Blog posts -- State agencies

By Karen de Sa and John Kelly, The Chronicle of Social Change, February 5, 2020 A California senator introduced groundbreaking legislation this week to extend the state’s foster care system through age 25 – a bill that acknowledges the continued failure to prepare young people severed from families for life on their own. The early-stage Senate Bill 912 has few details yet available, and no price tag. But its lofty aim would make California the first state to expand such support and services...

At a time when a third of the state’s population relies on government-funded health care, most California counties are failing to apply for millions of dollars that could be used to broaden access to mental health care, an analysis by the California Health Report has found. Data from California’s Department of Health Care Services shows that only a handful of counties apply for Mental Health Medi-Cal Administrative Activities reimbursement, and those that do often obtain a low amount...

Understanding and addressing childhood adversity in California was the focus of the Department of Health Care Services’ Learning Series event on May 10. Steve Wirtz, from the Department of Public Health, and Lori Turk-Bicakci, from the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, were the featured speakers. They shared the fundamentals of understanding childhood adversity, described state-wide initiatives that support increasing awareness, reducing adversity and promoting resilience, and...

Upon reading the May edition of the Office of Health Equity Newsletter, I found this article of interest. To learn more about OHE visit here: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OHE/Pages/OfficeHealthEquity.aspx Partner Spotlight: Office of Binational Border Health The California-Baja California border region is the busiest in the world with over 100,000,000 crossings per year. Individuals living in the region cross for various reasons including employment, recreation, family and healthcare and...

California has welcomed about 112,000 refugees in the last 15 years, according to the State Department. They have resettled in more than 440 California cities and unincorporated communities. San Diego County has seen the biggest influx of refugees in recent years, with more than 31,000 refugees resettling there since 2002. About 11,500 Iraqis have resettled in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon alone. Los Angeles County welcomed nearly 30,000 refugees in the last 15 years. In the Los Angeles...

A draft report from California's Department of Housing and Community Development found home ownership rates in the state are at their lowest since the 1940s. The report, California's Housing Future: Challenges and Opportunities, also found that the state has more than its share of the country's homeless population — 22 percent of the country's homeless live in the state while the state makes up only 12 percent of the country's population. To download the report and hear a report of the...

On July 11, 2016 California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith announced nearly $13 million in grants to help reduce mental health disparities in communities that have traditionally been underserved. The funding will be distributed to 11 pilot projects statewide that provide mental health services to five target populations, including African American, Asian and Pacific Islander, Latino, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and...

Nearly 300 impassioned and committed people crowded into the Green Room at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center last week to launch Trauma Transformed. Known as T2, the regional effort representing the San Francisco...

Gail Kennedy and Sue Delucchi from ACEs Connection Network presented to the CA Department of Early Education and Support Division on Monday, July 27th. The 50+ staff of CDE EES Division are monitors for state early childhood projects and...