Tagged With "Women of Color"
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2019 Los Angeles Women's Needs Assessment [downtownwomenscenter.org]
By Downtown Women's Center, February 2020 A report on women experiencing homelessness The 2019 Los Angeles Women’s Needs Assessment is a community-based research project developed in partnership with unsheltered and sheltered women in the City of Los Angeles. Expanding on the legacy of six past projects documenting the demographics, needs, and conditions of homeless and low-income women in downtown Los Angeles, this project includes women from a broader geographic swath of the city. [ Please...
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Black-White Achievement Gaps Go Hand in Hand With Discipline Disparities [edweek.org]
By Sarah D. Sparks, Education Week, October 16, 2019 Gaps between black and white students in school suspension rates and academic achievement may be two sides of the same coin, according to a massive new national study. The study, based on data from more than 2,000 school districts, finds the two racial disparities are tightly intertwined, compounding challenges for students of color and the educators trying to support them. “These disparities are two things the districts think and care a...
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Blacks, Latinos, Women Found Less Likely To Get The Mental Health Care They Need [californiahealthline.org]
Black Californians are more likely to experience mental health problems than other ethnic groups, and they are less likely to get the care they need, according to a study released Tuesday. The study, by Santa Monica-based Rand Corp., shows a connection between untreated mental health problems and multiple absences from work, which can take an economic toll on individuals and families in the form of lost pay and even lost jobs. That dynamic disproportionately affects communities of color.
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Building Bridges to Resilience in Santa Barbara County
The full moon was setting and the sun was rising as organizers from KIDS Network, Children & Family Resource Services, Casa Pacifica, and the Department of Behavioral Wellness began setting up the 2019 BRIDGES TO RESILIENCE Conference on October 14 th at the beautiful Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. The stately halls and ballrooms were a flurry of activity as staff prepared to receive over 350 community members who work with children, youth and families in Santa Barbara County.
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ACEs Champion Julie Kurtz Gives Every Child (and Adult) a Voice
Julie Kurtz hasn’t stopped creating ways to build and promote resilience in herself and others who have experienced trauma since she left her family home for college at age 18. Although she experienced four types of adversity during her childhood, the CEO of the Center for Optimal Brain Integration has traveled a complex journey to mitigate those adversities by recognizing her own internal resilience, building skills to buffer her toxic and traumatic stress, uncovering her voice through...
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ACEs screening in CA — a Q and A with Dr. Dayna Long
Last year, the California Department of Health Care Services rolled out its plans for universal screening for trauma among its pediatric and adult Medicaid population. Beginning January 1, 2020, California physicians were able to receive an incentive payment of $29 for each pediatric patient screened for ACEs using the PEARLs ( Pediatrics Adverse Childhood and Resilience Study) tool. Dr. Dayna Long talked with ACEs Connection staff reporter Laurie Udesky about ACEs science, what led to the...
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Addressing the Educational Gap in Whittier [kcet.org]
By Neighborhood Data for Social Change, February 10, 2020 The California Department of Public Health reported in 2017 that completing a formal education is a crucial step on the pathway to securing fulfilling employment that can provide food, housing, transportation and other livelihood improvements essential to a healthy life. However, educational attainment differs across economic and racial lines. Since 2003, the achievement gap in California between low-income students and their more...
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Adult Courts Degrade Health of Juveniles, Their Families, California Study Finds [JJIE.org]
A wide-ranging study of youth incarceration in California outlines what it calls the debilitating effects on the health of teens, their families and society when youthful offenders are tried and sentenced as adults. “ Juvenile Injustice ,” from Human Impact Partners , concludes that laws designed to try youth in adult courts not only fail to curtail recidivism but are so inherently flawed and biased that the entire approach must be scrapped. Researchers found that youth tried in adult courts...
