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By Sue Burrell, The Chronicle of Social Change, October 4, 2019 California has taken dramatic steps over the past several years to reduce the transfer of juveniles into adult court system, ensuring that more young people accused of crimes can benefit from rehabilitation in the juvenile system. Sending youth into the adult criminal justice system can have a profound impact on the health and well-being of a young person, and alter the trajectory of his or her life. In 2015, Senate Bill 382...

By Theresa Clift, Sawsan Morrar, and Tony Bizjack, The Sacramento Bee, October 9, 2019 The largest intentional blackout in California history, which left more than 500,000 without power after midnight Wednesday, began to take its toll on routines in Placer and El Dorado counties. Dixie LaRouche, 79, woke up Wednesday extremely worried. With power out at her Placer County home, she was unable to charge the neurostimulator recently implanted in her back for her neuropathy. She and her husband...

By Geoffrey Mohan, Los Angeles Times, October 9, 2019 Chemical companies gave up their fight over California’s ban of the pesticide chlorpyrifos, which has been linked to learning and development disorders. The accord announced Wednesday with the state Environmental Protection Agency sets the stage for ending nearly all sales of pesticides containing chlorpyrifos by next year, a timeline that probably would not have been met if those companies continued to pursue a hearing on the issue.

By Kareen Wynter, Los Angeles Times, October 8, 2019 Los Angeles police officers search blacks and Latinos far more often than whites during traffic stops, even though whites are more likely to be found with illegal items, a Times analysis has found. The analysis, the first in a decade to calculate racial breakdowns of searches and other actions by LAPD officers after they pull over vehicles, comes amid growing nationwide scrutiny over racial disparities in policing. [ Please click here to...

An ACEs Connection webinar co-sponsored with 4 CA In 2017, California became the first state in the country to pass a law supporting universal screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the 5.3 million children in the state’s Medicaid program. As clinicians around California await the state’s announcement of what this new policy will entail, many are wondering what it takes to integrate ACEs science in a pediatric practice. Meet Drs. Deirdre Bernard-Pearl, R.J. Gillespie and...

The Intersections Initiative brings together coalitions from seven California communities served by Providence St. Joseph Health System hospitals with the goal of advancing health equity by addressing the community conditions that shape health outcomes. The fund and its partner, Prevention Institute , have been working together since 2016 to better understand the challenges and opportunities for hospitals and their partners to intentionally pursue upstream causes of, and solutions to,...

I want to share this important documentary from Humboldt County with you and encourage you to make the time to watch it and share it with others in your organizations and spheres of influence. It is 52 minutes long, but well worth your time. The associate producer of the video, James Faulk - one of the central interviewees of the film - attended First 5 Humboldt's Town Hall on Adverse Childhood Experiences where the connection between early childhood adversity, mental health struggles,...

On October 2 nd , Family Resource Centers and the family strengthening field as a whole reached a critical victory, when Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 436 into law. SB436 built on the findings of the 2017 monograph Family Resource Centers: Vehicles for Change, Volume II, the Evolving Field, as well as a recent study commissioned by the David & Lucille Packard Foundation, to establish in statute an inclusive and clear definition for Family Resource Centers. SB436 represents...

By Kate Cimini, Cal Matters, October 5, 2019 Just a few years ago, Yolanda Harraway was living in a tent on the streets of Chinatown in Salinas, an agricultural hub struggling with a growing homeless community. Harraway’s slide into homelessness began when her son was taken from her custody by Child Protective Services. She struggled with addiction and had several felonies on her record, which cut her off from various state and government-funded housing options. She also had a hard time...

By Nick Green, Press-Telegram, October 7, 2019 A fast- emerging youth mental health crisis linked to excessive screen time, loneliness and social media addiction has prompted a Torrance and Long Beach nonprofit group to create a program aimed at countering escalating rates of anxiety and depression caused by the pursuit of an Instagram-like culture of online perfection. Indeed, The Volunteer Center South Bay-Harbor-Long Beach realized when angst-riven youth reach adulthood, they may not be...

The federal Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 included a major advance for the child abuse prevention field: the Family First Prevention Services Act. This legislation seeks to change the way Title IV-E funds can be spent by states, including California. These funds will go to programs that support at-risk families and would allow children to stay with their parents or relatives, instead of going into the foster care system. Sheila Boxley, the President and CEO of the Child Abuse Prevention...