Tagged With "Metro Atlanta"
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Fathers’ Day in America [Message by The Rev. Patricia Templeton]
I recently finished a haunting novel, Before We Were Yours , in which Lisa Wingate tells a fictionalized account of the true story of one of this country’s great scandals, the Tennessee Children’s Home Society and its director, Georgia Tann. From the 1920s through 1950, Tann and her organization facilitated the adoption of thousands of children across the country. Tann was a prominent member of society, held up as the “Mother of Modern Adoption,” and consulted by Eleanor Roosevelt on issues...
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Former Juvenile Inmates are Earning Double Minimum Wage to Grow Crops - and Business Skills (nationswell.com)
The Atlanta based program Gangstas to Growers is breaking the cycle of youth incarceration by putting former offenders to work on farms, and paying them a living wage to do it. To many residents of the historically black neighborhoods on Atlanta’s westside, Abiodun Henderson is both local savior and master storyteller. Better known as Miss Abbey, Atlantans drizzle her original hot sauce recipe — which she developed after watching YouTube videos — on their food, and they lean in close when...
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Georgia ACEs Data Released
We have data! In 2016, the Georgia Department of Public Health, with funding provided by the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services' Prevention and Community Support Section, added the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) module to their annual Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System (BRFSS). The preliminary summary of the results of that data collection have been released in the Georgia Data Summary report. An additional full-length report is still in development, but the...
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Georgia Health Students Plan Trauma Informed Care Training Day
Home to the Center for Disease Control, Atlanta is a city full of great minds focused on all issues related to public health. Despite this, a group of students and faculty at neighboring health professional schools including Emory School of Medicine, Emory’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Georgia State University, Morehouse School of Medicine, Mercer University School of Medicine, and the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, and found that education and awareness...
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Hispanic Georgia High School Students Call HoPe Program a ‘Game Changer’ For Them (Youth Today)
By Michelle Azriel, May 6, 2020, Youth Today ATLANTA — What started out as an idea scrawled on a fast food napkin 10 years ago has evolved into an after-school program for Georgia Hispanic students boasting a 100% high school graduation rate. The Hispanic Organization Promoting Education (HoPe) is the brainchild of David Araya and Angela Hurtado. They were both Georgia undocumented high school students who fought against stereotypes and were resolved to rise above it and succeed. In 2009,...
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Housing, education leaders cut ribbon on innovative affordable housing model [Atlanta DayBook]
A diverse group of community leaders unveil another education + affordable housing 'win'. Pictured, from left, Brandon Riddick-Seals, Interim CEO, Atlanta Housing; Tammie Workman, Assistant Superintendent, Student Services, Atlanta Public Schools; Eloisa Klementich, President and CEO, Invest Atlanta; Marjy Stagmeier, Partner, TriStar Real Estate Investment; Anyeé D. Payne, Principal, Cleveland Avenue Elementary School; Audrea Rease, Executive Director, Star-C; and Duncan Gibbs, also of...
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How Atlanta Is Turning Ex-Cons Into Urban Farmers [politico.com]
TLANTA—On a 4-acre farm a few miles south of the Fulton County Jail, Abiodun Henderson swung a pickax into the soil at her feet. She kept at it until she was winded and sweating on this brisk October morning. Around her, 10 young men and women tentatively swung their own tools at the ground, loosening the soil for a set of raised beds where turmeric and ginger plants would grow inside a hoop house through the mild Georgia winter. “This is how deep we’re going!” Henderson shouted over to...
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How Homelessness, Mental Illness, Substance Use and the Criminal Justice System Collided in Little Five Points [jjie.org]
By Ray Glier, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, September 4, 2019 Torch has been on the street 11 years, he says. With no fixed address, he is a permanent resident of Little Five Points, a robust business district of mom and pop entrepreneurs in east Atlanta. Born Kyle Latrell, he was a homeless 17-year-old from Illinois. Now he is a homeless 28-year-old. He takes amphetamines, eight a day, he says. He has been arrested for marijuana possession and it is not certain what other drugs he...
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IN ATLANTA, AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOOSTS SCHOOL PERFORMANCE, TENANT HEALTH (From Nationswell 2.15.18) by Josh Green
REAL ESTATE ENTREPRENEUR MARJY STAGMEIER IS THE ANTI-SLUMLORD, A CONSCIENTIOUS CAPITALIST, AN INVESTOR WHO GENUINELY CARES. Among the rolling hills and dense pine canopies east of Atlanta’s I-285 bypass, down the street from a halal meat market, two Buddhist temples and Good Times Country Cookin’, sits the Willow Branch Apartment Homes. The complex is tucked behind a flapping “Welcome” flag, which is emblematic of Clarkston, a small but famously global suburb that has been coined “Ellis...