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As California Expands Ban on ‘Willful Defiance’ Suspensions, Lessons From L.A. Schools, Which Barred Them Six Years Ago
September 18, 2019 by TAYLOR SWAAK A s California this month expanded a statewide ban on suspending younger students for defiant behavior, lessons on how this increasingly sweeping school discipline reform may play out can be found in Los Angeles, which barred such suspensions on an even broader scale six years ago. Previously in California, “willful defiance” suspensions were not permitted in grades K-3. Beginning in July 2020, under the new state law , they will be prohibited for students...
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Assemblymember Bonta hosts Raising of America's "Wounded Places" screening in Oakland, CA, Dec. 14, 2014
Assemblymember Rob Bonta sent out this email: As Chair of the Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color, I invite you to join Chair Assemblymember Reginald Jones-Sawyer and me for a screening and discussion of the moving documentary "Wounded Places" at the Elihu Harris State Building in Oakland on Monday, December 14th from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. " Wounded Places" describes how structural racism has ravaged communities and exposed children and families to multiple adversities...
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Cal OES Seeks Requests for Proposals for $2M in Domestic Violence Assistance Program
California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), Victim Services & Public Safety Branch, Domestic Violence Unit is soliciting proposals for the Domestic Violence Assistance (DH) Program for 2018-19. The DH Program provides local assistance to existing domestic violence service providers throughout the State for comprehensive support services , including emergency shelter to victims of domestic violence and their children. The Program also provides support for the development...
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California Adds Health & Equity Recommendations to General Plan Guidelines (changelabsolutions.org)
Last fall, California's Office of Planning and Research (OPR) issued new guidelines for general plans , the documents created by the state's cities and counties to guide their future development. For the first time, the OPR guidelines include specific recommendations for how local general plans could address health, equitable development, and public engagement. ChangeLab Solutions, with many statewide partner organizations, helped drive this innovation by submitting a detailed set of...
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California Advocates Celebrate as Governor Signs Law to Address Overuse of Suspensions in Schools! [fixschooldiscipline.com]
By Fix School Discipline, September 16, 2019 SB 419 will help keep students in school, increase student success, and increase high school graduation Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation to eliminate suspensions for minor misbehaviors and protect California students from discriminatory and harmful school climates. Under Senate Bill 419, which was introduced by Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), school districts will no longer be permitted to use defiance or disruption, as justification...
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California Bets on Big Data to Predict Child Abuse [The Chronicle of Social Change]
California, home to the largest foster care population in the country, has publicly declared its intention to pursue the use of so-called “predictive analytics” to foresee and presumably prevent child abuse. California Department of Social Services (CDSS) Deputy Director Greg Rose, who oversees the state’s foster care system, says that the state’s new predictive risk modeling project is designed to give social workers better information about past child welfare cases when they first field a...
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California Camp Challenges Young Men to Rethink Masculinity (kqed.org)
Khiyloe Singsay, 15, is tall and slender, with a gentle and quiet demeanor. But Singsay’s neighborhood in Long Beach is anything but gentle and quiet. “Definitely a lot of gang violence and poverty,” Singsay said. “A lot of the [youth], they want to act cool so then they try to be part of a gang, which leads them to selling drugs, or claiming [territory], which leads to them getting beat up.” Singsay attended a summer camp that is trying to help young men like him grapple with ideas of...
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California Child Trauma Advocates Eye Policy Impact
Jeremy Loudenback from the Chronicle of Social Change posted a story about last week's California Policy Convening on Childhood Adversity that the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW) hosted in San Diego. Here's the beginning: Last...
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California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative’s “Enhancing the Collective Vision” Slides Are Available and Opportunity to Participate in an Orientation Webinar
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...
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Uplifting People of Color (Los Angeles, CA)
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When Two Public Health Crises Collide: Healing from Trauma
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We're All in This Together - COVID-19 Statement and Resources [childrennow.org]
From Children Now, The Children's Movement of California, March 18, 2020 Children Now is deeply concerned about the severe impact of the novel coronavirus on California’s children and families, especially children of color, families in poverty, families that are undocumented, and kids experiencing or who have experienced trauma. During this time, we are continuing to keep children and their families at the center of our work. We are diligently monitoring a range of national, state and local...
