource Center is all about families creating positive childhood experiences (PCEs) by having fun together! Throughout the month, there are several days to remember that promote PCEs and the Four Building Blocks of HOPE: Exercise with your Child Week – Starting August 7 th : There are so many ways to exercise or get moving with your children. People of different mobility levels can share in a day of intentional, and fun, exercise; from...

August 2022 Newsletter August is Back-to-School Month in California In this edition of the ACEs Aware newsletter, we share several education resources, including a new video in the Storytelling Series about the impact that educators at Laguna High School in Sonoma County are having by employing trauma-informed care to mitigate the impacts of toxic stress in their population of at-risk students. We also share resources for addressing ACEs in a K-12 environment from our friends at PACEs...

By Jennifer A. Kingson, Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios, Axios, July 28, 2022 A landmark California law requiring high schools to start at 8:30am or later is jump-starting similar efforts nationwide after years of intense debate over schools' starting bells. Why it matters: Most teens don't get enough sleep — yet school start times are a hot-button political issue that divide communities, pitting teachers, parents, bus drivers, and administrators against one another. Pediatricians say...

Iya Affo & Heal Historical Trauma Presents New!! 48-HOUR HISTORICAL TRAUMA SPECIALIST CERTIFICATION in collaboration with THE INTERNATIONAL HISTORICAL TRAUMA ASSOCIATION We are the only entity offering a comprehensive, 48-hour Historical Trauma Specialist Certification Program. The Program is broken into 6 levels and is built on a foundation of BIPOC cultures and neurobiology. It is taught from a multicultural perspective, injecting traditions and ideology from various cultures from...