Tagged With "Fires in populated areas"
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2016-17 CA County Scorecard of Children's Well-Being
Do you want to know how kids in your area are really doing? Then the 2016–2017 California County Scorecard of Children’s Well-Being is the tool for you. The Scorecard evaluates children’s well-being across California’s 58 counties, and organizes the data into categories of health, education, and child welfare and economic well-being. The Scorecard has a number of features that local leaders find particularly useful, including: The County Comparison , which allows for county-to-county...
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2018 Community Stories from across the state
Thank you everyone for your help to create community stories highlighting the efforts happening to raise awareness about ACEs from across the state for 4CA’s 2018 Policymaker Education Day ! Attached find a 2018 version of the community stories detailing information about community ACEs initiatives from across the state. Please download and share. And see HERE for a list of CA ACEs Connection communities from across the state.
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37th Annual Child Abuse Prevention Symposium Recap
"Speak Out! Confronting the Culture of Child Sexual Abuse and Secrecy" was the theme of Santa Clara County's 37th Annual Child Abuse Prevention Symposium which featured a Keynote conversation with Olympic Gold Medal winning gymnast and current UCLA Assistant Gymnastics Coach Jordyn Wieber. Jordyn, and other athletes and survivors of former USA Gymnastics team doctor and serial child sex abuser Larry Nassar, earlier spoke to a U.S. Senate Subcommittee about a “culture of silence” more...
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4th Annual Bay Area Maternal Mental Health Conference
By UCSF Continuing Medical Education, December 12, 2019 This is the fourth annual conference here in the Bay Area focusing on maternal mental health and well-being, with speakers from throughout the area covering important topics that will improve the care our patients are receiving. We welcome anyone with a personal or professional interest in maternal mental health. Participants will: Review the state of the current opioid crisis in this country and learn about tools to help identity...
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5 bright lights in LA County that are helping Latino students achieve [laschoolreport.com]
Despite making up the majority of California’s public school students, Latinos are still facing major challenges to achieving in school and graduating from college, a new report finds. But the report also highlights five bright spots in the LA County area — schools, districts, and programs that are helping Latinos succeed. In Los Angeles County, two school districts, a high school, and an early education center are modeling what needs to be done to close the achievement gap for Latino...
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5 things people are doing to help the victims of the California fires.(upworthy.com)
On Sunday night, flames swept into Santa Rosa and other cities across the region with little warning . At least 24 people have been confirmed dead , with hundreds displaced and nearly 300 still reported missing . Meanwhile, hundreds of residents from hotel owners to teachers and students to local government officials to relief workers are marshalling help those to affected. Here's what they've been up to in the days since the devastation began. 1. Farms are taking in displaced animals, and...
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8 Myths About Screening For Adverse Childhood Experiences
I’d like to take this opportunity to address some of the objections to screening for ACEs that I have come across. It is true that some areas of research are still emerging, such as protocols, but in other ways we are twenty years behind using the information we have to make a positive difference in our patients lives and in training new physicians to be more comfortable addressing social and experiential determinants of health.
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A CALL TO ACTION: COVID-19, HOUSING INSTABILITY, AND HEALTH
From Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative, March 23, 2020 COVID-19 – A Public Health Emergency Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory illness caused by a novel virus that is spreading rapidly across the globe. Currently, there are over 33,000 cases in the United Statesi . Globally, over 12,000 deaths have been attributed to the illness since it emerged three months ago. In the Bay Area, efforts to respond to the virus are increasing rapidly. On March 17, six Bay Area...
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A community planned to boost child care. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill to do it [latimes.com]
By John Myers, Los Angeles Times, July 19, 2019. SACRAMENTO — Some of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s staunchest supporters say they are baffled by his decision to block two Bay Area cities from raising local taxes — money that, in one community, would be used to boost child-care services for working-class families. The governor’s decision late last week to veto legislation on the issue may not be the final word for either city, but it caught local leaders off guard on an effort that had been decidedly...