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Webinar: Key findings from the Listening to Mothers in California Survey
Webinar: Key findings from the Listening to Mothers in California Survey. For more information and to register, please see below. Webinar is Thursday, September 20 , from 12-1:00 PM In 2017, a team led by the National Partnership for Women & Families surveyed more than 2,500 women in California about their views and experiences with childbirth. The results, which will be released September 12, reveal what is and isn't working with maternity care in the Golden State. Join us Thursday,...
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#WeMakeLCFFWork: Month of Digital Action for Public Education [publicadvocates.org]
By Public Advocates, January 2020 In 2013, low-income communities of color and immigrant communities won the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), a funding law that increases resources for high need students and gives more power to the community. The promise of LCFF has yet to be fully realized, but together, we can make it live up to its potential. That’s why we’re launching the #WeMakeLCFFWork community education campaign in February 2020 to make sure families know their rights, are fully...
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What does a public health approach to preventing and healing trauma look like? This statewide initiative may have an answer.
Learn more about All Children Can Thrive (ACT/CA), trauma informed effort funded through the CA state legislature.
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Why California Needs More Male Teachers of Color [calmatters.org]
By Vanessa Rancano, Cal Matters, December 26, 2019 Darryl McKellar makes teaching look easy. Over 20 years in the classroom, the English teacher has mastered some of the job’s trickiest tasks. He has a writing assignment for the 10th graders in his second period class today, based on a short story they read, “The Lottery.” “When I say lottery, what do you think? Breanna, what do you think?” “Drama,” she says. [ Please click here to read more .]
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Will You Join PI and the Movember Campaign This Veteran's Day to Support Men's Mental Health and Wellbeing? [makingconnections.movemberprojects.com]
By Prevention Institute, November 11, 2019 Far too many men in the United States are impacted by stress, anxiety, depression, and other challenges to their mental wellbeing—and this is particularly true for boys and men of color, military service members, and veterans. That’s why Prevention Institute works with the Movember Foundation and 13 community coalitions throughout the US on a national initiative called Making Connections for Mental Health and Wellbeing Among Men and Boys. Making...
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Women of color face highest rent burden in Bay Area [Marin I J]
By Bay City News Service Aug 13, 2019 This past May, residents of the 64-unit Strawberry Hill complex in Vallejo came home to find a troubling notice on their doors. Beginning in June, their rent was going to nearly double. The new owners of the apartment complex, San Francisco-based The Reliant Group , had plans to renovate the building. Tenants, panicked over losing their homes, and the Vallejo Housing Justice Coalition went to Mayor Bob Sampayan and the City Council, which passed an...
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Women’s Well-Being Index, interactive map [California Budget and Policy Center]
California Women's Well-Being Index In Partnership With the Women's Foundation of California Women's Well-Being Index: Overall When women thrive, their families and communities prosper . Yet despite decades of progress, women still face persistent disparities on a range of issues, from economic security to health to participation in political leadership. By viewing women’s well-being as encompassing various distinct yet interrelated components, policymakers, advocates, service providers, and...
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Women Trying to Improve Their Lives Find a Deep Resource in WELL, A Female-Led Nonprofit [modbee.com]
By Deke Farrow, The Modesto Bee, October 4, 2019 Alana Scott likes to share a story about Tanya King. King, 47 and a student at Modesto Junior College, was interviewing for a scholarship to take a five-week Living WELL program, said Scott, a founder of the nonprofit organization WELL, or Women’s Education and Leadership League. King saw another candidate, Veronica Nunez, arriving and greeted her. Scott asked King how she knew Nunez, and learned that they’re MJC classmates and that King had...
