Blog

The second annual 4CA Policymaker Education Day on May 22, brought together 75 community members across California to visit 81 legislators or their staff members and educate them about ACEs, trauma and resilience.

During the strategic planning meeting for Resilient Sacramento, members shared about books they recently read that they found interesting and insightful. A suggestion was made to start a suggested book reading list. So I am going to start off the list by recommending "The Pilgrimage" by Paulo Coelho. The idea of a spiritual pilgrimage resonated with me. In general, all his books touch a cord in me. I also really enjoyed The Witch of Portobello". What books have you enjoyed lately? Summer ...

Thirty years before Julius Thibodeaux became the leader of Sacramento's controversial new anti-gun violence program, Advance Peace , he was a shooter himself. He pulled the trigger on his first victim when he was 15 — over a $5 dispute. Now, he has been hired by the city of Sacramento to run Advance Peace as it expands here . The program matches dangerous young people with elders who have lived similar lives. Often felons like Thibodeaux, these mentors have criminal infamy that still carries...

Excerpts from an article by Shawn Ginwright Ph.D.:

Applications due June 18. Application link included in this post

Educators consider chronic absenteeism a red alert — a blaring sign that a student might be academically at risk. But schools and parents now have a new tool to investigate the problem, in the form of open-source data collected by UC Davis and research partners Attendance Works and Children Now. Together, they produced “ Seize the Data Opportunity in California: Using Chronic Absence to Improve Educational Outcomes .” The report uses an interactive map to pinpoint the type of schools that...

Driving to Policymaker Education day yesterday, I caught Beth Ruyak's interview of urban sociologist Dr. Jesus Hernandez from UC Davis Dept of Sociology. Has anyone reached out to him about our Resilience work in Sacramento and UC Davis? His interview was very informative. He traces the origins of social ills in Sacramento back to decades-old policy decisions that racially divided the city into neighborhoods with disparate access to resources and economic opportunities. Viewed on a map, this...

In an era of “us” and “them,” be an “other” -- someone trying to understand how we all live together. Journalism about the multicultural nation America will become -- with Otherhood, a PRI podcast created and hosted by Rupa Shenoy. [To listen to this podcast by Rupa Shenoy, go to https://www.pri.org/programs/otherhood/why-its-so-hard-talk-about-racism-happens-school ]

Attached find a 2018 version of Sacramento County community profile detailing information about your community ACEs initiative. This will be shared with CA legislators at the Trauma-Informed Policymaker Awareness Day on May 22nd in Sacramento. I attach it here as a PDF ready to print and share! I also have uploaded into 'Resources for Downloading' the same PDF, and an editable Word document so that you can update or otherwise improve it. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out...

Sept. 30, 2016 was a big day for Lake Canyon Elementary. Students, teachers, and staff arrived at the Galt, California, school wearing white shirts and before long were sent to stand by one of six large cardboard boxes. After a drum roll, cannons sprayed confetti over each cluster of students. The color matched one of six new banners, like the orange one reading “Sebete” and featuring a bear meant to symbolize courage. As music played, the boxes were ripped open to reveal matching T-shirts.

Beyond Consequences is excited to announce that our Call for Proposals for the 2018 Fall Trauma-Informed School Conference has been extended. If you have a great story to share about your experience in working with students who’ve had adverse childhood experiences, we would love to hear from you! Here are some examples of sessions that fit in at our nationally recognized conference: Administrative/School-Wide Track • Mindfulness Instead of Suspension • Special Education Law & Advocacy •...

In Locking Up Our Own , Pulitzer Prize-winning author James Forman Jr. argues that African-American leaders helped shape policies that harmed black communities. Originally broadcast July 17, 2017. [To listen to this interview by Terry Gross, go to https://www.npr.org/2018/05/11/610385205/how-black-leaders-unwittingly-contributed-to-the-era-of-mass-incarceration ]