By Sandra R. Hernandez, California Health Care Foundation, March 16, 2020 We have entered an important new chapter in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic: After a week filled with school closures and the cancellation of major public events of all kinds, Congress and President Donald Trump are hopefully close to a deal to address the spread of the dangerous coronavirus. This clear-headed collaboration by our political leaders is welcome for the immediate relief it will bring and because it...

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...

From California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, March 23, 2020 As Californians are urged to stay home to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, workers across the state and their families are feeling the impact on their jobs and income, making the need for paid leave more apparent than ever. Join the California Work & Family Coalition, Legal Aid at Work, and the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence for short web-conferences addressing the access to paid leave and learning...

This blog is re-posted from positiveexperience.org/blog/ Link there for associated resources, and for the other blogs in the series. Having safe, stable, and equitable environments to live, learn and play forms the second of the 4 Building Blocks of HOPE. Children need homes where they feel safe and secure and have their basic needs met. Children thrive in an environment that encourages curiosity and provides opportunities for learning to play and interact with other children. Today’s blog...

Melissa Merrick PhD and Robert Sege MD, PhD wrote this timely and interesting article for CNN online. We encourage you to check it out! Also, please visit and join our Balancing ACES with HOPE community . Just as prior generations were deeply affected by the Great Depression, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and the Kennedys and the horrors of 9/11, the COVID -19 pandemic may well be the defining moment in the lives of today's children. That's why we owe it to our children to focus...

By Rachel R. Hardeman, Eduardo M. Medina, and Rhea W. Boyd, New England Journal of Medicine, June 10, 2020 In Minnesota, where black Americans account for 6% of the population but 14% of Covid-19 cases and 33% of Covid-19 deaths, George Floyd died at the hands of police. “Please — I can’t breathe.” He was a black man detained on suspicion of forgery, an alleged offense that was never litigated or even charged, but for which he received an extrajudicial death sentence. “Please — I can’t...

From Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, July 30, 2020 Join us for Leadership Check-Up Series: Developing Your Resiliency as a Public Health Professional , a special webinar offering from ASTHO and the National Council for Behavioral Health’s Behavioral Health Training Institute (BHTI). As our nation continues to struggle with COVID-19, public health professionals working on the front lines leading activities may be feeling angry, confused, stressed, and dismayed. Join...