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A 'fire of infections' could sweep California evacuation centers. Here's the plan to stop it [sacbee.com]
By Ryan Sabalow, The Sacramento Bee, April 29, 2020 The town of Paradise and the surrounding communities had burned to the ground. The victims, many of them poor and with nowhere to go, barely escaped. They were exhausted and scared. Then the norovirus hit as they crammed together in churches and a local fairground. They shared restrooms and slept shoulder-to-shoulder on cots. At the East Ave Church in Chico , some 300 Camp Fire evacuees had it better than some others in Butte County. Only...
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A Fresno family got coronavirus. Advocates say language accessibility could've prevented it [fresnobee.com]
By Brianna Calix, The Fresno Bee, April 22, 2020 Government agencies and interpreters have rushed to make sure information about COVID-19 is available in various languages — but some hospital patients are falling through the cracks, according to at least one Fresno-area advocacy group. Naindeep Singh, the executive director of the Jakara Movement , says he’s heard several accounts in which medical providers rely too heavily on bilingual staff rather than provide interpretation and...
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A Guide to Creating “Safe Space” Policies for Early Childhood Programs [CLASP]
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...
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A Guide to Increase Mental Health Services for Students - Project Cal-Well, CA Dept of Education, 2018
This guide is created by Project Cal-Well, with input from the Student Mental Health Policy Workgroup, to assist schools and districts to build capacity to better address mental health challenges among students. Learn about Project Cal-Well See Guide attached.
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A little hope for a homeless solution: Tiny housing units sprout in the Bay Area (sfchronicle.com)
Nearly two years after a smattering of tiny homes popped up in the Bay Area as a peculiar new way of housing homeless people, the technique is exploding from one end of the region to the other. Nearly 1,000 tiny homes or their close cousins — stackable modular housing units, typically with less than 200 square feet of living space — are being planned in San Francisco, San Jose, Richmond, Berkeley, Oakland and Santa Rosa. Planners say that’s just the beginning. “We’re very excited about...
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Bay Area Doctors Target Health Consequences of Childhood Trauma [sfchronicle.com]
By Erin Allday, San Francisco Chronicle, January 5, 2020 A screening tool developed by Bay Area pediatricians to identify adverse childhood experiences, ranging from homelessness and food insecurity to physical and sexual abuse, will now help doctors statewide address trauma affecting patients’ health. The California Department of Health Care Services approved the tool — called PEARLS, for Pediatric ACEs and Related Life-Events Screener — last month. As of Jan. 1, its use is covered by...
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Bay Area educators help families in school districts hurt by coronavirus shutdowns [edsource.org]
By Theresa Harrington, EdSource, April 17, 2020 Even before the coronavirus struck, many families in Oakland Unified struggled to get by. But with residents forced to stay home and non-essential businesses closed, circumstances have turned dire. In response, many educators and community members are going far beyond their normal duties in these far-from-normal times. They are helping needy families with food, financial aid and technology through donations and fundraising campaigns. At some...
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Bay Area Human Rights Training on Immigrant Health
HealthRight International's Human Rights Clinic (HRC) will be holding a training for new volunteers on Saturday, June 3, 2017 from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm at UC Hastings College of Law (198 McAllister Street, San Francisco, CA 94102). This training, in particular, will have a special focus on evaluating minors (children and adolescents) as well as adult survivors. T he training will provide clinicians with a background on the experiences of immigrants fleeing abuse (including unaccompanied minors...
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Bay Area school redesigns its program to help students graduate [EdSource]
Theresa Harrington, July 9, 2019 Wen Jazhun Brown first transferred to De Anza High as a junior, poor grades made him an unlikely candidate to graduate on time. His GPA was low and he had failed biology. That changed after school counselors, college advisers and teachers helped him see he could reach his goal of becoming a police officer by retaking courses and working hard to successfully complete others. He graduated last month and will enroll this fall at Sacramento State University “My...
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Bay Area school slated for 'redesign' gets new operating agreement [Richmond, Ca - Edsource.org]
By Theresa Harrington , Edsource.org A Bay Area school district and its teachers’ union have reached a groundbreaking agreement that will put money and resources behind the effort to turn around a school with declining enrollment and chronically low test scores. Stege Elementary, a K-6 school in Richmond in the East Bay, will see longer school days, a longer school year and more teachers, who will each receive $10,000 extra pay. The extra money acknowledges that it is a “significantly...
