I am Selena Rowell, director of the Columbus County Partnership for Children in North Carolina.

The reason why I support ACEs Connection is because of the great potential to promote healing and hope to individuals and even to the entire community.  We value the work of ACEs Connection and its entire support team.

ACEs Connection provides free guidance for any agency seeking to promote a more inclusive community. The guidance is also available for individuals who may be struggling or trying to find their way out of trauma. The available information has also helped with our implementation and growth of our local resilience collaborative. It has also helped with our personal and professional growth as individuals.

We are becoming more informed about the effects of trauma and adversity and how they impact us all, as well as how they may impact others in our community. This information allows us to better understand ourselves and to understand others and will also enable us to be more able to practice more patience, more kindness, empathy and compassion, especially when we are working with children, and also when we are working with adults in our community.

The support we have received from the ACES Connection team, I’d like to say, especially Carey Sipp, is priceless. Carey has helped with the establishment of our local resilience collaborative, and when I think about it, we don’t have the resources to pay for the support that we have been receiving free of charge from Carey and the rest of the ACEs Connection team.

The ACEs Connection website offers a step-by-step plan for starting and growing a collaborative to help promote healing from adversity and trauma. The tools that are provided on the website make it easier for us to navigate through the process of forming and continuing a productive collaborative. There is so much information it is like a wealth, treasure chest of information and documents that are available including meeting agendas, proclamations, and other resources available on the AC website.

The website also offers articles on a wide range of topics including resilience, diversity, equity, inclusion, ACEs, the list goes on and on. The site also has a diversity, equity and inclusion tool, which allows collaboratives to ensure that all areas of the community are represented in their coalition, as well as all to ensure that all segments are informed about the lifelong effects of trauma and adversity and individuals and families and the community can overcome adversity and become resilient. One of the tools we continue to find helpful is the five basics of growing, which is a step-by-step approach to growing an ACEs initiative.  Following the steps that are outlined in this plan will enable a collaborative to succeed.

Also, as a result of our participation in ACEs Connection, we now have a free website for our coalition. This website allows us to continue to grow our collaborative and inform the community about adverse childhood experiences and resilience. We can also track our progress and collect data via the website. ACEs Connection maintains a database which allows us to reach out to other collaboratives for support and information sharing. We are so thankful that ACEs Connection is available for our collaborative members of our community and others as well. Thank you ACEs Connection for being a resource of education, hope, healing and growth for the residents of our community and our collaborative.

Thank you!

Note from Carey Sipp, SE Regional Community Facilitator, about the ACEs Changemaker Matching Grant Campaign: This video is one of many we've received and posted as part of a $50,000 matching grant campaign that ends in just five days! If you've not yet made your gift to support the work of ACEs Connection, now is the time! If we reach our goal of raising $50,000 from our members, that amount will be matched, dollar-for-dollar, by an anonymous donor. To make your gift, please click here. Also, if you work for a company that matches charitable donations, please let them know about your gift, as your gift will be matched twice! Turn a $25 gift into a $100 gift!