CRI is grateful to have honored three National Resilience Champions- Karen Pritzker, Jane Stevens, and Laura Porter- at the 2019 Beyond Paper Tigers Conference. Each has inspired the development of critical mass, and have been energetic catalysts of new ideas. The three women have represented tipping points in the national movement. They have worked tirelessly to shift culture and mindsets around how human restoration occurs and have provided brilliant insights to reframe beliefs about the impact of an individual’s life experiences. We hold the sciences close to us, including the art of celebration, so please join us in celebrating our first National Resilience Champions!
Karen Pritzker is an editor, writer and film producer. Karen founded KPJR Films in 2012, with a mission to confront society's hidden challenges and to honor those that fight them, one story at a time. Paper Tigers (2014) and its sequel, Resilience (2015), highlight the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study as seen at Lincoln High School and captures the inspiring promise of trauma-informed communities, such as Walla Walla’s Community Resilience Initiative, the first community-wide movement of its kind.
"As a storyteller herself, [Karen] understood the value of narrative and why documentaries would serve a purpose. However it’s one thing to make a movie, but it’s another thing to have a vision to hang in there and support a community that most needs it. And Karen continues to be a support and a player in so many of the communities that are using these films, and doing the hard work on a day to day basis. - James Redford, Producer & Director of KPJR Films
Although Karen had many hopes and dreams for her films, she could not have envisioned the national and international response to her film production. Through outreach and engagement, thousands of screenings, facebook likes, #BetheOne movement and the countless impacting conversations associated with the screenings, all clearly indicate the impact of her vision and ability to produce such a powerful film.
As Karen states, “I hope that each person will both create and support community programs that are more compassionate. I hope people will look with a different lens at juvenile offenders and understand that we can promote comprehensive policies to improve safety and reduce violence while impacting lives in a positive manner. I also hope that caring adults will try to ask the tough questions enabling them to get to the root of problems and then work to find meaningful solutions. I hope that the viewers will realize that they too can be mentors of young people and “be the one” to make a difference in a child’s life.”
Jane Ellen Stevens is a journalist and founder of ACESTooHigh.com and its accompanying community of practice ACEsConnection.com. These sites focus on the research and consequences of childhood adversity, and how trauma-informed and resilience practices are being implemented in schools, hospitals, homeless shelters, social services, public health clinics, businesses, mental health clinics, courts, prisons, and communities.
"Like all of you, I am in awe of Jane’s work to raise awareness of the ACE study and to connect people who are using [it] to change the world. Jane has done the hard work of building a team, to support the amazing transformational work being done in this movement. She has stretched herself beyond her natural storytelling talents, and created an organization that inspires others to tell their stories, and to share their insights and lessons learned. She had a vision for how change could be accelerated if there was a way to connect people across sectors doing the work, and she created a way to make that happen. She walks the walk as head of Aces Connection." - Elizabeth Pruitt, Policy Analyst of ACEs Connection
A journalist for more than 30 years, Jane’s work focused on health, science and technology, with articles in the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and National Geographic. She began reporting about the ACE Study and related research in 2005. Jane’s vision was to act as a catalyst and convener in connecting the United States through her websites and to help build the momentum that social media provides. Her current vision is a tipping point of 7,000 communities to truly reach a point where this movement would be unstoppable in its focus on trauma-informed practices. While she celebrates the approximately 500 communities involved in some form of this initiative, her goal is 7,000!!
Laura Porter is the co-founder with Dr. Robert Anda of ACE Interface, and together they have trained and coached in over two dozen states. Prior to this role, Laura directed the Washington State Family Policy Council and Office of ACE Partnerships from 1998-2013. In these roles, she worked with elected Senators and Representatives from the four caucuses of the Washington Legislature, the Superintendent of Public Instruction and Governor, and four members of the Governor’s Cabinet. Laura’s partners in this work included managers from seven state agencies, directors and members of 53 community-based collaborative organizations (including Walla Walla) and leaders from ten Tribes. Laura and her colleagues developed a unique model for improving the capacity of communities to deliver stunning results for a small investment (the Self-Healing Communities Model). Laura also served as an elected County Commissioner in Mason County, WA. and worked tirelessly to represent her constituents in helping to improve their quality of life.
"Laura’s brilliant and discerning mind soaks up new information from multiple fields and that forms a vision on how to use it. I’ve seen her vision for prevention and well being come to life in Washington. She taught me to think differently, different in a way that can lead to sustained change on a scale that is now unfolding wherever she works. Even more than all of this, Laura has a huge loving heart, and a way of being with others that motivates them to take action, that taps their full potential. And Laura does this with a grace and humility that I’m trying to emulate." - Dr. Rob Anda
Laura is a model of servant leadership. Quiet, humble and unassuming, her intelligence, groundedness, huge smile and total commitment to equity and a deep love for every human being she comes in contact with, shines through her work and life. She deeply respects living systems theory, including complexity and network theory, to build positive feedback into community efforts so that success in one endeavor fuels success in the next. Her report (Self-Healing Communities) commissioned by the Robert Woods Johnson is evidence of her passion for her fellow human beings. She truly walks the talk of resilience.
Thank you truly to our three champions! We are amazed by your work and contribution to this movement.
And thank you to all who attended the 2019 Beyond Paper Tigers Conference! https://www.pacesconnection.com...er-tigers-conference
CRI is hiring an Associate Director. Learn more here: https://www.pacesconnection.com...n-associate-director
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