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TAYLOR JUNG | NJ Spotlight More people of color borrow than white counterparts, adding to racial wealth gap. For New Jersey school psychologist Norma Reyes, not having to make her student loan payments the last two years has been a “blessing.” While the Biden administration pushed back payments to the end of August and is expected to make a student loan announcement in the coming weeks, the looming and unclear future of her debt is unsettling. “However, those loans are still there. And it’s...

Betty Friedan The American writer and activist penned The Feminine Mystique in 1963, which is often credited for sparking the second wave of feminism that began in the '60s and '70s. Friedan spent her life working to establish women's equality, helping to establish the National Women's Political Caucus as well as organizing the Women's Strike For Equality in 1970 , which popularized the feminist movement throughout America. Gloria Steinem Aptly referred to as the "Mother of Feminism," Gloria...

Patricia Bath was the first African American to complete a residency in ophthalmology in 1973. Two years later, she became the first female faculty member in the Department of Ophthalmology at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute. In 1976, Bath co-founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness, which established that "eyesight is a basic human right." In 1986, Bath invented the Laserphaco Probe, improving treatment for cataract patients. She patented the device in 1988, becoming...

The Community Schools Reading Intervention program was developed by elementary school officials and Mercer Street Friends during the pandemic. A nonprofit in Trenton, N.J., is helping younger students read at grade level. Bernie Flynn, the CEO of Mercer Street Friends, said the Community Schools Reading Intervention program was developed in partnership with elementary school officials during the pandemic. During a ceremony at Trenton’s Luis Muñoz-Rivera Elementary School, first and second...

What gives me hope is that we have agency in this. We can make eye contact or provide physical touch, if those are appropriate and feel comfortable; we can be kind, we can bring intention to building connection – it all has ripple effects. And we can put.down.our.phones.!

Idalmis T. Lamourt, MSW, LSW Assistant Director DCF Office of Resilience As I began my new position at the Office of Resilience, I found myself thinking a lot about the word trauma. We hear the term so often that we can become numb to it. But that isn’t case for those of us who have been impacted by trauma. We don’t become desensitized to what it truly means or what it took to get through that trauma. And each new trauma builds upon past ones. The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health...

But the good news is that when we add Positive Childhood Experiences into the conversation, the emotional demand is lessened; hope enters the room.

(Washington, NJ) Tracey Wilson Heisler, MA is known for many things in our community: child advocate, trauma educator, and protector of farmland from warehouse development. She now has a new identity: local author. Her inaugural book, The Shadow in Our Lives : One family’s recovery from child sexual abuse , was recently released. “It’s never been a secret,” says Heisler, “but my first husband molested one of our children. She disclosed the abuse to me 20 years ago, and we have worked hard...

A webinar offered by the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP) Thursday, September 30, 1:30 - 3:00 pm EDT Register today . Addressing the mental health needs of child care providers and children in care is vital in the face of the pandemic, a population-level traumatic event. CTIPP is offering a "plug and play" framework to ease the process of developing a continuum of training, reflective coaching, and consultation to build the capacity for supporting relational health...

"What if I was to tell you that a game of peek-a-boo could change the world?" asks seven-year-old Molly Wright, one of the youngest-ever TED speakers. Breaking down the research-backed ways parents and caregivers can support children's healthy brain development, Wright highlights the benefits of play on lifelong learning, behavior and well-being, sharing effective strategies to help all kids thrive by the age of five. She's joined onstage by one-year-old Ari and his dad, Amarjot, who help...

ANDREW S. LEWIS | NJ Spotlight When Veronica Grant reflects on growing up in the Venice Park section of Atlantic City in the 1970s, regular nuisance flooding isn’t a memory that comes to mind. Yet these days, high tides spill across the neighborhood’s streets and yards so frequently that Grant can’t keep count. Flooding has been a reality in Atlantic City since its founding a century-and-a-half ago, but it has never been as frequent as it is today. Since 1911, the city’s tide station has...

Kathleen Neal Cleaver In the '60s, Kathleen Neal Cleaver was a prominent member of the Black Panther Party, in which she created the position of communications secretary. In 1998, she said , "I think it is important to place the women who fought oppression as Black Panthers within the longer tradition of freedom fighters like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida Wells-Barnett, who took on an entirely oppressive world and insisted that their race, their gender, and their humanity be respected...

Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart is known for developing a model of historical trauma, historical unresolved grief theory and interventions in indigenous peoples. Brave Heart earned her Master of Science from Columbia University School of Social Work in 1976. Brave Heart returned to school in 1990 after working in the field of social work, and in 1995, she earned her doctorate in clinical social work from the Smith College School for Social Work. The dissertation was entitled, "The Return to...

Alice Walker Alice Walker is one of the most admired African American writers working today. She has written at length on issues of race and gender, and is most famous for the critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Born in Eatonton Georgia, on February the 9th, 1944, just before the end of World War II, Alice Malsenior Walker was the eighth of eight children to Minnie Tallulah Grant Walker and Winnie Lee Walker. Her father, who was, in...

Use Eventbrite Link to Register: 2024 Office of Resilience Ministry and Community Connections Tickets, Thu, Apr 11, 2024 at 11:00 AM | Eventbrite The Office of Resilience (OOR) seeks to endorse strengthening collaborations, expanding local resources, and building the capacity to provide resources and supports to communities through faith-based efforts. The OOR intends to engage statewide faith-based leaders in the hopes of exploring and fostering potential partnerships. The goal of the...

Please open attached PDF file for registration link. Meeting Registration - Zoom (zoomgov.com)

BIG NEWS! We are teaming up with the BAC to offer the first Trauma-informed Design college course of its kind this Spring!

One of the biggest questions that Andi and I get whenever we talk about a trauma-informed approach is something along the lines of “Ok I get ACEs and toxic stress, but what can I do about it in my organization?” We get it–this approach can seem overwhelming because it is literally a lens through which you see everything. We often say that a trauma-informed approach is less about what you do and more about how you do it. So how in the world do we even begin the work of operationalizing our unders

Beyond Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), our members seek to deeply understand strengths-based insights embedded in the remaining ACEs quadrant: Adverse Community Environments, Adverse Climate Experiences, and Atrocious Cultural Experiences.

It was a Thursday evening around 6pm, and the youth center at UrbanPromise Ministries in Camden, NJ was a hive of activity. Kids buzzed with energy as parents signed in at the greeter table, while down the hall a line of eager possibly people were being served a hot meal before finding seats in the main room. Further down the hall was the childcare room bright with colors and activities awaiting little hands to use them. Welcome to the Be Inc. Collective Family Café! Brainchild of Siomara...

PACEs Family, The Office of Resilience is hiring an Assistant Director for the NJ Resilience Institute. Attached you will find the job posting or you can click here . Please share with your networks!

The Trauma-informed Design Society is pleased to announce the new TiDEvalK12 tool ! This tool is the first of its kind--an evidence-based tool to facilitate interior design renovations and new builds of K-12 schools! It can be used to evaluate the physical space and identify changes that can lower the stress levels of students and staff. The tool is grounded in the Substance and Mental Health Services Administrations' guidance for a trauma-informed approach, the Trauma-informed Design (TiD)...

The NJ People’s Gathering is a first of its kind, open, online learning collaborative conference, being held on September 22, 2022 , to bring together people from all walks of life to discuss healing solutions to the big issues affecting New Jersey’s communities: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Collective trauma from the COVID-19 pandemic Youth mental health and wellbeing Material Needs (homelessness, hunger) being experienced within our communities Substance Use Issues Racism,...

Our Pow Wow celebrates the culture and socializing of American Indians. It is a “living event” and not a “reenactment.” Public Pow Wows invite non-American Indian people to learn and enjoy the celebration, while also respecting the culture. The Pow-wow is located on Route 40, just west of Sharptown in Pilesgrove Township, about 3 miles west of Woodstown in Salem County, NJ, and about 8 miles east of the Delaware Memorial Bridge. The Basics of Pow Wow Etiquette: 1. Dress and act...

