Tagged With "Racial equality"
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2020 California Children’s Report Card
The 2020 California Children’s Report Card – the whole child report on children’s health, education and well-being in our state – is available now. This year’s Report Card grades California on 31 key children’s issues – and includes new sections on Family Supports, Adolescents & Transition Age Youth and Connected Cradle-to-Career. It also shines a spotlight on the impact racism, poverty and immigration threats have on our kids. Despite recent progress, this year’s grades show the urgent...
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Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Unveils Bureau of Children’s Justice
LOS ANGELES On February 12, 2015, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris unveiled the Bureau of Childrens Justice within the California Department of Justice that will work to ensure all of Californias children are on track to meet...
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CA Health in All Policies is hiring a Racial Equity Associate!
Join California’s Health in All Policies team and lead the implementation of the Government Alliance for Race and Equity (GARE) Capitol Cohort! The Public Health Institute is hiring a Racial Equity Associate to manage the Government Alliance for Race and Equity (GARE) Capitol Cohort , and support California’s Health in All Policies efforts. The Capitol Cohort is a state-level capacity building program to promote racial equity through changes to government policies, programs, and policies –...
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CalFresh Healthy Living Programs
CalFresh food benefits are available to individuals and families who have been impacted by COVID-19. CalFresh provides monthly food benefits based on household income and expenses at the time of application. Even if temporary, individuals and families who have experienced a change in their circumstances may apply for CalFresh through one of California’s 58 counties. Californian’s can visit GetCalFresh.org to apply or call 1-877-847-3663 (FOOD) to be connected to their local county social...
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Webinar readies doctors for universal ACEs screening in Ca and beyond
Editor’s note: Governor Gavin Newsom set aside federal funds and funds through Proposition 56 that will reimburse health care providers for screening patients in the Medi-Cal program for trauma beginning July 1 using the CPT code 96160. Notably the Department of Health Care Services recommended in March that only California providers using the PEARLS tool to screen pediatric patients will be reimbursed. ACEs Connection has made repeated public records requests for public comments submitted...
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Webinar Slides and Recording: Transformational Resilience for Climate Change Traumas and Toxic Stresses with Bob Doppelt
Recorded live October 28, 2019. Find the slides attached below. The webinar recording: You will learn: how climate change creates personal, family, and community traumas and toxic stresses; how those traumatic stressors trigger feedbacks that expand and aggravate ACEs and many other person, social, community, and societal maladies; why current approaches are woefully inadequate to address what is already occurring and rapidly steaming toward us and why prevention is the only realistic...
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What Is Health Equity? [RWJF.org]
Defining Health Equity and Key Steps to Achieving Greater Health Equity This RWJF report defines health equity and identifies crucial elements to guide effective action to reduce disparities in health status. Also included in the report are alternative definitions of health equity for different audiences that may have varying backgrounds and perspectives, and examples of specific terms that often arise in discussions around the concept. The Issue Health equity surrounds and underpins all of...
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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...
Ask the Community
Anyone using MHSA or other funds in innovative ways to address ACEs or trauma?
Question: Please share examples of innovative uses of existing funding to address ACEs and trauma. For example, Mental Health Services Act has a funding category called "Innovative Projects" which might be a way to fund ACEs and trauma related efforts. Are you aware of any CA communities that have found ways to utilize MHSA or other funds in unexpected ways - that have the potential of addressing trauma and ACEs? See below and attached for more background re MHSA. Background: The CA...
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Should Trauma Equal a Disability?
Watch this CNN video with an update about the trauma informed schools lawsuit with the Compton Unified School District. Re-posted from Los Angeles County ACEs Connection Group from LA Trauma-Informed Task Force member, K-Rahn Vallatine, Live Above The Hype.
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Schools Should Recognize Trauma as a Disability, Compton Lawsuit Says [KQED.org]
A group of middle and high school students in Compton have filed a first-of-its-kind federal lawsuit saying violence at home and in their neighborhoods has impaired their ability to learn at school. The students, along with three teachers who are also plaintiffs, allege the Compton Unified School District has failed to recognize and address their trauma-induced disabilities, and therefore has denied their legal right to an equal education. ....You have to address trauma in order to do...
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Screening for Childhood Trauma
Dr. Ken Epstein has been in the social services sector for nearly four decades and has witnessed firsthand the long-term effects of trauma. As both the son and father of fellow social workers, the work runs in his blood. Now, he’s helping Bay Area health clinics screen for and address childhood trauma through the Resilient Beginnings Collaborative (RBC), led by Center for Care Innovations (CCI) and made possible by Genentech.
