Blog

On Feb. 22, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Budget approved legislation that is the product of the work of nine committees to bring the Administration’s American Rescue Plan—the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package—closer to reality by March 14 when unemployment benefits expire for millions of Americans. The Budget Committee released the text of the 591-page bill and a short report making the case for COVID relief and the economic impact of the pandemic ( click here for...

Growing up with trauma inextricably linked to racism in southern Illinois, working as a state employee in Minnesota, training folks about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and diversity and equity in several states—these are just a few of the life experiences Dave Ellis brings to the work he is now doing as executive director of the New Jersey Office of Resilience. Seven months ago Ellis took the job to head the Office of Resilience with the assurance that there would be a deep and...

02/4/2021 TRENTON – Governor Phil Murphy, Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver, First Lady Tammy Murphy, and New Jersey Department of Children and Families Commissioner Christine Norbut Beyer today launched New Jersey’s first Adverse Childhood Experiences Action Plan, a comprehensive statewide strategy to prevent and reduce childhood trauma and adversity. The action plan outlines several initiatives to identify, coordinate, and advance programs and services across state government to reduce and...

New Jersey’s first Adverse Childhood Experiences Action Plan will be launched by Governor Phil Murphy today, Feb. 4, at noon EST along with Tammy Murphy , Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver , and New Jersey Department of Children and Families Commissioner Christine Norbut Beyer on Facebook Live. ACEs Connection will cover the launch and will share the plan. It also will be available on NJ Resilience Coalition community on ACEs Connection.

Photo credit: Andrew Harnik/AP Two of the most compelling reports of how members of Congress experienced the trauma of the January 6 insurrection and its aftermath are found in the reports in the Washington Post “Ocasio-Cortez recounts ‘trauma’ of Capitol riot” by Jaclyn Peiser and in Slate “ After the Attack: Jan. 6 was a terrifying day for members of Congress. Weeks later, they are dealing with the trauma” by Christina Cauterucci . The Post story includes a clip from a live Instagram...

In prison six years later, Gullickson was contemplating joining an intensive recovery program when a “striking, magnetic gorgeous Black woman walked in the room, held up a mug shot and started talking about being in the very chairs where we were sitting,” Gullickson remembers. There was life on the other side of addiction and prison, the woman said. But you have to fight for it. Gullickson believed her. “I remember thinking, I may not be able to do all that, be what she was, but maybe I...

Amid the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice, we’ve seen how untenable and inequitable our society’s way of life has become. If we are to truly build back better — a phrase coined by disaster relief experts and championed by many, including President Joe Biden, during 2020 — then we must also build a better, braver philanthropy: one that eschews tinkering around the edges of a broken system, for supporting ambitious new solutions that shape new systems where everyone has a right...

“We are at a critical time because the overall number of cases of COVID are increasing so much,” said Dr. Jackie Szmuszkovicz, pediatric cardiologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “We are seeing more children with MIS-C the last few weeks following that big increase (of cases) in the community.” MIS-C , or Multi-system Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, is the name of a new inflammatory syndrome that afflicts a small number of kids three to six weeks after they experienced coronavirus,...

We were really excited to stumble on the Towards Braiding project. The project looks at the troubled terrain of non-Indigenous people or organizations trying to develop relationships with Indigenous people. Questions for Non-Indigenous Organizations They have a worksheet for non-Indigenous organizations that includes reflections on a series of questions: What do you expect the Indigenous perspective to do for you? What kind of learning are you willing to do? What are the hidden costs and...

If you are finding it hard to keep track of all the Executive Orders, presidential directives, and release of plans by the Biden-Harris Administration and you’re interested in the key elements that hold promise for strengthening families and improving the lives of children, you might find the succinct 19-page document on the American Rescue Plan (the $1.9 trillion relief plan) valuable in an ever more complicated policy and political landscape. The recommendations in this document (also...

New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez announced that work will begin the week of Jan. 25 to install engraved murals on the Northway Exit 3 flyover northbound and southbound ramps that honor the Capital Region’s rich Native American history. As part of the environmental review process for the Albany Airport Transportation Corridor project, the State Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) identified artifacts within...

Transformation Diaries is a platform for the questions of our times. The interviews portray members and cooperation partners of Tamera Peace Research Center, a project based in Portugal that has dedicated more than 40 years to the emergence of holistic models for a regenerative culture on Earth. In this interview, we asked Martin, How do you imagine large-scale systemic change? Please click here, https://uplift.tv/2021/systemic-change/ , to view the 3-minute video clip.