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Grassroots Advocates Take ACEs Message to California Legislature

 

ACEs Connection team (left to right) at the Capitol: Dana Brown, Karen Clemmer, Gail Kennedy, Donielle Prince
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Tuesday, July 11 is a Policymaker Education Day at the Capitol in Sacramento, CA. Sponsored by the California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity (4CA), representatives from more than 100 organizations will attend 80 meetings with legislators and/or their staffs, to share research information about adverse childhood experiences science (ACEs), and discuss how legislators can help support increasing trauma-informed practice throughout California.

4CA welcomes advocates from around the state—rural, urban and suburban—including young people, parents and neighbors, people who work in juvenile justice, health, education, early childhood or child welfare, and others to participate.

In advance of the visits with legislators, advocates will gather in the morning to prepare for the day of meetings. They will hear from Sen. Holly J. Mitchell of Los Angeles who, as reported in ACEsTooHigh.com, was the floor manager for Concurrent Resolution No. 155 passed three years ago to encourage statewide policies to reduce children’s exposure to adverse childhood experiences. The Center for Youth Wellness led advocates in this effort, and is also a leader in 4CA.

Many community members involved in policymaker education day, including several team captains, are active participants on ACEs Connection. They will be attuned to legislators' responses to the information shared about ACEs science, and the impact ACEs have on health. Participants will also take note of legislators’ expressed commitments to lead on this issue in their legislative priorities, and share these impressions in blog posts on ACEsConnection.com. These blog posts will be a great way to document this historic event, as well as track the impact that these office visits ultimately have on California’s commitment to preventing and healing ACEs in every community.

Several of the delegations representing local ACEs initiatives and who have groups on ACEs Connection have prepared fact sheets to share with legislators that contain local data on ACEs and highlight specific results of community efforts to reduce ACEs and promote resiliency. These profiles show legislators how ACEs science is driving real action in their districts, and can be used beyond this one day to continue to educate about local ACEs efforts. The profiles can help engage community support, media interest, and in follow-up meetings with legislators in every district.  

Local initiatives that were not able to participate in the day in Sacramento are encouraged to develop their own local fact sheets for in-district meeting based on these templates. Attached to this post are examples of these fact sheets, from Butte County, Los Angeles, Orange County, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, Sonoma County, and Yolo County.

For more information about this 4CA Policymaker Education Day, visit the event information page on the website: http://www.4cakids.org/education-day

The press release for this event is attached to this blog post, below.

STAY CONNECTED

Follow the events of the day on twitter @acestoohigh, to see facts about ACEs, updates from the legislator meetings, and photos of the day’s events.

Follow and add your thoughts on the conversation using #4CAKidsDay17

Starting Wednesday, check back on ACEsConnection.com to read members’ stories about their day at the Capitol in Sacramento!

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