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After a man held a knife to her throat, forced her into her car and repeatedly raped her, Helena Lazaro underwent a painful and humiliating medical forensic examination. The 17-year-old wanted her attacker caught. She never imagined the evidence collected in what is known as a rape kit would sit untouched for years by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. And by the time she discovered the identity of her attacker, prosecutors couldn’t charge him with the rape because the statute of...

Michael Fine is the new CEO of the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, perhaps the most important education agency Californians may never have heard of — unless their school district has been in financial peril. Better known by its acronym, FCMAT monitors the financial health of school districts, investigates and, together with county offices of education, manages districts when they’re in trouble. It also trains local administrators to keep them from getting into trouble in the...

When Marci Maxey’s father moved to Texas to take care of her ailing grandmother last August, the Sacramento resident found herself alone for the first time in her life. She was taking classes at a community college and didn’t have a job. She had some money from her family, but it wasn’t enough to live on. “There were times when I felt that maybe I’m not going to be able to have enough food,” she said. Because Maxey qualified for her college’s work-study program, she was eligible for food...

For better or worse, California likes to decide drug policy at the ballot box. Voters have already approved marijuana legalization, but criminal sanctions against users of heroin, cocaine and other drugs are very much intact, though they’ve been moving in a more lenient direction. It would not be surprising to see a proposition entirely eliminating criminal penalties for drug possession in the near future. The removal of criminal penalties for drug possession — which is very different from...

Did you know that California is currently considering 4 pieces of legislation that seek to address trauma and childhood adversity? ACE's Connection members recently (July 2017) participated in a P olicy Maker education Day on Childhood Adversity . Jessica Hackwell, Karen Clemmer, Carla Denner, Nick Dalton, and two youth from Sonoma County partnered with the California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity (4CA) to ensure our policymakers understand the terms "adversity," "trauma," and...

A group of teenagers who have seen their share of hard times is spending part of summer vacation trying to make a difference in their community. The youths are in a mentoring program and have decided to take on two very adult tasks: finding solutions to the sex trade in Redding and how to help their homeless peers. A dozen high school students were steered to a pilot project hosted by the Catalyst Center on Industrial Street and directed by an alternative education nonprofit named Zedbridge.

To improve education, California is asking schools to improve the way they meet the emotional as well as the academic needs of students. Among the strategies is what’s known as social and emotional learning , which refers to an organized method of teaching students behavioral expectations, self-management and relationship skills. This FAQ explains what social and emotional learning is, why schools say it matters and which school districts are paying the most attention to the concept. What is...

For generations travelers have understood the importance of always knowing the location of the North Star. As the only fixed point in the night sky, the North Star is a constant companion and a sure reference for setting one’s course on a journey. For TCE's Building Healthy Communities Initiative, we too are setting our North Star that will guide our BHC work over the next half of the initiative. Our North Star Goals and Indicators illustrate what success looks like in 2020. Essentially, the...

The Kidsdata team is devoted to providing the evidence you need to improve children's health and well being. How can we better support your work? What would make the site more useful to you? Now’s your chance to tell us ! Please share your thoughts in a brief survey . In about 10 minutes, you can help shape the future of Kidsdata. The survey will close September 1 . After completing the survey, you can enter a drawing to win one of five $50 Amazon gift cards. You will also have the...

Expect more diligent searches at schools this fall as LA Unified officials push principals to meet their daily requirement of metal detector scans of students and random searches of lockers for knives, guns, or drugs. An internal report revealed that some schools are still not doing the mandatory searches of students that the district requires, so district officials said they will put renewed urgency on the practice — which is strongly opposed by many community groups and charter schools.

Meeting 33 June 22-23, 2017 Sacramento, California Changes at the federal level and an upcoming California election are shaping the social, economic, and political context in which K-12 districts operate. The California Collaborative on District Reform convened for a two-day meeting to step back, reflect, and take stock of the road ahead. Meeting participants listened to research-based presentations that helped to illustrate the postsecondary world that schools are preparing students for,...

Democratic up-and-comer Kamala Harris visited just about every corner of California during her successful 2016 campaign to take over Barbara Boxer’s seat in the US Senate, and she’s kept it up somewhat since taking office. But on a recent, sweltering July afternoon, I accompanied Harris to a place where no senator has set foot for at least a decade. The Central California Women’s Facility, which houses nearly 3,000 inmates, is tucked amid the farmlands of Chowchilla, about three hours from...