Tagged With "Leadership Development"
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Advance Practice at the ACEs 2016 Project Showcase
From the organizers of the 2016 ACEs Conference , San Francisco, CA, October 19th -21st, 2016. Please consider submitting your project today! We know building connections and learning across fields is the best way to advance practices that support children. That’s why we’re very excited to invite you to submit your work to the 2016 Conference on Adverse Childhood Experiences Project Showcase . We’re looking to highlight research, programs, tools or other initiatives that: Highlight the role...
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Advancing a Plan for Addressing Trauma and Building Resilience within L.A. County Systems (prnewswire.com)
Center for Collective Wisdom Releases Extensive Report Outlining Research and Recommendations First 5 LA, the California Community Foundation, The California Endowment, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation along with other local, state and nationally-recognized expert organizations today released a report to advance a comprehensive trauma and resiliency-informed approach in Los Angeles County . "Trauma is a serious health concern affecting many children and...
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Aiming to Help Homeless, UCLA Residents Practice ‘Street Psychiatry’ (californiahealthreport.org)
New programs begun in the last two years at UCLA include a resident-faculty group focused on community psychiatry, as well as health-system and community mentorships. There are also new clinical electives for psychiatry residents at the Los Angeles County Jail and the county’s Office of Diversion and Reentry . The Diversion office was created by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors in 2015 to develop and implement alternatives to the criminal justice system for people with mental illness and...
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“BECOMING MS. BURTON: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women” by Susan Burton and Cari Lynn
I met Susan Burton in 2010, but I had learned her name years before. I was doing research about the challenges of re-entry for people incarcerated due to our nation's cruel and biased drug war. At the time, I was in the process of writing The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness - a book that aimed to expose the ways the War on Drugs had not only decimated impoverished communities of color but had also helped to birth a new system of racial and social control eerily...
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Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG) Blogging Tips and Talking about Trauma
Berkeley Media Studies Group facilitated a southern and northern California Strategic Communications Workshop in October 2015. Attached, please find their powerpoint, created by co-facilitators Julieta Kusnir and Pamela Mejia, titled "Talking about Trauma: Tips & Tools for Communicating Effectively" and "Blogging Tips for Media Advocates" articulating tips on content, headlines, length and tone of blogs.
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Broadening Your Network and Identifying Partners for More Resilient, Healthier Communities
Who should you partner with to create lasting change through resilience in your community? The Building Community Resilience (BCR) initiative aims to address, prevent, and reduce the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adverse community environments (ACEs) on children’s health and wellbeing ( The “Pair of ACEs” ). An essential element of the successes of BCR’s five test sites around the country has been strategic collaborations. In your work to build resilience, identifying...
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Building an ACEs, Trauma-Informed, and Resilience-Building Community: Draft MOU from Walla Walla WA
Working document, 3/20/15 Walla Walla, Washington MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING Between the Children’s Resilience Initiative and Community Partners PREAMBLE VISION: All young people thrive and parents raise their children with...
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California is failing our kids [SactoBee.com]
California’s economy is the seventh-largest in the world, and home to global industries that have revolutionized our way of life. Yet when it comes to caring for our children, we are failing to provide the essential services they need to thrive and succeed. The facts are disturbing and unacceptable. California ranks 49th among the states for standard of living for kids; roughly half of children are in families in or near poverty; nearly three-fourths of our youngest kids don’t receive health...
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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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CYW releases "Children Can Thrive: A Vision for California's Response to ACEs"
The Center for Youth Wellness released a new report “Children Can Thrive: A Vision for California’s Response to ACEs”. This report is a follow up to last November’s Children Can Thrive Summit. ...
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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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Dr. Marrow at Echo Changing the Paradigm Conference
I wanted to give the heads up to our ACESConnection friends about Dr. Monique Marrow who is one of the keynotes at Echo's March 21 & 22nd Frontiers of Resilience conference. Dr. Marrow will be speaking on “ Addressing Trauma in System-Involved Youth ," drawing on her extensive experience as a child psychologist in the juvenile justice system. She talks about the ' invisible suitcase ' that system-involved youth carry - a suitcase full of thoughts and perceptions about the world that have...
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Early childhood educators learn new ways to spot trauma triggers, build resilience in preschoolers
A hug may be comforting to many children, but for a child who has experienced trauma it may not feel safe.
