"Our survival depends on us finding ways to create joy for ourselves, ways to laugh together and sharing insights that can only come from truly knowing ourselves," says Alex Schmider, GLAAD's associate director of transgender representation. Read more about finding joy amid trauma during Pride month and beyond.

What Juneteenth Means to Me
Trauma-informed specialist Amanda Lynch writes about intergenerational trauma and intergenerational resilience as Juneteenth was declared a national holiday. Read the full story on The Mighty.

Equity In Action & Equity At A Glance: New Dashboards from Virginia Department Of Health
These dashboards serve as a call to action for leaders to continue to close equity gaps to improve Virginians’ access to resources. The Equity-in-Action dashboard is a snapshot of the progress Virginia has made across our COVID-19 response and recovery programs and other initiatives that advance the equitable distribution of resources and services. The Equity-at-a-Glance dashboard is an assessment of social determinants of health and other factors contributing to health equity. Future versions of these dashboards will include an expanded set of topic areas, such as workforce diversity and criminal justice metrics. Read more on the Voices for Virginia's Children blog.

Addressing the Heightened Crisis of Childhood Trauma
"This is both about recovery from the pandemic, charting a more equitable path forward that addresses the root causes of trauma and also – given the disproportionate adverse childhood trauma that impacts marginalized communities – this is an issue of racial justice as well," says Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley.
Pressley reintroduced legislation earlier this month to provide funding for local public health departments to address childhood trauma. Her goal is disrupt the cycle of intergenerational trauma by providing resources to state public health departments, which would then direct the funding to community-based organizations with a track record of effectively helping families in the communities they serve. Read the story from U.S. News & World Report and learn more about the legislation on Pressley's website.

This toolkit offers strategies that network members can use to evaluate their collective efforts: Logic Models & Evaluability Assessment, Social Network Analysis, and Outcome Harvesting. A definition and description, guidance on how to use it, and recommended participants are provided for each tool.

Save the Date! Virginia's 2nd annual Racial Truth and Reconciliation Week will be August 1-7. Join Voices' Racial Truth & Reconciliation Virginia email list to be the first to hear the details!

Register here to join the Racial Truth & Reconciliation VA coalition for the Committee Launch Event on June 23, 6:00-7:00pm.
Register here for the next general coalition meeting on July 21, 1:30-3:00pm.

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