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"A Better Normal" Community Discussion Series
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Solano County launches its ACEs and resilience initiative inviting all to take action
Elizabeth Huntley recalls the day when her family’s life was turned upside down. “One day my mom woke up and she packed up all of our clothes, all five of us…and she took me and my younger sister who had the same father… down to my paternal grandmother’s house…and she left us there. She took my middle sister to a town near Birmingham, Ala., and left her there. She took my only brother and an older sister back to Huntsville and left them at a sister’s house. Then she went back to that housing...
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Starting Now: A Policy Vision for Supporting the Healthy Growth and Development of Every California Baby [ChildrenNow.org]
In the first three years of a child’s life, foundational brain architecture is established, making children’s earliest experiences the most important. The creation of healthy brain architecture is dependent on good health, positive and nurturing relationships with adults, exposure to enriching learning opportunities and safe neighborhoods. Yet too often in California, children—especially children of color, foster youth, and those growing up in poverty—lack the components critical for a...
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State board’s next challenge: how to measure school climate, the heartbeat of a school (edsource.org)
Busloads of high school students and parents from organizations statewide have trekked to State Board of Education meetings for two years, clamoring for changes they believe will improve school climate. In moving testimony, students described schools where they feel disconnected, misunderstood and often under-challenged. “If you are serious about closing the achievement gap, and bringing equity to our most vulnerable students, don’t continue to neglect school climate,” Armon Matthews, a...
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State Dropping Ball in Dealing With Childhood Trauma, New Report Says [CaliforniaHealthline.org]
The lowest of 31 grades issued in the 2016 California Children's Report Card released on Wednesday was for dealing with the effects of childhood trauma. In Children Now's biennial assessment of the status of California kids, researchers gave the state a "D-" for how it deals with childhood trauma. The report contends that children who experience traumatic problems such as abuse, neglect and witnessing violence at home can suffer serious long-term consequences, including health...
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State releases another data tool potentially more useful than new dashboard [EdSource.org]
Separate from its new California School Dashboard, the California Department of Education has prepared another online resource that some school officials say may be more useful than the dashboard itself. It consists of color grids showing a breakdown of how every school in a district did on each performance indicator, with links to each school’s dashboard report. The California Model Five-by-Five Placement Reports & Data , as the site is called, is a one-stop school comparison tool that...
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Substance Use Disorder and Brain Development
The inputs a brain experiences during its developmental stages have a profound impact on whether that person will develop a substance use disorder (if they choose to drink or use other drugs). In turn, developing a substance use disorder (SUD) as a tween, teen, or young adult dramatically influences that person's brain development. And why is understanding this causality important? The risk factors for developing a substance use disorder are the result of inputs the brain experiences (or...
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RYSE Center's Listening Campaign: Young people in Richmond, CA help adults understand trauma, violence, coping, and healing
"My experience with violence is very brutal...I grew up with violence as if it were my sibling." - LC participant (youth) "We know we can't run the city- it's too complex- but our experience and our voices should count, especially because we're the most effected ." - LC participant (youth) "Our city's problems are shared by us all; we are all part of the problem AND the solution. Listening is a key component to healing." - LC Share Out partici pant (adult) Three years ago, RYSE Center in...
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RYSE gathering: To promote healing from trauma, institutions need to stop seeing youth as the problem
A young man told clinical therapist Marissa Snoddy recently that when she calls him a leader, she got it all wrong. “He said, ‘I just came from Juvenile Hall,’ I’m not a leader.” But, she said, “We just kept giving him love. And we said, ‘You’re courageous for showing up and being here,’” The very fact that he was there, she explained, showed he was a leader. Snoddy related the anecdote recently for 80 people attending the Trauma and Learning Series launch led by Rising Youth for Social...
