February 2018

Kimberlee Coronado ______________________________________ Kimberlee Coronado recalls listening to a presentation of statewide data on children, poverty and trauma, and feeling acutely aware of the survey’s missing piece. It was a meeting on trauma-informed care; around the table were social service providers and representatives of local and county agencies. Coronado felt her anger rising. “I said, ‘What’s not even on your radar are kids with disabilities; you’re missing a whole category of...

When I moved to Durham, North Carolina, in the mid-1980s, the county had two separate school systems. At its center, like a bulls-eye, was the city system, which was overwhelmingly African American and had the state's highest dropout rate and some of its lowest test scores. Its undersized tax base, including a hollowed-out downtown, made it hard to raise enough revenue to close the gap. Encircling it was the county system, which was whiter and more suburban, and it included Research Triangle...

In 1868, the abolitionist and orator Anna E. Dickinson published What Answer?, a novel that explored, in a manner revolutionary for its time, the subject of interracial marriage. The Atlantic assigned its assistant editor, William Dean Howells, to review the book. Howells, who would later become the magazine’s editor in chief, was, in the years following the Civil War, something of a racial optimist. He opened his review by recounting a story told to him by one of The Atlantic’s most...

In the fall of 2008, Omega Young got a letter prompting her to recertify for Medicaid. But she was unable to make the appointment because she was suffering from ovarian cancer. She called her local Indiana office to say she was in the hospital. Her benefits were cut off anyway. The reason: "failure to cooperate." [For more on this story by ALYSSA EDES & EMMA BOWMAN go to...

To research We Are All Fast-Food Workers Now, historian Annelise Orleck traveled to Mexico, Cambodia, and Bangladesh, plus all across America, to interview low-wage workers fighting for better conditions and pay. Whether she's talking to McDonald's employees, garment workers, or farmers, her conversations return to similar themes: insufficient pay, wage theft, and workplace abuse. Each of the struggles Orleck documents has received more comprehensive treatment elsewhere, but it is...

Laurence D. Fink, founder and chief executive of BlackRock, the world’s largest institutional investor, recently set the financial world abuzz with a letter to the CEOs of the world’s largest public companies . He notified them that henceforth BlackRock will be holding them accountable for more than profits. They must also contribute to society. Business Insider called it “a warning shot to CEOs across the world.” The New York Times suggested, “It may be a watershed moment on Wall Street.”...

Christina Garcés, a medical student at Temple University in Philadelphia, spends some of her time in the places where heroin users congregate. She’s one of a group of nurses, doctors and medical students who offer the users basic medical care, socks and the overdose-reversal drug naloxone; drive them to the hospital; and connect them to drug treatment and other resources. On Feb. 11 she was about to go home from one such encampment, near the Emerald Street Bridge, when a man in his 50s...

For the more than 3,000 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Wednesday's mass shooting was terrifying and life-changing. But what of the tens of millions of other children, in schools across the country, who have since heard about what happened and now struggle with their own feelings of fear, confusion and uncertainty? For their parents and teachers, we've put together a quick primer with help from the National Association of School Psychologists and Melissa Reeves, a former...

The shooting in Florida isn’t only a gun regulation issue. It’s a systems change issue. All of our systems have to change their approach to changing behavior — whether it’s criminal, unhealthy or unwanted behavior — from a blame, shame and punishment approach, to one that is based in understanding, nurturing and healing….in other words, ACEs science.

For the past week, the East County Chamber of Commerce has been giving out wristbands to local homeless shelters and first responders. Their goal is to better connect homeless people to services and resources. "So that they can have them right on their wrist and quickly remind themselves what number to text to," said Eric Lund , the CEO and president of the East County Chamber of Commerce. People can text "ConnectEC" to 77453, which then gives them options for help covering basic needs such...

Dr. Suzanne Frank has known about the impact of childhood adversity on young lives for decades. She’s seen the fallout in the faces of young people huddled in beds at a children’s shelter where she worked years ago. She’s seen it as the regional child abuse services and champion for the Permanente Medical Group. And she’s seen it in hospital examination rooms where, as a member of the Santa Clara County’s Sexual Assault Response Team, she’s been called in to examine shell-shocked children...

Environmental and social justice activist Carl Anthony draws on decades of experience as an architect in his new book, “The Earth, the City, and the Hidden Narrative of Race.” The book, part memoir and part tutorial, grapples with questions of urban democratization and sustainability in the context of shifting social norms and changing environmental realities. Anthony joins us to discuss his life’s work and strategies for enhancing equity in a changing world. Guests: Carl Anthony , founder...