Join us virtually for an introduction to the Children's Inter-Agency Coordinating Council and the Organizations that participate! MAY 2, 2022 11 AM - 1 PM VIRTUAL PRESENTATION ZOOM LINK: CLICK HERE TO REGISTER Children's Health Virtual Resource Fair Join us virtually for an introduction to the Children's Inter-Agency Coordinating Council and the Organizations that participate! CUMBERLAND COUNTY CHILDREN'S INTER-AGENCY COORDINATING COUNCIL (CIACC) PRESENTED BY: FAMILIES, SCHOOL PERSONNEL,...

Hear from public health leaders about the impact of childhood adversity on health across the lifespan and the role of the field of chronic disease prevention in addressing ACEs. Toxic Stress: Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Mental Health and Chronic Disease Thursday, April 21, 2022 2-3:30 p.m. ET Rob Anda, MD, MS Co-Founder of ACE Interface Jim Marks, MD, MPH Former Executive Vice President Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Former Director, CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease...

Building Self-Healing Communities – Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences Join us for a 3-hour session on the impact of childhood trauma and its implications across the life course. The session will be interactive and will include small and large group dialog, reflection and time for questions and answers. Come ready to actively participate and engage with others on this journey! The Office of Resilience is presenting SIX great opportunities for you to engage in starting January 2022.

Dr Bessel Van Der Kolk is offering a 2-day virtual conference on his landmark presentation, The Body Keeps the Score, on 13th and 14th December 2021. The fact that it is free and open to everyone makes it even more exciting. "I’m presenting this training to serve as both a guide and an invitation—an invitation to dedicate ourselves to facing the reality of trauma, to explore how best to treat it, and to commit ourselves, as a society, to using every means we have to prevent it." - Dr. Bessel...

Please join us for a new series entitled: Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice. This monthly virtual Zoom series will feature conversations facilitated by Porter Jennings-McGarity, PACEs Connection’s criminal justice consultant, with special guests to discuss the need for trauma-informed criminal justice system reform. Using a PACEs-science lens, this series will examine the relationship between trauma and the criminal justice system, what needs changing, and strategies being used in this area...

About Greater Newark Health Care Coalition (GNHCC) : GNHCC is one of four not-for-profit regional health hubs in New Jersey working with both clinical and social service providers to improve patient care and outcomes. The vision of GNHCC is health equity for residents of Greater Newark. The mission is to work collaboratively to improve systems, community and individual conditions for optimal health and well-being. Core functions include : (1) neutral convening with coordination and alignment...

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Aedy Miller & Josh Friedman | Cherry Hill Courier-Post With South Jersey students back in school — some for the first appreciable time in 18 months due to the pandemic — educators are once again seeing the effects of a different public health emergency: the ongoing mental health crisis. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of mental health issues — such as anxiety, depression, suicidality and substance use — had already been getting worse. Between 2009 and 2019, overdose deaths increased...

Recently, the federal government issued a limited eviction moratorium beginning August 3rd through October 3 for renters living in communities experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases. In addition, Governor Murphy signed legislation that expands COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance and Utility Assistance Programs. For more information, or to apply for rental or utility assistance, please use the links below. • First , know your rights: https://legalfaq.org/ • For general assistance questions,...

Dowdell Library On Sept. 27 , Dowdell Library will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with Marcia Mercado by reading stories in Spanish and English, listening and dancing to traditional music and making crafts, including a Frida Kahlo mural created by the community. The online catalog makes it easy to search for resources focused on Hispanic history and lived experience. Jersey City Library The library will be honoring one of its own: Hugo Morales , an Ecuadorian-born artist who tragically...

By Sixto Cancel Mr. Cancel is the founder of an organization dedicated to changing foster care in America. When I was 15, an usher at my church offered to become my foster parent. Hers was one of the best foster homes I lived in. But she wanted a son. It was more than I was able to give. I had been in foster care since I was 11 months old because of my mother’s drug addiction and poverty. Adopted at age 9 by a racist and abusive woman, I was locked out of the house at age 13. For two years,...

The study found that scores assessing childhood trauma exposure among adults with substance misuse issues were 24% higher than previous estimates for other adults in the child welfare system, and 108% higher than the general population. While many parents and caregivers involved in the child welfare system suffered trauma as children, new research suggests that those with substance misuse issues as adults may have had particularly difficult childhoods. Not surprisingly, children in these...