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Saint Joseph Health Hospice Offers Gentle Reminders on Self Care
In the midst of the devastating fires that continue to threaten our county, we at St. Joseph Health Hospice Grief Services would like to offer a few gentle grief reminders for anyone touched by these events . Whether you personally have experienced a loss, you are supporting others, or even witnessing the events remember: We all grieve differently, and ALL grief is valid. Extreme Self Care While chaos is swirling we must try to drink plenty of water , eat whenever possible, sleep even if...
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Search and Compare Data from the California School Dashboard, 2019 [edsource.org]
By Justin Allen, Daniel J. Willis, and Yuxuan Xie, EdSource, December 12, 2019 On Dec. 12, 2019, the California Department of Education updated the official California School Dashboard with the latest data for schools and districts. View results for 2018 here and 2017 here. The dashboard shows progress, or lack of it, on multiple measures. This database shows measures of achievement on six measures, in color codes selected by the state. To find indicators from a school or district, enter a...
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Search and compare data from the California School Dashboard (edsource.org)
On Dec. 7, 2017 , the California Department of Education published the California School Dashboard for schools and districts. The dashboard shows progress, or lack of it, on multiple measures. This database shows indicators of progress on five measures, in color codes selected by the state. (See below for details.) Other indicators will be will be added later as the state develops them, or collects the data needed to populate this database. To find indicators from a school or district, enter...
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Search data from California School Dashboard [EdSource.org]
On March 15, 2017, the California Department of Education published a field test version of the California School Dashboard for schools and districts. The dashboard shows progress, or lack of it, on multiple measures. This database shows indicators of progress on five measures, in color codes selected by the state. Other indicators will be added later as the state develops them, or collects the data needed to populate this database. EdSource has compiled the key indicators in an easy-access...
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Senate HELP Committee approves opioid bill with major trauma-related provisions
The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee unanimously approved The Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 Act on April 24. Significant provisions were included from the Heitkamp-Durbin Trauma-Informed Care for Children and Families Act (S. 774), including creation of a task force on trauma, and grants for trauma-informed schools.
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Suspensions Plummet With New Discipline Policy in Santa Ana (CA) Schools [VoiceofOC.org]
Santa Ana Unified School District officials -- who as recently as five years ago were heavily criticized for being too quick to kick kids out of school for behavior problems -- are now being credited for a steep decline in out-of-school suspensions. While school suspensions and expulsions declined statewide by more than 33 percent between the 2011-12 and 2014-15 school years, in Santa Ana suspensions dropped by 58 percent during the same time period, The decline is due not only to a...
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Systems Transformation for the Better Normal: Follow-up Slides and Call Recording
Find in this post the slides from the Systems Transformation Better Normal call, featuring RYSE Youth Center's Associate Director Kanwarpal Dhaliwal. A link to the call recording is also provided.
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Telling a more complete story about child welfare
A new study from Berkeley Media Studies Group found that coverage of the child welfare system omits important context and connections to other issues. Here are four steps practitioners can take to improve the news.
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The Beginning of the End of Random Searches: Students Know What They Need Next [fixschooldiscipline.org]
By Ashley Ruano, Fix School Discipline, October 1, 2019 The #StudentNotSuspects coalition has long worked in Los Angeles to end the random searches policy that discriminate against students and create a hostile campus environment for students to learn. For many years, Los Angeles Unified School District implemented mandatory random metal detector searches in middle and high schools. The searches did not make campus environments more secure. Instead, the policy targeted, and criminalized...
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The Economics of Child Abuse: A Study of California
While the impact of maltreatment on a child and their family is devastating, child maltreatment also has serious effects far beyond those for the victim. Maltreatment results in ongoing costs to taxpayers, institutions, businesses, and society at large. Local communities bear the brunt of these costs in the form of medical, educational, and judicial costs, though more tragic signs are seen in homelessness, addiction, and teen pregnancy. To create a concrete understanding of the widespread...
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The Mental Health Context of California's new Stephon Clark's Law on Police Use of Force
With the passage of Stephon Clark's law, California has taken steps to address the mental and physical health risk posed by police violence.