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Many Guns, Few Mental Health Services Drive High Rural Death Rate, Experts Say [youthtoday.org]
Paul Reviere is sheriff of Lincoln County, a rural area with just under 8,000 people two hours east of Atlanta. In addition to maintaining safety, he gives what he calls “50-cent tours” to out-of-towners, showing off downtown Lincolnton. And there are lots of out-of-towners — people come to enjoy the nearby state park, the Savannah River and the 160 historic buildings. But Lincoln County is distinctive for something beyond these charms. It has the highest rate of firearm fatalities in...
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New CDC Resource: Preventing ACEs
CDC Toolkit: Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Leveraging the Best Available Evidence Access other technical packages for violence prevention at: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/communicationresources/pub/technical-packages.html?deliveryName=USCDC_2023-DM9684
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Can After-school Program at Apartment Complex Turn Around a Failing School? [YouthToday]
PHOTOS BY ALI SARDAR EDITOR’S NOTE: This week we will be publishing a series of articles about after-school programs in the Atlanta area set up in apartment complexes — not by educators — but by real estate entrepreneur Marjy Stagmeier. Read on for how well it has worked and programs in other parts of the U.S. Back in 2006, the bus carrying children home from Brumby Elementary School in Marietta, Ga., near Atlanta, refused to stop at Madison Hills apartments. The rundown complex, a site of...
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Next "A Better Normal" community discussion series: April 14, 2020, trauma-informed housing
Andy Marlette This week, we're hosting 'A Better Normal' discussions: on Tuesday, April 14; and Thursday, April 16, 2020....12 pm PT/ 1 pm MT/ 2 pm CT/ 3 pm ET. Tuesday, April 14, 2020 Margaret Stagmeier, Atlanta real estate developer and social entrepreneur, has developed an affordable housing model that decreases income inequality and improves failing schools. Her nonprofits — EduHousing and Star-C — purchase blighted apartment complexes located next to failing elementary schools, a nd...
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Opinion: Assessing trauma’s role in chronic stress, suicide [The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
Suicide Graphic: National Council for Behavioral Health The alarming increase in suicide rates in the United States over the past two decades is unprecedented and beyond disturbing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just released research reporting “suicide increased by 25 percent across the United States from 1999 to 2016 and a shocking 45,000 Americans age 10 or older died by suicide in 2016.” The American Psychological Association calls suicide prevention a public health...
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This Psychologist Is Changing The Face Of Therapy For Black Women [HUFFPOST]
[DFINNEY PHOTOGRAPHY] J oy Harden Bradford, an Atlanta-based therapist who founded the mental health platform Therapy for Black Girls , is an advocate for black women’s well-being. The founder of the website Therapy for Black Girls is working to empower black women to make their mental health a priority. Slowly but surely, mental health has moved from the sidelines to the center of our national conversation around well-being. But discussing feelings and emotions is still a touchy subject in...
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To Build a Healthier City, Atlanta is Opening Its Schoolyards to Everyone [nationswell.com]
By Monica Humphries, Nation Swell, July 19, 2019. It’s known as the “City in a Forest,” thanks to 100-year-old oaks, maples and magnolias that create a tree canopy covering nearly half the city. But what may come as a surprise is that many of Atlanta’s residents don’t have easy access to a public park. One-third of Atlanta’s population lives more than a 10-minute walk from a green space, and the city ranks 42nd for park access based on an evaluation of America’s 100 largest cities by the...
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"Warriors of HOPE" Series Continues This Sunday on "Breaking the Silence" Radio Program with Special Guest, Judge Steven Teske!
The fourth week of the 6-week "Warriors of Hope" event will continue this Sunday night at 8 pm Central Time on "Breaking the Silence with Dr. Gregory Williams" radio program. This 6-week event features six very special guests that will offer their insight on the power of HOPE in their lives and provide encouragement, wisdom and insight on the need for resilience in lives today. This series has resulted in praise from around the world from the listeners that have tuned in. This week's guest...
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Webinar: Cultivating Our Best Selves in Response to COVID-19 | Tuesday, March 17 at Noon PDT
How to use the skills of the Community Resiliency Model (CRM) for self and others to be the calm in the storm as we face the unknown. Free Webinar Tuesday, March 17 at Noon PDT Speakers: Elaine Miller-Karas, LCSW Linda Grabbe, PhD, FNP-BC, PMHNP-BC Zoom Webinar Registration Link: https://zoom.us/j/715837300 Additional ways to join are listed at the bottom of this post. About the webinar leaders: Elaine Miller-Karas is the Executive Director and co-founder of the Trauma Resource Institute and...