Black cavalry unit taught horsemanship to white cadets, suffered racism. By SARAHMASLIN NIR and PRECIOUS FONDREN New York Times WEST POINT, N.Y. – A large crowd watched expectantly as a soldier tugged at a black cloth spread over a monumental statue on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Friday. As it fell away, it revealed a bronze statue of a Black soldier sitting astride a stallion, a tribute to the U.S. Army’s famed Black cavalry — the Buffalo Soldiers — who for...

"Parenting is a learned skill, but society says as parents we can only talk about the good things that happen while parenting. It judges parents based on the child’s behavior, clothing and their school attendance. Children are judged by their parent’s behavior, clothing and choices. There is no shortage of blame, shame and judgment to go around. So what happens when a parent has a high ACE score and they want to truly prevent their children from having the same? What happens when they want...

TRENTON, N.J. (July 29, 2021) – The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) today announced a $75 million extension of the commercial component of the Economic Redevelopment and Growth (ERG) Program. The Authority also announced that the extended Residential ERG Program, which began accepting applications in June, has been expanded from $50 million to $125 million. More information about the ERG Program is available at https://www.njeda.com/erg . “Thanks to the foresight of...

5th annual panel discussion on mental health in Queer and Transgender, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, or QTBIPOC, communities. We will be discussing the importance of prioritizing wellness and mental health. Our panelists include: Dr. Helen Hsu - Past President of The Asian American Psychological Association Josh Odam-Healing While Black LLC Kylee Jones, ACSW- Indigenous Circle of Wellness Keah Brown - Author, Actress, Journalist & Screenwriter Juan Acosta - Mental Health &...

The isolation of COVID-19 lockdowns brought about a nearly 30% increase in demand for mental health services throughout the country. But for LGBTQ youth, the isolation and anxiety from the last year has only exacerbated preexisting mental health battles. In 2020, 42% of young LGBTQ people — including more than half of transgender or nonbinary youths — considered suicide, according to a survey conducted from October to December 2020 by The Trevor Project, a national organization that provides...

****This survey is open to everyone from May 1 - May 31**** Tulane University Human Research Protection Office Social/Behavioral IRB Consent Script for Participation in a Research Study What is the research study and why is it being done? You are invited to participate in an anonymous online research study that will analyze the effects of race-based trauma experienced during childhood from colorism and hair type discrimination. This study will investigate how these early experiences, related...

The Newark Trust for Education is proud to present the third annual Safe and Supportive Learning Environments (SSLE) Summit: Covid-19 & Beyond! This year’s summit will focus on working together with students and families to create safe and supportive learning environments post pandemic. Over the course of four days (May 10th – 13th) participants will hear keynote remarks delivered by experts including Karen L. Mapp, Ed.D. , Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education;...

Federal environmental officials reached a $21 million settlement late Monday with Ford Motor Co. and Ringwood on a controversial cleanup of the borough's sprawling Superfund site that will leave tons of polluted soil in place under a barrier. The agreement filed in U.S. District Court is another step toward affirming a plan that would keep 166,000 tons of contaminated soil at the O'Connor Disposal Area despite the objections of residents who live nearby, including many members of the...

Black children have long suffered from racial disparities in the U.S. foster care system Cheri Williams looks back with regret at the start of her career as a child welfare caseworker in 1998. Systemic racism is a major reason why. “I removed probably about 100 kids from their homes in the 15 months I was an investigator … a lot of them were children of color,” said Williams, who's now a vice president of one of the largest adoption and foster care agencies in the United States. “Decades...

22 Co-sponsors in the Senate and over 47 in the House join resolution to raise national awareness of the state of Black maternal health in the United States. WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Representatives Alma Adams (NC-12) and Lauren Underwood (IL-14) introduced a resolution recognizing Black Maternal Health Week, “to bring national attention to the maternal health crisis in the United States and the importance of reducing maternal mortality and morbidity among Black...

By Alla Katsnelson | NY Times An emerging branch of neuroscience asks a question long on the minds of researchers. Recent stimulus payments make the study more relevant. New monthly payments in the pandemic relief package have the potential to lift millions of American children out of poverty. Some scientists believe the payments could change children’s lives even more fundamentally — via their brains. It’s well established that growing up in poverty correlates with disparities in...