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The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded 116 grants totaling more than $71.2 million to recipients in San Diego County since 2010. About 4,200 grants and cooperative agreements are funded each year and are used to fund research and public health programs to keep Americans safe. Grants are awarded to health departments, universities and other public and private agencies. Grants awarded to county recipients have ranged from $1,300 to almost $3.1 million for infectious...

I am excited to attend the P3SD: Prenatal to 3rd Grade, Closing the Achievement Gap Before It Opens Conference today with Rosa Anna Lozada, Harmonium's CEO. The conference is presented by the Education Synergy Alliance and P3SD. There has been exciting discussion on the difference of Equity vs Equality in Education for Early Childhood Education. We are thinking about the Heckman Equation which has shown that an early and equal development of human potential yields the highest longterm...

(Image credit: adc.arkansas.gov) People serving sentences for nonviolent felonies in San Diego County custody recommit crimes less frequently than those who serve in state prison for similar crimes, according to new data from the San Diego County Probation Department. “In many ways, San Diego as a community is ahead of the game if you compare to other communities across the country,” said Ricky Valdez, vice president of programs at Second Chance, an organization that helps people transition...

On July 1, 2016, the San Diego Trauma-Informed Guide Team (SD-TIGT) and San Diego Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) team presented an initial draft of the 2016-2018 Strategic Plan to 19 members. The SD-TIGT is an inclusive, grassroots network that is concerned with expanding the work of the San Diego region to promote trauma informed practices. Heidi Echeverria, MARC Project Manager at Harmonium shared the following highlights from the strategic plan: Mission Statement...

Every odd month the San Diego Trauma Informed Guide Team (SD-TIGT) meets to share and disseminate best practices within the San Diego region. A key component of the meeting is the Trauma Informed Journey which allows an agency to share the progress they have been making to become more trauma informed and to promote resiliency with their staff and consumers. This month Stephen Carroll, ASW, Director of Homeless and Transition Age Services presented San Diego Youth Services’ (SDYS)...

Civic leaders stand with Supt. Cindy Marten to announce significant, systemic emphasis on 'Restorative Justice' next year in San Diego schools . Advocates for restorative justice say the program can help keep young people in school or on the job – and out of the prison system. Superintendent Cindy Marten agrees the program has the potential to help those students most at risk of serious discipline issues; however, she says restorative justice has the potential to help every student in the...

Mobilizing action can be intimidating. Creating a movement even more so. John Hagel provides the following definition of a movement: “an organized effort mobilizing a large number of independent participants in a grassroots effort to pursue a broad agenda for change.” He indicates that there are two key ingredients in movement making: 1) compelling narratives and 2) fostering creation spaces. In Buncombe County, we are experimenting with both of these notions. Opportunity-based Narrative A...

Funding Available to Support Grassroots Organizing for a Healthy Juvenile Justice System The Positive Youth Justice Initiative is entering its third phase, with up to $750,000 in grant funding available for nonprofit organizations in California to advance positive juvenile justice. The Center for Health Program Management will fund grassroots organizations to advance the work of the Positive Youth Justice Initiative through community organizing to accelerate a statewide movement toward a...

Center offers programs and outreach for youth, veterans and former inmates. Local officials announced this week that a new resource center has opened in National City with programs aimed at preventing crime and improving quality of life for residents. The Community Action Resource Engagement Center, also known as the CARE center, is the product of a collaboration between the District Attorney’s Office, Probation Department and other city and county agencies. District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis...

San Diego Workforce Partnership ( SDWP) is excited to announce the award of a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to build upon the success of its Reentry Works San Diego program at the East Mesa Reentry Facility (EMRF) to also create a career center and provide pre- and post-release career services at Las Colinas, an all-female facility in Santee, CA. Reentry Works is the result of a partnership between SDWP and the San Diego County Sheriff’s and Probation departments.

A comprehensive model of building community capacity in Washington helped make dramatic reductions in rates of health issues and social problems. The Issue In the early 1990’s, Washington state set up a program to tackle issues like domestic violence, school dropouts, youth substance abuse, and others that impact families and children. These are issues that typically had been addressed separately, but the team in Washington focused on addressing them collectively. Key Findings Over 10 to 15...

The crowd arrived to the aroma of freshly popped popcorn that wafted through the Cherokee Point Elementary School auditorium. With bags of popcorn and plates filled with fresh-cut fruits and vegetables from trays on tables lining the wall, the service providers, policy makers, community advocates, graduate students, teachers and parents settled in for a movie and a panel discussion that brought many to tears. Dr. Dawn Griffin, a professor in Alliant International University departments of...