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9 New Communities Join ACEs Connection
ACEs Connection Hawai'i Hawai'i is a place of natural beauty, multicultural heritages and practicing cultural arts that provides wellness and healing. However, cultural, historical & generational trauma has lead to an imbalance in our ahupua'a or ecosystem. Join us as we educate, empower & celebrate wellness and resilience building in our communities using trauma and culture aware strategies. Mahalo Community Manager: @Daniel Goya Northeast Region Hawaii Carey's
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A Better Way to Run Schools [Opinion, The New York Times]
Gaismen Campbell moved frequently as a young child. She started to come into her own in middle school, a few years after Katrina, and became her high school's salutatorian. A recent graduate of Spelman College, in Atlanta, she will start teaching eighth-grade English in New Orleans next month. Credit William Widmer for The New York Times The New Orleans turnaround shows the power of giving more freedom to teachers and principals — and then holding them accountable for their performance.
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What Do We Do? What Do We Do Now?
People’s response to the great chasms of structural inequities glaringly laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic have been further inflamed by the murder of George Floyd and deaths of other African Americans in recent weeks. The acute emergency of the pandemic has eased, but the violence inflicted on racial minorities and now those who are protesting the inequities in our society has compounded the outrage. Right after the pandemic began running riot across the US, I often heard people ask: When...
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ACEs Champion Danette Glass says COVID-19 increases the need for trauma-informed communities
Glass’s mission has always been to protect and foster the practice of nurturing children. That’s because she herself experienced at least five types of adverse childhood experiences, as measured in the original CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study). If the scale could account for childhood adversity such as structural racism and community violence that’s more likely to occur in communities of color, her burden of ACEs is higher.
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You're Invited: “A Call To Action, A Call To Heal: Understanding the Impact of Complex Trauma in Communities" June 17 and 18.
Register Now for This Free Trauma Awareness and Trauma Responsive Care Symposium The Collaboration As neighboring Healthy Start partners providing maternal and child health services for Metro Atlanta, the Atlanta Healthy Start Initiative (AHSI) of the Center for Black Women’s Wellness, Inc. and the Healthier Generations Project (HGP) of the Clayton County Health District collaborate on several initiatives to improve perinatal outcomes in the region. The “A Call to Action, A Call to Heal:...
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Linda Grabbe: Helping her communities develop resilience through the Community Resilience Model
Grabbe searched for models that would help her homeless and addicted patients. “There are good body-based models for psychotherapy, which may be the most effective approach for trauma,” she says, “but hardly any of my patients were receiving any kind of therapy. There are thousands of people in our communities who have high ACE scores who will never get the years of psychotherapy they deserve. CRM is a self-mental wellness care tool and is exquisitely trauma-sensitive—so it can help enormously.”
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Georgia Virtual Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect
FREE Registration Open Virtual Conference Series Launch September 16 – October 1, 2020 See Full Schedule & Register HERE PCA Georgia is partnering with the Stephanie V. Blank Center for Safe and Healthy Children at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to bring you Georgia’s Virtual Conference Series on Child Abuse and Neglect. Whether you work on the community level, treat individual patients, or support families through difficult times, we all witness the impact of maltreatment through the...
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Georgia Essentials for Childhood Annual Meeting Recap
Thank you to those who attended our first Annual Georgia Essentials for Childhood meeting! Attached below are the meeting notes and presentation slides from the meeting on Monday, August 17. You will also find attached below the initiative’s one-pager (also available at https://abuse.publichealth.gsu.edu/files/2020/07/Essentials-One-Pager7.23.2020-citation.pdf ) if you would like to learn more about the initiative. We have also attached below the just-announced ACE Fact Sheet from Georgia...
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NIHB Launches Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) Hub
The National Indian Health Board, in collaboration with CDC, has launched a new resource hub! Many Tribal individuals, families, and communities have been impacted by childhood experiences causing physical and mental health adversities throughout the lifespan. However, with understanding and effort, individuals and communities can confront Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) for positive health outcomes. This information hub, launched by the National Indian Health Board includes a "resource...
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Georgia Essentials for Childhood Releases “A Vision for Child and Family Well-being in Georgia” – Our State’s Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Plan
Beginning in early 2019, leaders representing family-serving state agencies, community organizations, and stakeholder groups came together to address Georgia’s high rate of child abuse and neglect. It was determined that in order to truly impact this pervasive problem in our state, we would need a unified, collective impact approach and they decided that the state’s Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Plan, originally developed in 1993, should be updated. Over the course of the next year,...
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Providing Food and Jobs for Atlanta Residents During the Pandemic [aecf.org]
By The Annie E. Casey Founation, November 2, 2020 Over the past several months, thousands of Atlantans have found themselves struggling to afford groceries after the COVID-19 pandemic put them out of work . At the same time, many churches, food pantries and relief organizations have faced difficulties keeping up with requests for food and have seen a dip in volunteers — as many people have stayed home to avoid potential exposure to the novel coronavirus. The Atlanta-based humanitarian...
