Philadelphia ACE Task Force Community Education Work Group Meeting

The Community Education Work Group met on Tuesday, January 19th at the CityLife Neighborhood Clinic in Philadelphia, PA. Representatives from the CityLife Neighborhood Clinics gave the group an overview of the work that they do, explaining that they often see the impact that ACEs have throughout the life course in the seniors they serve. Group members were interested in potential opportunities to develop intergenerational programming.

The majority of the meeting was spent reviewing and making plans for implementation of the a grant received by the Health Federation of Philadelphia from the First Hospital Foundation, on behalf of the PATF, to continue to convene the ACE Messaging workgroup, an ad hoc group of professionals and community members that began meeting in 2015 to develop and test messages related to ACEs. Leslie Lieberman began by sharing some words from ACE study co-investigator, Robert Anda, about the importance of raising awareness about ACEs among community members as a lever for change. Anda said:

"I believe that getting this information into the general public to spur action at the community and local level is vital and absolutely necessary. Simultaneously, the service systems and policy makers need to know of course--and this happens at the community level as well. … until we have an ACE-informed, trauma informed public and communities we are not tapping the potential for synergy with the public, the creativity at the community level where change occurs .. that will flow UP into policy and practice at the local, state and national levels. This has been the essence of sustainable public health strategies that have been successful."

Group members expressed enthusiasm about the momentum of the work and had several ideas about potential community partners, engaging the arts community, and data collection techniques. Group members agreed to further review materials and re-engage the community members who had previously been involved. The group left with a sense of excitement for the newly funded work.