That’s an example used by Julie Kurtz, co-director of trauma informed practices in early childhood education at the WestEd Center for Child & Family Studies (CCFS), as she begins a trauma training session. Her audience, preschool teachers and staff of the San Francisco-based Wu Yee Children’s Services at San Francisco’s Women’s Building, listen attentively.
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Echo Trauma-Informed Nonviolent Parenting Classes @ The Wellness Center
Parenting is one of the most creative and exhausting jobs you’ll ever have. Sometimes you’ll find yourself saying or doing things to your child you swore you would never do. Our 10-class parenting series draws on the latest scientific research on brain and child development, as well as the effects of childhood toxic stress. Discover how to communicate in ways that deepen your relationship with your child and begin to model the skills that are proven to help your child succeed at school, have...
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First 5 LA's Strategic Plan: Trauma-Informed Care Is 1 of 4 Target Outcomes
First 5 LA’s Strategic Plan Highlights Target Outcomes: Families: Increased family Protective Factors Communities: Increased community capacity to support and promote the safety, healthy development, and well-being of children prenatal to age...
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First Phase of L.A. County’s Homeless Initiative to Start June 30 (chronicleofsocialchange.org)
Almost 47,000 individuals and families are homeless in Los Angeles County, according to the 2016 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, which was conducted by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) and released on May 4. That count shows a 6 percent rise in the county’s homeless population from 2015. The total in 2015 – 44,359 – showed a 12 percent surge from just two years prior. The 2015 results played a major role in pushing Los Angeles County to create a plan to address the...
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Job Posting: Assistant Director/Lead Coach Trauma-Informed Schools Initiative, Deadline to apply 4/13/17
The Assistant Director position is a two-year grant funded position, with the potential for extension, with Los Angeles Education Partnership. This project is designed to support and implement a trauma-informed school environment in selected K-12 schools both within and outside of California through a partnership with Kaiser Permanente. A central component of this project’s approach to a trauma-informed school environment is to embed practices at each school that prioritize the wellness of...
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L.A. County Plans Juvenile Diversion Push (chronicalofsocialchange.org)
On Tuesday, the supervisors will vote on a proposal that would launch an action plan for creating a comprehensive plan for youth diversion across the county. “Keeping young people out of the traditional justice system whenever possible through diversion programs is a promising strategy for improving the social, academic, economic and health outcomes of young people and ultimately reducing recidivism and improving public safety,” according to a motion from Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and...
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LA County’s homeless need more than housing to stay off the streets, report says (dailynews.com)
Housing alone will not solve Los Angeles County’s homelessness problem, and a more strategic effort at early intervention is needed to prevent people from becoming homeless or staying homeless, according to an analysis done by the Economic Roundtable. The Roundtable released a report that looks at 26 sets of data to better understand the characteristics of the homeless population and their needs, with the goal of finding the best way to help people out of homelessness and prevent them from...
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Working at the intersection of violence and land use (preventioninstitute.org)
This past September, the Healthy, Equitable, Active Land Use (HEALU) Network convened a summit in Los Angeles to explore the nexus of land use and community safety, drawing nearly 100 community members, policymakers, and representatives of community-based organizations. Our new report shares key learnings from this summit and invites people working in land use, transportation, food policy, education, housing, and other areas to consider the ways their own work can support safe communities.
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San Francisco Trauma Informed Systems Initiative 2014 Year In Review
The Department made the commitment to train all of its 9,000 staff to become trauma-informed. From the report: The Trauma Informed Systems Initiative Workgroup is led by Dr. Ken Epstein and currently staffed by a full time Coordinator, a team of 4...
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‘Seeing’ My Brother on the Venice Boardwalk (citywatchla.com)
HOMELESSNESS: A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE--I lost my brother Steve last week. He died of cardiac arrest at 63. Steve was the black sheep of our family of six children. He did not go to college and struggled to make a living building decks and remodeling bathrooms and kitchens. If my parents had not let him live in a converted garage behind their house in Santa Monica, he would very likely have ended up like many of the folks we see living on the street in Venice – and he certainly would have died...