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Bay Area 'shelter in place' expected: Only essential businesses open in 6 counties with 6.7million people until April 7 [sfchronicle.com]
By Erin Allday, San Francisco Chronicle, March 16, 2020 Six Bay Area counties are expected to announce a “shelter in place” order for all residents on Monday, directing everyone to stay inside their homes and away from others as much as possible for the next three weeks as public health officials desperately try to curb the rapid spread of coronavirus across the region. County authorities were expected to announce the move at 1 p.m. and gave a draft of the order to media outlets to prepare.
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ACEs Science Champions Series: Because of Andres Perez, 10,000+ Latinx parents in Northern California embrace trauma-informed parenting
Andres Perez immigrated to San Jose, Calif., from Mexico in 1990. He was 24 years old, undocumented, knew little English, lacked job skills, and had a pregnant wife to support. He hit the ground running by completing an ESL program in San Jose City College, and, while working days at any job he could find, at night he earned an associate of science degree with specialization in electronics and computers in 2002. Fortunately for thousands of Latinx parents and their children, he never worked...
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Berkeley Program puts Students Seeking Housing in the Homes of Older Adults [berkeleyside.com]
By Robin Estrin, Berkeleyside, December 2, 2019 Marcia Garcia, 29, moved to the Bay Area in August, admitted to UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy for a master’s degree. Searching for housing, she quickly learned that options were scarce—and expensive. But thanks to a new program that pairs up graduate students and University retirees with room to spare, she found something affordable: a first-floor bedroom with its own entrance, in a house owned by Cal alumna Linda Artel. “I like...
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Budget Recommendations for ACEs Screening (AB340) Implementation
ACEs Screening (AB340) implementation recommendations presented to the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on February 25
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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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Building Children’s Resilience
Genentech is excited to launch a new philanthropic initiative, The Resilience Effect , to address childhood adversity and its long-term effects on health. For more than 40 years, our company has pursued groundbreaking science to improve the lives of people facing serious and life-threatening diseases. That’s why, when we learned about the emerging science behind the effects of toxic stress and the connection between early adverse childhood experiences and diseases later in life, we knew we...
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Building Community Health
Dr Sandy Escobar is transforming healthcare in East Palo Alto, one family at a time.
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Building Trust Cuts Violence. Cash Also Helps. [NYTimes.com]
DeVone Boggan could teach a class on the art of making a statement. In 2010, he invited a group of the most dangerous gun offenders in Richmond, a Bay Area city of about 100,000 residents, to a conference room at City Hall. At each seat was a name card starting with “Mr.” and an information folder labeled “Operation Peacemaker.” Wearing a suit and his signature fedora, Boggan began the meeting by apologizing on behalf of the city for not reaching out to the men sooner. Peace in Richmond, he...
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CA Counties Play Key Role in New Coalition on Behavioral Health [The CSAC Bulletin]
A new statewide coalition formed to address behavioral health and substance use disorder. California is at a critical juncture in the way it manages behavioral health and substance use disorde r and the impact they can have on other social services . That’s one of the reasons CSAC is joining Behavioral Health Action (BHA). The new coalition is dedicated to raising behavioral health challenges and substance use disorder higher on the public policy priority list. The coalition plans to raise...
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CA Surgeon General Talks Black Mental Health [sacobserver.com]
By Genoa Barrow, The Sacramento Observer, April 29, 2020 As a pediatrician, Dr. Nadine Burke-Harris has spent years trying to get African American families in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point area to see the long term benefits of addressing their mental health. As California’s first Surgeon General, Dr. Burke-Harris is driving home the message on a larger scale. She’s done extensive research on adverse childhood experiences and toxic stress and getting to their root causes. In speaking...
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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 Connection Network seeks qualified applicants for SF Bay Area Regional Facilitator position
ACEs Connection Network is looking for a qualified person to work with communities, organizations and individuals in the San Francisco Bay Area to prevent, address and heal the trauma of ACEs and build resilience. This position will focus on working with existing efforts, avoiding duplication and re-enforcing cooperative, coordinated efforts to channel the diversity and richness of ACEs science and trauma work in the Bay Area. For the job posting and application instructions, see ACEs...
