Blog

Dear Friends and Allies If you’re feeling both optimistic and overwhelmed by the funding and reforms focused on children’s mental and behavioral health, you’re not alone. The scope and scale of the current reform agenda, and the dozens of relevant investments included in the budget just signed by Governor Newsom, are unprecedented. Children and families, advocates, and systems leaders have achieved consensus that we must reimagine how we support the social and emotional health of children in...

The ACEs Aware initiative released today the “ ACEs Aware Screening, Training, and Certification Progress: July 2021 Update. ” This new data report details the number of Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) screenings conducted in California between January 1, 2020, and September 30, 2020, and the number of providers who completed the “Becoming ACEs Aware in California” online training between December 4, 2019, and March 31, 2021. Since launching the ACEs Aware initiative in December 2019,...

By Sara Tiano, The Imprint, July 13, 2021 Los Angeles County leaders committed on Tuesday to test out “ colorblind removals ” in child welfare cases — an attempt to correct long-standing patterns that draw disproportionately more Black and brown children into foster care than their white peers. Beginning in November, one of the county’s 20 regional offices will operate a pilot program relying on the method, which was developed on New York’s Long Island more than a decade ago. In colorblind...

By Lisa Deadrick, Encinitas Advocate, July 18, 2021 The findings from a state report on child abuse and its health impacts confirm what many nonprofit organizations and government agencies have already been working toward: developing and providing services to support the physical and emotional health and well-being of young children and their families. In “Roadmap for Resilience: The California Surgeon General’s Report on Adverse Childhood Experiences, Toxic Stress, and Health,” experts...

By Joaquin Palomino and Sara Tiano, The Imprint, July 19, 2021 California has banned the practice of sending foster youth and teens charged with crimes to faraway residential treatment programs, following an investigation by The Imprint and The San Francisco Chronicle into reports of violent abuse at some of these out-of-state campuses. The policy change, signed into law last week by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), commits $100 million over five years to create new programs closer to home for these...

From The Hannah Institute, July 2021 Led by Dr. Stefanie F. Smith, Chief Clinical Officer at Hanna Boys Center, this video will help you understand one way that trauma impacts the brain and explore activities that help heal our minds. We are thrilled to release this FREE resource for you. The Summit @ Home is all about getting you the information you need to help those who have experienced trauma, and giving you tools and take away activities you can apply to your work right away! We'll...

By Jeong Park, The Modesto Bee, July 17, 2021 California businesses hiring workers who are homeless can get up to $30,000 a year in tax credit starting 2022 under a budget bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday. Businesses must pay at least 120% of the state’s minimum wage to be eligible. Businesses must also get certification from a homeless service provider for each hire. Those eligible will qualify for the credit of $2,500 to $10,000 per employee hired per year, depending on hours...

Orange County’s cross-sector community resilience initiative, Orange County ACEs Connection , has officially joined the PACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities. The PACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities is a program of PACEs Connection that provides special tools and services for ACEs initiatives in towns, cities, and counties. It’s designed for initiatives that need efficient and sophisticated ways to measure their progress to becoming a trauma-informed community; that want...

By Jocelyn Gecker, The San Diego Union-Tribune, July 19, 2021 When classrooms in California reopen for the fall term, all 6.2 million public school students will have the option to eat school meals for free, regardless of their family’s income. The undertaking, made possible by an unexpected budget surplus, will be the largest free student lunch program in the country. School officials, lawmakers, anti-hunger organizations and parents are applauding it as a pioneering way to prevent the...

By Kathryn Stewart, Shauna Olsen, Lisa Tadlock, and Sue Grinnell, Northern California ACEs Collaborative, July 2021 Executive Summary Communities across California are impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress, although regions are affected differently. This paper focuses on the six-county region in Northern California served by Public Health Institute's (PHI) Population Health Innovation Lab's (PHIL) Northern ACEs Collaborative (NAC) where exist some of the highest...

By Elizabeth Amon, The Imprint, July 16, 2021 In a historic move to support young adults raised by the government, a monthly check of up to $1,000 — with no restrictions and no strings attached — will be sent to thousands of California foster youth once they leave the state’s custody, guaranteeing them the first statewide universal basic income. California’s state Senate and Assembly unanimously passed the $35 million program on Thursday, and Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the bill...

A newly developed document titled “Utilizing Data to Improve Child Wellbeing Through Community Action” has just been released and can be found attached to this blog post. The purpose of this document is to identify best practices in utilizing data to monitor and evaluate child adversity, health, development, and wellbeing in order to build community support and create policy, systems, and environmental change. This resource was created in partnership by All Children Thrive - California and...