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Stakeholder Corner: Oakland Leverages OJJDP Funding To Extend Violence Prevention Efforts (ojjdp.gov)
Oakland Unite, the organization I work for, came to be through a collaboration of violence prevention programs funded by Measure Y resources. Our programming focuses on our highest risk community members and neighborhoods and emphasizes interrupting violence now and preventing it in the future. OJJDP supported Measure Y with a 3-year, $2.2 million Community-Based Violence Prevention (CBVP) progam grant. The CBVP program provides funding for localities to replicate proven strategies, such as...
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States Produce a Bumper Crop of ACEs bills in 2017—nearly 40 bills in 18 states
A scan done in March by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) through StateNet of bills introduced in 2017 that specifically include adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the text produced a surprising volume of bills (close of 40) in a large number of states (18). A scan done a year ago produced less than a handful. NCSL is a bipartisan organization that serves both state legislators and their staffs. The shear volume of bills in so many states represents a promising...
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Strengthening Community Trust Sypmposium - Family & Youth Support Partner Initiative
The Diversity Development Center invites you to attend the first in a series of Strengthening Community Trust Symposiums to take place at Marina Village Conference Center Building A, 1936 Quivira Way, San Diego, CA 92109 on July 18th and 19th, 2018. FAMILY & YOUTH SUPPORT PARTNER MODEL A Family and Youth Support Partner is an individual, with lived experiences in the respective system(s), who is trained and hired to help other families as a paraprofessional. We believe trust is the...
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Study: Community Trauma from Gun Violence Results in Negative Health and Behavioral Outcomes (Violence Policy Center)
Research on trauma is frequently featured in mainstream news outlets, pointing to its connection to a range of behavioral and health outcomes. While trauma can have multiple interpretations, for the purposes of this report, it is the result of experiencing or witnessing chronic and sustained violence, or specific events that can have lasting effects on individuals. Researchers have identified 13 distinct types of trauma, including community violence. Community violence is an umbrella term...
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Tell Us a Story: The Power of Narrative to Build a Social Movement
Rosa Ana Lozada grew up on a two-block-long street in a San Francisco neighborhood pocked with trauma: domestic violence, child abuse, the frequent wail of police sirens. “It was unsafe to walk the two blocks to the bus stop,” she recalled. “In my community, we learned that police officers were not our friends because they were only seen when bad things happened.” For Lozada, now CEO of Harmonium, Inc., and a member of the San Diego Trauma Informed Guide Team, home and family were the...
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Trauma and Resiliency Informed Systems Change in Los Angeles County
First 5 LA and its partners are calling for a commitment within organizations and systems to help individuals, families and communities heal from trauma, strengthen their resiliency, and become trauma and resiliency informed. This work began in 2016 with a kick-off event to hear about promising practices underway in other counties and progressed to a workgroup of foundations, community-based organizations and Los Angeles County Departments that convened for nearly a year to provide...
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Trauma Informed Schools: Part 2, Creating Trauma Informed Classrooms
In October a video showing a senior deputy yank a student from her seat and flip her desk at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina went viral on the Internet. This incident gained wide national attention and demonstrates the need for...
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Trauma Screenings Advisory Group (AB 340) Hosts First Meeting
On Friday, April 20, 2018, the AB 340 Workgroup, otherwise known as the Trauma Screenings Advisory Group, met for the first time to discuss the legislative charge to update, amend, or develop, if appropriate, tools and protocols for screening children for trauma as defined, within the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit in Medi-Cal. Both Children Now and Center for Youth Wellness were appointed members of the Trauma Screenings Advisory Workgroup, and we...
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Why am I acting crazy?
What do Harvey Weinstein, sexual assault, and the #MeToo campaign have to do with childhood trauma? Everything! Please join us for the February 6 Working with Childhood training where I will be making these connections on a personal and professional level. In the training we will talk about how trauma shows up in how we think and behave. So often, people who have experienced trauma are labeled 'difficult' 'neurotic' 'paranoid' 'volatile' 'control freak' etc. when these are the outworkings of...
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LA supervisors want to beef up home visitation programs (scpr.org)
Two Los Angeles County Supervisors are calling for steps to better coordinate and expand the work of several voluntary home visitation programs that help parents raise healthier children. Arguing that the various programs and their funding are disjointed, Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Janice Hahn proposed a motion for Tuesday's board of supervisors meeting that would order the County Department of Public Health to develop a plan "to coordinate, enhance, expand and advocate for high quality...