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ACEs Connection Webinar: The trauma toll on pediatric immigrants, refugees and their families
ACEs Connection Webinar: The trauma toll on pediatric immigrants, refugees and their families You’ll receive tips for health care providers in pediatric settings and beyond When: Friday, Dec. 14, 2018, 10:30-11:30 am Pacific Time/1:30-2:30 Eastern Time Please register here for this webinar. Our speakers include: Dr. Heyman Oo , MD MPH is a primary care pediatrician in Marin County and an Associate Physician/Clinical Instructor for the General Pediatrics Department at Zuckerberg San Francisco...
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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 Childhood Trauma, Center for Learning & Resilience [actionnewsnow.com]
By Deb Anderaos and Julia Yarbough, Action News Now, April 15, 2020 Butte County health representatives say they have long realized the need for coordinated mental health services for family and children dealing with trauma. The Camp Fire drove that point home and now the coronavirus crisis. Julia Yarbough recently spoke with the Executive Director of the new Center for Learning and Resilience. It’s a resource to help meet community needs. First of all, thank you for joining us, and tell me...
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Adversity and resiliency: The case for integrating ACEs and Strengthening Families approaches
Attached is the PowerPoint that was presented by Diane Kellegrew, Jane Stevens and Katie Albright in a webinar April 16. And below is the slide that ID's the presenters.
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Amador County builds community college pipeline for mental health workers (calmatters.org)
Amador, along with a handful of other counties, is leveraging state funding to grow the ranks of peer mental health providers. The scholarship program relies on workforce development funds from California’s Mental Health Services Act, which established a millionaire’s tax for mental health prevention and intervention in 2004. Monterey and San Bernardino counties also use the funds to train community members with real-life experience, with the goal of hiring them in county-run mental health...
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Amid affluence, youth homelessness surges in the Bay Area (edsource.org)
The San Francisco Bay Area, with its Teslas, tech start-ups and $3,700 one-bedroom rents, is one of the most affluent regions in the country but also home to nearly 15,000 homeless children. Most of the students are in the urban areas, but they also live in the wealthy enclaves. They're in Menlo Park, they're in the San Ramon Valley, they're even in Ross in Marin County, where the median household income tops $200,000. And they're most certainly undercounted: parents report to schools...
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An Alternative to Suspension with Trauma-Informed Dynamic Mindfulness: Building Stress Resilience, Emotion Regulation and Empathy
At the November 2019 Northern California Safe and Healthy Schools Conference at UC Berkeley, Niroga Program Managers Sam Weiss and Fatima Ahmed facilitated a session incorporating the theory and practice of Dynamic Mindfulness (DMind) to a standing room only crowd.
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An inside look at Sacramento’s Youth Detention Facility, named best in nation after turnaround [Sacramento Bee]
BY CANDICE WANG cwang@sacbee.com Six boys dove into the water, passing volleyballs and footballs, in a recent scene that seemed more like a snapshot from an afternoon at a community pool, rather than from Sacramento County’s Youth Detention Facility. Only the barbed wire encircling the area showed the difference. The frequent use of the pool, built along with the facility in 1963, is now part of a series of progressive, rehabilitative programs that contributed to the 2018 Barbara Allen-Hagen...
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Analysis: Lack of Beds Keeps Homeless on the Streets Longer [thesungazette.com]
By Reggie Ellis, The Sun-Gazette, February 5, 2020 Visalia has the highest percentage of homeless people with highest need in the entire country. The Sun-Gazette reported last week that Tulare and Kings County, where most of the homeless population lives in Visalia, had the highest percentage nationwide of unsheltered, chronically homeless people, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2018 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress. Nearly one-third of the...
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Are ‘zero tolerance’ policies for misbehavior at Sacramento-area schools a thing of the past? (sacbee.com)
Local public schools suspended and expelled far fewer students last year as they continued to shift away from punishment and toward prevention and positive reinforcement, according to the latest figures from the California Department of Education. Sacramento County school districts issued about 27,000 suspensions during the 2016-17 school year, down by 18,000, or 40 percent, from the 2011-12 school year. Districts expelled 160 students, down by 108, or 40 percent, from 2011-12. Despite the...