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Senate HELP Committee schedules hearing on April 11 on draft opioid bill with key provisions addressing trauma and seeks stakeholder comments
Key provisions that are closely aligned with sections the Heitkamp-Durbin “Trauma-Informed Care for Children and Families Act (S. 774)” are included in opioid legislation that is advancing in the U.S. Senate. A draft bill, “The Opioid Crisis Response Act,” is the subject of a hearing on Wednesday, April 11 in the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) Committee and a mark-up of the legislation is expected over the next several weeks. Senator Heitkamp’s office highlighted three...
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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 California ACEs Conference
Love from California The Adverse Childhood Experiences Conference got underway tonight in San Francisco with many of the 450 participants attending a meet-and-greet at the Park Central Hotel. The conference focuses on moving from “Awareness to Action”, and includes representatives from education, early childhood, juvenile justice, child welfare, pediatrics, and many other dedicated professionals committed to the ACEs movement. (Left to Right) Michelle Allen; Vanessa Jackson (Parents...
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The California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review [ CMQCC, CDPH, MCAH, PHI]
New reports, recently released: The California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review (CA-PAMR) is a statewide, in-depth examination of deaths while pregnant or within one year after end of pregnancy, which aims to identify the cause and timing of death, factors that contributed to the death, and improvement opportunities in maternity care and support, with the ultimate goal to reduce preventable deaths and associated health disparities. CA-PAMR is a collaborative effort between the Maternal,...
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DHCS is providing an update of significant developments this week related to DHCS programs, including guidance related to the COVID-19 emergency (DHCS)
Dear Stakeholders, The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is providing this update of significant developments this week related to DHCS programs, including guidance related to the COVID-19 emergency. DHCS’ May Revision highlights have been posted to the DHCS website . On May 13, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved California’s State Plan Amendment (SPA) 20-0024 , r etroactive to March 1, 2020. These Disaster Relief SPA modifications include: Expanding...
Calendar Event
California SB 607 Educator Call-in Day on May 22nd
Calendar Event
Pursuing Health Equity: Start Where You Are (webinar)
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Thinking About Racial Disparities in COVID-19 Impacts Through a Science-Informed, Early Childhood Lens [developingchild.harvard.edu]
By Jack P. Shonkoff and David R. Williams, Center on the Developing Child, April 27, 2020 The COVID-19 virus is ruthlessly contagious and, at the same time, highly selective. Its capacity to infect is universal, but the consequences of becoming infected are not. While there are exceptions, children are less likely to show symptoms, older adults and those with pre-existing medical conditions are the most susceptible, and communities of color in the United States are experiencing dramatically...
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Understanding how schools serve homeless children in California : a quick guide (edsource.org)
As California’s housing shortage intensifies, the number of homeless children is expected to climb. Since 2014, the number of homeless youth in California has jumped 20 percent, to more than 202,329, and accounts for nearly 4 percent of the overall public school population. Homeless children are enrolled in nearly every district in the state, according to the California Homeless Youth Project . An EdSource special project explored the issue in detail, and includes a map showing the number of...
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Doctor-patient role-playing featured in ACEs Connection webinar
On an ACEs Connection webinar on Monday, Dr. Andrew Seaman, an assistant professor at Oregon Health & Science University, showed how he navigates his students through the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). And, in an unusual twist for a webinar, Seaman and O’Nesha Cochran, a peer mentor with the Mental Health Association of Oregon, role-played doctor-patient interactions to show how to develop the skills to communicate with patients with high ACE scores. About 90 people...
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Documentary, "Portraits of Professional CAREgivers" Airing on Public Television
CAREgivers film will be airing on most public television stations around the US beginning this month in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orlando, Cleveland, Spokane, Boise, Springfield-Holyoke, Youngstown, Idaho Falls, Twin Falls, Fairbanks, ETC. Please check your local public TV stations for future dates and times. Broadcast times will also be posted in advance whenever possible at: http://caregiversfilm.com/screenings/see-the-film/ This documentary addresses secondary trauma (aka...
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Dozens of stakeholders representing thousands of practitioners send public comments on Calif. ACEs-screening plan
Update: We posted this story on Tuesday evening and received a response from the Department of Health Care Services Wednesday that clarifies additional information. DHCS information Officer Katharine Weir said that subject to budget approval by the legislature and the governor: The reimbursement rate will be $29. Federally Qualified Health Centers will also be reimbursed for screening pediatric patients for trauma through Prop 56 funds and federal matching funds. In response to a question...
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Early Discount 20th Annual Families & Fathers Conference
Call to action- Fathers and Families Coalition of America is nearing the 20th Annual Families and Fathers Conference, March 4-7, 2019 in Los Angeles, California with a comprehensive program that hosts presenters from the United Kingdom, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Bolivia and throughout the United States. We are providing the conference information for your consideration to participate. We are asking you to share this conference information with your community...