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Los Angeles County Creates Its First Ever Youth Commission (chronicleofsocialchange.org)
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to create the county’s first Youth Commission, answering long-standing calls from youth advocates to give young people a seat at the table shaping policies and programs that impact their lives. The commission, which will be open to 18- to 26-year-olds with experience in the child welfare or juvenile justice systems, will monitor the outcomes of youth-serving county departments and will also offer recommendations to the board and...
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Mental Health of America of Los Angeles Selected to Strengthen Cancer Control through Community of Practice (National Council of Behavioral Health)
Individuals with a mental illness are at greater risk of receiving a late-stage cancer diagnosis due to the lack of screening options. By adopting cancer prevention and control practices, we can better support efforts to improve the overall health of people with mental illnesses and substance use disorders, said Linda Rosenberg, president and CEO of the National Council for Behavioral Health. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and operated through the National...
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Mind Matters: Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience Two-Day Intensive Training
with Author, Carolyn Rich Curtis, Ph.D. 8:30 AM–5:00 PM $399 for 2-day Intensive Training CEUs are available for an additional charge. Each trainee must have a copy of Mind Matters ($299 plus tax (CA and SD only) plus S/H) As a result of this training , you will learn to teach: Self-soothing skills to manage emotions Ways to analyze stressful thoughts How to deal with intrusive memories Ways to develop a protective lifestyle And you, as an instructor, will learn . . . How to provide a safe...
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Now Hiring: ACEs Connection Network Southern California Regional Community Manager
OVERVIEW The ACEs Connection Network comprises ACEsTooHigh.com and ACEsConnection.com. The network is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the California Endowment and currently engages over 4,000 members. ACEsTooHigh.com is...
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Parenting Weekend Intensive (Echo)
We encourage all parents to come and be part of our community at the Saturday parenting classes in Echo Park. For those who live too far away or have other barriers to attending the 10-week series, we are offering our trauma-informed, nonviolent parenting class series over one weekend. In the 12-hour intensive you’ll experience an approach to raising children that is based on the latest research about brain and child development, as well as the effects of childhood toxic stress. Discover how...
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Pasadena Unified Establishes Foster Youth Advisory Council [Pasadena/San Gabriel Valley Journal]
What an amazing solution story highlighting some great work done in the Pasadena Unified School District to support foster youth! The district has established an advisory council to ensure the success of the 400 foster youth enrolled across the district. The district has established services, training, programs and resource centers to support the needs of enrolled foster youth. At its meeting on August 25, 2016, the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) Board of Education approved the...
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Plan to revitalize southern segment of LA River seeks input from public
Over the past year-and-a-half, the Lower Los Angeles River Working Group and 39 stakeholders in local, regional, and state government, community-based organizations, environmental conservation and public health have been working with Southeast and South LA communities to develop a revitalization plan for the lower half of the LA River, which runs from Vernon to Long Beach. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to enhance communities, bring urban parks and green spaces to underserved LA...
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Report Outlines New Therapeutic Approach Coming to L.A. County Juvenile Detention Facility (chronicleofsocialchange.org)
A new report outlines a roadmap and summary of the “L.A. Model,” a collection of therapeutic-based practices aimed at improving care for youth in Los Angeles County juvenile detention facilities. Using the L.A. Model, the Kilpatrick campus offers a chance to “bring L.A.’s juvenile justice system into the 21st century.” The new approach calls for a facility based on small group arrangements in a therapeutic environment with an emphasis on creating a culture of care and respect among all staff...
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SAMHSA's Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach
Years in the making, this important piece of the trauma-informed pie is on the table! Check it out.
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A Funder Helps L.A. Use the Arts to Advance Juvenile Justice Reform [insidephilanthropy.com]
As Los Angeles County continues efforts to move its juvenile justice system in a direction that emphasizes diversion over incarceration, supervisors hope to leverage arts programming as part of a broader set of reforms. Arts-oriented programming has long played a role in the nation’s largest juvenile justice systems, but L.A. County leaders hope a grant from one of the nation’s leading funders will expand these services. A one-year, $750,000 grant from the Ford Foundation’s Art for Justice...