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At-Home Learning Resources During the COVID-19 Pandemic from KQED
KQED is offering an at-home learning response to school closures for all children and youth in California. This response includes a new educational schedule for broadcast on KQED Plus in the Bay Area as well as free corresponding digital learning media and activities for at-home learning. KQED is also providing support for teachers and parents in navigating this new learning landscape throughout the state. These At-Home Learning educational resources are made possible through an...
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California Air Quality: Should You Wear a Face Mask for Wildfire Smoke [nytimes.com]
By Sarah Mervosh, The New York Times, October 28, 2019 With wildfires raging up and down the state of California on Monday, smoke filled the air in many places, ash fell from the sky, and residents were once again left to wonder whether the very air they were breathing was safe. The largest, the Kincade fire in Sonoma County north of San Francisco, nearly doubled in size in 24 hours and was just 5 percent contained on Monday, prompting volunteers downwind in the Bay Area to scramble to hand...
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California Department of Public Health has MCAH program that prevents ACEs!
In Federal-State partnership HRSA Maternal & Child Health the California Department of Public Health, MCAH have a home visiting program designed for families at risk for ACEs! The California Home Visiting Program (CHVP) is designed f or families who are at risk for adverse childhood experiences , including child maltreatment, domestic violence, substance abuse and mental illness. Home visiting is a preventive intervention that aims to promote maternal health, improve child development,...
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California Ends Practice of Billing Parents for Kids in Detention [themarshallproject.org]
Gov. Jerry Brown of California signed into law on Wednesday a sweeping package of criminal justice reform bills including a ban on the practice of billing parents for their children’s incarceration, which had been prevalent statewide for decades and was the subject of a Marshall Project investigation earlier this year. The new law — introduced by two Democratic state senators from the Los Angeles area, Holly Mitchell and Ricardo Lara, and approved by the legislature on Sept. 6 — prohibits...
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California Ends Practice of Billing Parents for Kids in Detention [themarshallproject.org]
Gov. Jerry Brown of California signed into law on Wednesday a sweeping package of criminal justice reform bills including a ban on the practice of billing parents for their children’s incarceration, which had been prevalent statewide for decades and was the subject of a Marshall Project investigation earlier this year. The new law — introduced by two Democratic state senators from the Los Angeles area, Holly Mitchell and Ricardo Lara, and approved by the legislature on Sept. 6 — prohibits...
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California Fires Illuminate Trauma and Resilience [khn.org]
By Anna Maria Barry-Jester, Kaiser Health News, October 29, 2019 Dorothy Hammack had planned to wash her thick, dark hair in the kitchen sink Friday morning. She couldn't yet shower, due to the incision on her breast from a biopsy a few days before. Her doctor had already called to let her know the results: She had breast cancer. She was supposed to be researching treatment options and organizing doctor appointments. Instead, Hammack, 79, was standing in her pajamas in the parking lot of a...
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California issues update on state residents' ACE scores from 2011 & 2013 surveys
The latest adverse childhood experiences survey from the California Department of Public Health shows that 42% of the population has an ACE score of 3 or higher; 16% have an ACE score of 4 or higher. Those with an ACE score of 4 or higher are: 3x more likely to be current smokers 4x more likely to have a depressive disorder 2x more likely to have asthma 2x more likely to be obese 4x more likely to have COPD 3x more likely to have a stroke Here are a few other highlights from the six-page...
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California leaders call for release of detained Cambodian, Vietnamese immigrants (mercurynews.com)
California leaders are calling on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release an estimated 200 Cambodian and Vietnamese immigrants who advocates say were recently detained in the Bay Area and beyond in never-before-seen roundups. Their contributions are particularly critical to California, they argue, the state with the largest Asian-American and Pacific Islander populations, including the largest Cambodian and Vietnamese communities. “Many Southeast Asian Americans are survivors of...
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California Mulls Allowing Safe Spaces for IV Drug Users [SCPR.org]
A bill in Sacramento would make California the first state in the country where drug users could be provided with a place to inject. The bill's author says the measure is aimed at reducing overdoses and other problems caused by drug abuse. "In the U.S. we have criminalized rather than treated addiction as a medical or social issue," said Assemblywoman Susan Eggman (D-Stockton). "Our prisons are full of people suffering from issues of addiction. Being able to provide a safe place for someone...