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Eric Ortega walked through Warner Springs on a recent hot afternoon. “I see our homeland,” he said, looking at houses that dot vast rolling expanses of land covered by dry brush and trees. “ My grandmother lived in one of those houses,” said the 54-year-old Ortega. “My grandfather lived in those houses." And just east of the homes, sit two large pools of water sprung from the ground. One hot. One cool. Ortega said practicality and spirituality drew his ancestors to the springs possibly as...

California's 2019-2020 state budget was enacted on June 27. It includes new investments for vulnerable children and youth. Full info is here: http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/budget/2019-20EN/#/BudgetSummary . Budget highlights include: Screening for developmental delays and trauma: $105 million ($52.5 million one-time Prop 56 funding) for developmental and trauma screenings and $50 million ($25 million Prop 56 one-time funding) for provider training to deliver trauma screenings in Medi-Cal.

YWFC sponsored Sister Warriors meeting When she was 15 years old, Lucero Herrera was put in a rehab program by San Francisco’s Juvenile Court because she was getting drunk regularly. And in doing so, the court failed to explore the root of her drinking. Had they done so, she said, they would have found that anger and trauma were lurking underneath, driven by her ACEs: adverse childhood experiences. Lucero Herrera "Why did they put me in a drug program when I had an anger problem? I went...

By Alyse DiNapoli, California Health Report, July 17, 2019. Many California’s counties reported having more homeless residents this year, according to the 2019 Point in Time surveys, which aim to count the number of people experiencing homelessness on a given night. The surveys are completed once every year or two years depending on the county. San Francisco and San Jose counties reported increases of 17 percent and 42 percent in the last two years, respectively. Los Angeles County...

By Ali Tadayon, The Mercury News, July 10, 2019. OAKLAND — If police don’t have a warrant, they will be limited as to when they can search parolees and probationers under a new Oakland policy, the first of its kind in the state. State law allows police to search parolees and probationers without a warrant and without a reason, even during routine traffic stops. Oakland’s policy — approved by the City Council unanimously last week — requires officers to have a reason to conduct a warrantless...

By Wayne D'Orio, The Hechinger Report, July 12, 2019. LOS ANGELES — The first time someone in jail tried to give Bradley Arrowood a textbook, he laughed at him. Education was the last thing on his mind. “When I was a kid, I was told I’d never amount to anything,” Arrowood said. Arrowood grew up in Orange County, dropped out of school at 16, and supported himself with “illegal activities” until he was 23 years old, when he killed a man he suspected of cheating with his wife. He was sentenced...

By John Myers, Los Angeles Times, July 19, 2019. SACRAMENTO — Some of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s staunchest supporters say they are baffled by his decision to block two Bay Area cities from raising local taxes — money that, in one community, would be used to boost child-care services for working-class families. The governor’s decision late last week to veto legislation on the issue may not be the final word for either city, but it caught local leaders off guard on an effort that had been decidedly...

By Yousef Baig, Sonoma Index-Tribune, July 19, 2019. Thousands of workers on the lowest rung of Petaluma’s economic ladder will see higher wages starting next year after city officials this week agreed to accelerate a state plan to increase the minimum wage. The city council voted unanimously Monday night to adopt a $15 per hour minimum wage starting Jan. 1 for large businesses (26 or more employees), and will then enact the rate citywide a year later in 2021. Smaller employers (25 or less...

By Silicon Valley Newsroom, San Jose Inside, July 22, 2019. Doctors prescribed nearly 203 million opioid pills in Santa Clara County from 2006 to 2012, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis of federal data. The study of 380 million prescriptions conducted by the Washington Post offers a county-by-county glimpse of the opioid crisis that swept the nation over the past decade. It shows that in this county alone, doctors prescribed painkillers at a per-capita rate of 16 pills a person over...

By Sarah Ravani, San Francisco Chronicle, July 22, 2019. Oakland’s homeless population rose 47% between 2017 and 2019, one of the biggest two-year increases of any California city, according to a one-night street count released Monday by county officials. The jump means Oakland’s per capita homeless rate now surpasses the same figure in San Francisco and Berkeley, at a time when cities around the Bay Area and the country are struggling with a crisis driven by drug addiction, mental illness...

“There is a critical need to focus on effective strategies that address the underlying causes and structural conditions of substance use, including adverse childhood experiences, adverse community environments and experiences, toxic stress, and trauma.”- Recommendations Roadmap for California Proposition 64 Expenditures Report By Christina Bethell, Stephanie Guinosso, and Kanwarpal Dhaliwal California’s Proposition 64 (2016 marijuana legalization) presents a special opportunity to invest in...

Below is an updated table of bills that address childhood adversity in the Legislature in 2019. The list is not exhaustive, so please email Kelly Hardy with Children Now if you think a bill is missing and/or if you have any questions. Email: khardy @childrennow.org . Here are key dates for the remainder of the legislative session: July 10 = last day for bills to pass out of policy committees July 12 – August 12 = Summer recess August 30 = last day for fiscal bills to pass out of committee...