Blog

By Mary Kathryn Poole, Sheila E. Fleischhacker, and Sara N. Bleich, The New England Journal of Medicine, January 20, 2021 T he Covid-19 pandemic has moved hunger out of the shadows in the United States. Record numbers of Americans, including one in four families with school-age children, don’t have reliable access to food. 1 Congress has authorized several innovative programs and substantial appropriations to respond to this crisis. Despite these efforts, food insecurity — a long-standing...

From Associated Press, CBS News, January 18, 2021 The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund launched a $40 million scholarship program on Monday to support a new generation of civil rights lawyers, dedicated to pursuing racial justice across the South. With that whopping gift from a single anonymous donor, the fund plans to put 50 students through law schools around the country. In return, they must commit to eight years of racial justice work in the South, starting with a two-year...

By Nicole Wilke, Amanda Hiles Howard, Meredith Morgan, and Martha Hardin, Taylor & Francis Online, February 2020 ABSTRACT Research has found that childhood adversity is associated with numerous maladaptive outcomes, including insecure attachment, mental health challenges, and problematic media use. As attachment is a primary developmental process that can be affected by childhood adversity, insecure attachment may be one psychological mechanism through which childhood adversity is...

By Caroline Bauman and Gabrielle Birkner, Chalkbeat, January 19, 2021 As Kamala Harris becomes the first woman, the first African American, and the first person of South Asian descent to become U.S. vice president, many girls of color will be celebrating the multiple historic barriers coming down with a single oath. In the days leading up to the inauguration of Joe Biden and Harris, Chalkbeat spoke with Black, brown, and Asian teenagers about the significance of this moment. They discussed...

By Leah Campbell, January 13, 2021, Forbes. Kids have been asked to sacrifice a lot this last year. In-person school, playdates with their friends, travel and sporting activities, and fun extras like trips to the movies. On top of all that, many have been trapped inside with parents facing their own stressors: trying to work from home, keeping businesses afloat, and even just paying the bills after work has dried up. [ Please click here to read more ]

By Megan Bates, KiwiCo, January 13, 2021 With all that’s going on in the world, it isn’t an easy time to be a parent — wondering how exactly we explain it all and lead by example. Books are windows into different perspectives and experiences. They can help kids (and adults) develop curiosity, empathy, and courage. We collected a list of books that exemplify KiwiCo’s mission to inspire kids to channel creativity, celebrate inclusion, and embody resilience so that they can build a better...

The 2021 Iowa Legislative Session kicked off last week at a time when the needs of families are great. The pandemic and the inequities it furthers for low-income Iowans and Iowa communities of color and the systemic discrimination that continues to disenfranchise our neighbors all mean we have much work to do to create systems that prevent trauma to Iowa’s children and families. Over the past few months, Iowa ACEs 360 has partnered with local coalitions and organizations to hold advocacy...

Amanda Gorman, the United States' first-ever youth poet laureate, recited a powerful poem at the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. [ Please click here to watch .]

By Rachel Martin, National Public Radio, January 19, 2021 Filmmaker Ken Burns has spent his career documenting American history, and he always considered three major crises in the nation's past: the Civil War, the Depression and World War II. Then came the unprecedented "perfect storm" of 2020 — and Burns thinks we may be living through America's fourth great crisis, and perhaps the worst one yet. "We're beset by three viruses, are we not?" he explains. There's "a year-old COVID-19 virus,...

From Community Commons, January 2021 We believe well-being is a broader concept than health. Our research experts have identified four components of well-being: physical and mental health as well as social and spiritual well-being . We are dedicated to improving not just health but well-being as a whole. With that in mind, we are developing a metric called Well-being Adjusted Life Years (WALY), which measures well-being. The data we gather using this survey will allow us to build this...

While many may understand the mental and emotional health consequences of early childhood trauma, some may not be aware of the vast physical health problems that can also occur. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have been shown to have tremendous and lasting impact on lifelong health. People experiencing these early childhood traumatic events – things like violence, sexual abuse, witnessing suicide, and more – often deal with many consequences of these issues, including: Increased risk of...

Fussiness and Colic Between 3-8 weeks of life, many babies become more fussy, with peak fussiness at 6 weeks. All babies need help calming their bodies during this time. However, some babies cry more than others and are more difficult to soothe. We refer to this as colic if a healthy, well-fed infant cries for more than 3 hours per day, more than 3 days a week for more than 3 weeks in a row. Typically colic begins around 3 weeks of life and the crying is more common in the evening hours. The...