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Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Questioning, and/or Gender Nonconforming and Transgender Girls and Boys in the California Juvenile Justice System: A Practice Guide [nclrights.org]
If you are a child welfare professional working with youth in California, chances are this practice guide may be a useful resource! Developed by Impact Justice and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and published in January 2017, this practice guide is designed to provide probation department practice guidelines, and policy recommendations for working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning, and/or gender nonconforming and transgender girls and boys who interface with the California...
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Living Homeless in California: For Many Kids, Home Is Where the School Is (captainandmain.com)
For t he teachers, counselors and school liaisons comprising the thin front line of educators grappling with the Golden State’s homeless student population explosion, the dire reality of what it means for the 268,699 young Californians public school districts identified last year as lacking “a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence” comes into grim focus during the home visit. In a city like Los Angeles, whose high poverty and low housing affordability edged out San Francisco for...
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New Law Says Employers Can't Ask Applicants About Criminal Past [laweekly.com]
An estimated one out of three California adults has an arrest or conviction record, according to the nonprofit National Employment Law Project. If employers weed out applicants who check "yes" for the Have you ever been convicted of a crime? question on a job application, they could be preventing millions of Golden State residents from getting a paycheck. These applicants also tend to be people of color, since African-Americans and Latinos are arrested at much higher rates , often for crimes...
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Next "A Better Normal" community discussion series: April 2, 2020/ Secondary Traumatic Stress and Caregivers
Our next COVID-19 "Better Normal" community discussion is Thursday, April 2, with Vic Compher and Rodney Whittenberg, producers of CAREGIVERS (Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion, Their Pain). These wonderful folks are bringing an entire team of people from the secondary traumatic stress committees from the Philadelphia ACE Task Force (PATF).
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Next "A Better Normal" community discussion series: April 3, 2020/ Maternal health and pediatrics in the time of COVID-19
Steve Sack • Star Tribune The "Better Normal" community discussion for Friday, April 3, 2020, features two wonderful staff members from ACEs Connection: Karen Clemmer, community facilitator for the Northwest, Far Northern California, Alaska and Hawaii; and reporter Laurie Udesky, who is also community manager for the ACEs in Pediatrics community on ACEsConnection.com. Karen Clemmer Join them at noon PT/ 1 pm MT/ 2 pm CT/ 3 pm ET and share your thoughts, ideas, questions, concerns, and...
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One year after release of PI framework, communities use it to address community trauma, promote resilience (PreventionInstitute.org)
In San Diego, a group is using the ACE|R framework as part of PI’s Making Connections for Mental Health and Wellbeing among Men and Boys initiative , funded by the Movember Foundation. Jama Mohamed, Program Coordinator for the San Diego initiative, describes how community environments can produce and exacerbate trauma among refugees: “When you look at a community that has actually experienced trauma, and you put them in an environment like this, it’s not for us to question their behaviors,”...
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Preparations begin for 2018 State Legislative Sessions—Tools to help you communicate with your state legislators
With the majority of states convening legislative sessions in 2018*, now is the time to begin preparations to advance trauma-informed proposals and educate lawmakers on the impact of trauma on the health and wellbeing of their constituents. ACEs Connection Network (ACN) will be sharing tools to help in this process over the next months. Two are now available—“How to Create a Community Profile” and “Tips on How to Build Relationships with Your Legislators.” One of the most effective tools...
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Principals to Get Specialized Training to Tackle Racial Inequities in Their Schools [blogs.edweek.org]
By Denisa R. Superville, Education Week, November 5, 2019 The country's second-largest school district—where 82 percent of students are Latino and African American—is tapping principals to root out racial bias and inequitable practices in their schools. Los Angeles Unified School District and the Race and Equity Center at the University of Southern California have partnered to train principals and other school leaders to tackle systemic inequities. The Racial Equity Leadership Academy for...
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Racial disparities drop in criminal justice system after Prop. 47, study says [sfchronicle.com]
Significant racial disparities between African Americans and white people caught up in San Francisco’s criminal justice system have narrowed in the three-plus years since statewide Proposition 47 reduced some nonviolent felonies to misdemeanors, according to a study released Thursday. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, one of the state’s biggest advocates for the proposition, commissioned the grant-funded report. “I’m pleased we learned that the work we are doing is being done on...
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Racial status And The Pandemic: A Combustible Mixture [californiahealthline.org]
By Anna Almendrala, California Healthline, May 12, 2020 In early March, Madalynn Rucker, then 69, agonized over whether to close her Sacramento consultancy office. On the 16th, she finally succumbed to a barrage of texts and calls from her daughter about the heightened risk of the coronavirus, and told her employees to begin working from home. That was three days before California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s statewide stay-at-home order . Her daughter was right in more ways than one. While Rucker’s...