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Make “Giving Tuesday” your day to support the work of ACEs Connection. Help us meet our matching grant goal of $50K, and your gift will be matched, dollar-for-dollar!
"This Giving Tuesday, and every day, we thank you for your support," said members of the ACEs Connection staff on a recent "all staff Zoom." L-R (top row) Laurie Udesky, Carey Sipp, Gail Kennedy, Lara Kain (second row) Cissy White, Rafael Maravilla, Donielle Prince, Jenna Quinn (third row) Ingrid Cockhren, (off camera) Alison Cebulla, Jane Stevens. Out that day, and grateful all the same, were Karen Clemmer, Dana Brown, Elizabeth Prewitt, Marianne Avari, and Samantha Sangenito Called “the...
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Resilient Georgia Newsletter: Ninth Edition | A Preventative Approach: Mental Health is the Next Pandemic
In this latest edition of Resilient Georgia's newsletter, we are maintaining our focus on taking a preventative approach to address the impact of the global pandemic on mental health. We also continue to provide timely, helpful & relevant national & state resources on ACEs, children’s mental health, COVID-19, racial equity & more.
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Resilient Georgia Newsletter: Tenth Edition | A Preventative Approach: Mental Health is the Next Pandemic
Aligning Resources Across Georgia To Support Resiliency To Our Resilient Georgia Partners and Stakeholders: We hope you are all managing to remain safe, well, and resilient as we usher in a new year and resume the school year. Resilient Georgia continues to be here to support you and share as many helpful resources as possible. In this edition of the newsletter, we are maintaining our focus on taking a preventative approach to addressing the impact of the global pandemic on mental health. We...
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Eleventh Edition | A Preventive Approach: Mental Health is the Next Pandemic
Aligning Resources Across Georgia To Support Resiliency To Our Resilient Georgia Partners and Stakeholders: As we welcome a new month, we wanted to promote mindful self compassion . We hope each of you are able to treat yourselves with the same compassion you provide to others during these stressful times. Resilient Georgia continues to be here to support you and share as many helpful resources as possible. Next month we will host our first Resilient Georgia General Meeting of the new year.
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Twelfth Edition | A Preventive Approach: Mental Health is the Next Pandemic
Aligning Resources Across Georgia To Support Resiliency To Our Resilient Georgia Partners and Stakeholders: As the month of February rounds up, we wanted to share another resource outlining how you can celebrate Black History Month with Kids. To continue our theme of mindfulness, here is a great meditation honoring inclusiveness . Next month we will host our first Resilient Georgia General Meeting of the new year. Please mark your calendar for March 11th, from 11:00-12:30. We will be sending...
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Thirteenth Edition | A Preventive Approach: Mental Health is the Next Pandemic
Aligning Resources Across Georgia To Support Resiliency To Our Resilient Georgia Partners and Stakeholders: Please join us tomorrow on March 11th, from 11:00 am -12:30 pm at our first Resilient Georgia General Meeting in the new year to learn and engage in discussion around Early Childhood Mental Health (0-5 years). Watch this In Brief: Early Childhood Mental Health Video from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University for a quick introduction to the topic. We will have several...
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First county homeless shelter in Gwinnett to accept women, children within 60 days [ajc.com]
By Tyler Wilkins, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 16, 2021 Finding food and shelter can be as easy as going home, but for hundreds of homeless people living in Gwinnett, it is a daily challenge. Nicole Love Hendrickson learned the toll these experiences take on someone while spending her childhood years on public assistance and bouncing in and out of homeless shelters with her siblings. Today, after running on a platform to lower homelessness, food insecurity and poverty, Hendrickson...
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Re: First county homeless shelter in Gwinnett to accept women, children within 60 days [ajc.com]
Wonderful news! This is the county I grew up in, located in metro Atlanta. I'm so happy to see this! :-)
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Fourteenth Edition | A Preventive Approach: Mental Health is the Next Pandemic
Aligning Resources Across Georgia To Support Resiliency To Our Resilient Georgia Partners and Stakeholders: Many of us are reeling from recent news events. Here is a heart-warming video of a brother helping his sibling practice mindful breathing and reminding us all to take deep breaths to help ground ourselves. First we center, and then we do everything else. That said, we would like to take a moment to share this article about talking to the children in your life about racism. The end of...
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Fifteenth Edition | A Preventive Approach: Mental Health is the Next Pandemic
Aligning Resources Across Georgia To Support Resiliency To Our Resilient Georgia Partners and Stakeholders: We recognize that it has been a hard year filled with social isolation & upheaval, anxiety, stress and mental health struggles for many, and that it has hit some teens the hardest . Here is a free toolkit with 6 yoga and mindfulness tools for youth to help, and if you know a Georgia teen who'd like to make a difference in the mental health of their peers, ask them to check out the...
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