Blog

By Richard Morgan, Vice, July 18, 2019. It was an early summer morning at the San Ysidro Health Center, situated on the Mexican border. A flu outbreak gripped a nearby ICE detention center, where a larger humanitarian crisis continued to unfold, threatening the future of hundreds of children. In a small conference room, brimming with 20 or so of the San Diego area’s most diverse academic and activist minds, Nadine Burke Harris sat at the head of the table. The 43-year-old pediatrician from...

We are excited that this year the Children’s Mental Health Summit partnered with First 5 Humboldt’s ACEs/Resilience Project, the 0 to 8 Mental Health Collaborative and the Child Abuse Prevention Coordinating Council to bring such an amazing opportunity to our community. The collaboration involved in planning this event demonstrates the richness of partnerships present in Humboldt County. Our collective goal was to provide knowledge, strategies and networking opportunities to practitioners,...

Building Community Resilience, Volume II: State of Readiness: System and Provider Abilities to Respond This second volume in the Strategies 2.0 toolkit series describes the organizational capacity needed for a shared approach to building community resilience within an organization or network. The tools in this volume will assist organizations to: Build a logic model to focus the work Assess their level of readiness to implement BCR efforts Identify the steps needed to increase readiness for...

Your voice is more powerful than you might imagine. Speak with your local Board of Supervisor member (in 1:1 mtg, during public comments at meetings, etc). Your unique perspective, when shared with your representative(s) has the potential to positively influence public policy. Please consider reaching out and sharing your knowledge with local key leaders. (*Local Board of Supervisors can be found on their county website. Click HERE for find your state level representative). This article...

By Becky Gershon, July 16, 2019 for California Food Bank Association The law will help Californians, especially newly eligible SSI recipients, quickly access & maximize CalFresh benefits. On July 12 th , Governor Newsom signed into law AB 494 – authored by anti-hunger champion Assemblymember Marc Berman. The California Association of Food Banks was a co-sponsor of this legislation, in partnership with the Western Center on Law and Poverty, and the Coalition of California Welfare Rights...

The California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative convened more than 65 stakeholders on Friday, July 12, 2019 to assess the current state of collective action around adverse childhood experiences (ACEs); align EfC Initiative goals and project interventions with existing efforts; identify mutually reinforcing activities; and establish a collective agreement on how to strategically promote Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships, and Environments (SSNR&E), to prevent and reduce child...

From the Center for Law and Social Policy Early childhood programs play an important role in the lives of young children and their families. But in our current immigration policy climate, families across the country are questioning whether it’s safe to attend or enroll. Providers can take steps to protect families’ safety and privacy by implementing policies that designate their facilities as a safe space from immigration enforcement. This guide explains federal agency guidance related to...

Room erupts in applause for the grandmother of witness William Kellibrew during July 11 House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing. The power of personal stories from witnesses and committee members fueled the July 11 hearing on childhood trauma in the House Oversight and Reform Committee* throughout the nearly four hours of often emotional and searing testimony and member questions and statements (Click here for 3:47 hour video). The hearing was organized into a two panels—testimony from...

I've never blogged before so I hope this posts where I intend for it to show. There is a program called Quartet used by physicians to make referrals to mental health providers in their area who have also signed up to use the program. The agency I currently work with uses it and it assists patients in being connected to mental health in a timely manner.

By Nadine Burke Harris, Washington Post, July 11, 2019. Nadine Burke Harris is the surgeon general of California. Children in dirty clothes who haven’t been bathed in days. Eight-year-olds caring for toddlers out of necessity. Kids deprived of the safe, stable and nurturing care that’s fundamental to their health and well-being. As a pediatrician who has spent my career working to address childhood trauma, I’ve unfortunately seen it all. And I’ve had to make my share of reports to Child...

Two weeks ago, the President announced that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would begin the process of deporting millions of undocumented immigrants across the country. While these raids were temporarily halted, new information suggests that ICE may begin conducting enforcement actions in 10 cities, including San Francisco, as early as this Sunday, July 14. In California, where many kids are growing up in “mixed status” families (where some members are citizens and others are...

By David Murphey and Jessica Dym Bartlett, Child Trends, July 9, 2019. Exposure to adversity in childhood is widespread and can pose a serious threat to individual health and well-being over the life course. By age 18, nearly half (45 percent) of children in the United States have had at least one adverse experience; among young children and other vulnerable subgroups, the prevalence is much higher. Childhood adversity is defined as one or more stressful events or conditions that can...