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Raising of America evening screening and Parental leave Panel on August 28, 2017 at the CA State Capitol
We wanted to share information with you about an important event taking place next week sponsored by some of our California Essentials for Childhood Initiative partners on Monday, August 28, 2017 from 4:45 pm - 7:00 pm at the California State Capitol, Eureka Room (1315 10th Street, Sacramento - basement). The event - “Equal Rights to Parental Leave: A Strong Start for all Children” - includes a special screening of “The Raising of America,” as well as an interactive forum on the benefits of...
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Registration Open - 2019 Families and Fathers Conference Early Rate and Hotel Discount Closing
In 48 days, we open our 20th convening of a powerful conference focused on strengthening families, improving outcomes for children, and strategies to engage families: the 20th Annual Families and Fathers Conference hosted by Fathers and Families Coalition of America. Sponsorships allow the extended early rate for an exceptional experience in Los Angeles, California, from March 4th (pre-conference institute credential) through the main conference dates of March 5th - 7th. Please share this...
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Children Now is hiring (in Sacramento)!
https://www.childrennow.org/portfolio-posts/healthpolicyassociate/ Health Policy Associate/Senior Associate (Sacramento) Children Now is a nonpartisan whole-child research, policy development, and advocacy organization dedicated to promoting children’s health, education and well‐being in California. Children Now also leads The Children’s Movement of California , a grassroots network of more than 3,000 business, education, parent, civil rights, faith, and community‐based organizations, as...
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Community Profiles from selected CA ACEs Initiatives and Programs
CA communities and organizations from across the state shared information about their trauma informed and resilience building initiatives at the Child Adversity Policymaker Awareness Day on July 11, 2017 in Sacramento. The event, organized by 4CA ( California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity) , educated state legislators about the impacts of child adversity across the lifecourse and strategies for preventing ACEs, healing trauma and creating resilient communities. A series of fourteen...
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Congressional Briefing Addresses Public Policy to Improve Response to ACEs
In the final weeks of the 114 th Congress, Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) welcomed her colleague Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) as a new host in the third and final briefing on addressing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The December 1 briefing focused on public policies to improve coordination, prevention and response to childhood trauma. In addition to joining forces to raise awareness of the impact of ACEs, Senators Heitkamp and Durbin are drafting legislation based on a framework they...
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California Today: Sausalito Marin City School District to Desegregate After State Inquiry [nytimes.com]
By Inyoung Kang, The New York Times, August 12, 2019 Nestled in the scenic hills across the bay from San Francisco, the heavily white enclave of Sausalito is home to a thriving, racially and economically integrated charter school. And about a mile away, in the more diverse community of Marin City, is an overwhelmingly black and Hispanic public school. This division within the Sausalito Marin City School District was intentional, the state Justice Department found after a two-year...
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Changing Minds and Creating Trauma-Informed Communities Convenings - South and North
Last week, on two separate days in Los Angeles and in San Francisco, about 150 people (total) convened to listen and brainstorm about creating trauma-informed communities. Futures Without Violence, which is rolling out its Changing Minds campaign later this year, hosted both events. Some very interesting and important themes emerged from the two days: Residents with lived experiences should participate in the decision-making bodies of service providers and vested...
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Grant: 2019-20 Supervised Visitation (SP) Program RFP (Cal OES)
Please see attached for more details. REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), Victim Services (VS) Branch, is soliciting proposals for the following program: SUPERVISED VISITATION (SP) PROGRAM Release Date: January 13, 2020 This Request for Proposal (RFP) provides detailed information and forms necessary to prepare a proposal for the Cal OES grant funds. The terms and conditions of this RFP supersede previous RFPs and conflicting provisions...
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Income Inequality in California from Public Policy Institute of California
Families at the top of the income ladder have more than 12 times the income of those at the bottom, before accounting for taxes and safety net programs. Two-thirds of Californians say the gap between rich and poor is getting larger, and about half think the state should do more to ensure equal opportunity for all. https://www.ppic.org/publication/income-inequality-in-california/?utm_source=ppic&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=bulletin
Comment
Re: Customizing ACEs Screening for High School Students in Santa Rosa, CA
Hi Todd, This is a bit complex to answer - but I will do my best! Here goes ... Since this post was written the work at Elsie Allen and Roseland Pediatrics has continued to evolve and now includes all of the Santa Rosa Community Health Center sites (most are based on a Family Medicine model) see minutes below for further details. Click this link for more detailed Minutes from Sonoma County ACEs Connection Meeting From the document: Meredith Kieschinck MD shared the initial data revealed by...