HI all- Yolo County ACEs Connection group met on March 20th to discuss Strategic Goals and Principles for our group (see March 2015 summary meeting notes). A sub-group of folks met prior to our monthly meeting to put together a draft of possible strategic goals and principles for our group (We borrowed from other ACEs Connection groups) and presented to the larger group for discussion. We tweaked the language a bit and voted unanimously to adopt the goals and principles below.
Strategic Goals
1. Create a common language informed by robust data and brought to life by compelling stories of healing and recovery. Use key messages to inform and inspire policymakers, practitioners, funders, the private sector, the media and the public.
2. Educate leaders, policy-makers and the public about ACEs, brain development and effective interventions, including the paradigm shift from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?"
3. Identify, promote and bring to scale research-informed, community-driven and cost-effective trauma and adversity prevention and recovery strategies, services and programs across sectors throughout Yolo County.
4. Engage Yolo County elected and appointed officials, private sector leaders and other influencers as champions for health, educational, economic and related policy changes that improve community resilience, health equity and social justice.
5. Increase and leverage external and intermal public and private funding for strategic collaboration, professional training, communications and the development of standards for trauma-informed services, and organizations throughout Yolo County.
6. Develop strong and adaptive leadership among members and allied organizations, coalitions and movements that share our commitment to a more just, healthy and resilient world for children and families and all.
Principles:
• Inclusivity: We believe that community voices, alongside those of policy-makers, practitioners and researchers, should contribute to dialogue and change.
• Equity: We believe that every person should be treated with fairness, dignity and respect. We challenge ourselves and all our organizations and systems of care to strive for cultural awareness, humility and justice.
• Wellness: We embrace an expansive and holistic definition of wellness that encompasses physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. We support and promote a broad range of evidence-informed services and programs that contribute to the safety, health, happiness and empowerment of individuals and communities.
• Heart-Head Connection: We believe in the powerful connection between empathy—our deep sense of connection to others—and the emerging biomedical science of adversity and resilience. We employ both heart and head to set standards and develop humane, evidence-informed prevention and intervention strategies.
• Collaborative Capacity: We believe that strategic collaboration leads to better results when all partners have the capacity for leadership, adaptability and democratic decision-making—along with the core support and flexible, long-term funding to build that capacity in a sustainable way.
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