Tagged With "Resilient Community-based"
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How a bench and a team of grandmothers can tackle depression (bbc.com)
Zimbabwe is pioneering a groundbreaking mental health programme with stunning results – and the rest of the world is taking note. Globally, more than 300 million people suffer from depression , according to the World Health Organization. Depression is the world’s leading cause of disability and it contributes to 800,000 suicides per year, the majority of which occur in developing countries. No one knows how many Zimbabweans suffer from kufungisisa, the local word for depression (literally,...
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Intergenerational Trauma: How to Break the Cycle
“ Surviving is important but thriving is elegant” Maya Angelou In my series of blogs raising awareness on childhood trauma, I will tackle intergenerational trauma. I had scheduled to write and post this some weeks ago but the Coronavirus pandemic sent me into a disregulated and anxious state like many of you. I was reflecting the other day that it is the first time the whole of humanity is facing the same threat, I hope it makes us look inside of us and connect more with ourselves and the...
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New Hub Resource: Smart, Safe, and Fair: Strategies to Prevent Youth Violence, Heal Victims of Crimes, and Reduce Racial Inequality [jjie.org]
“Smart, Safe, and Fair: Strategies to Prevent Youth Violence, Heal Victims of Crimes, and Reduce Racial Inequality,” published through a collaboration between the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) and the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) addresses how to help youth involved in violent crime — both offenders and victims. Confinement of youth convicted of crimes has decreased; however, violent crime convictions have not. The report shows that confinement of youth is more expensive and...
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NOTE NEW TIME: Planning to Join Us on 5/8 for a "Better Normal" discussion about systems transformation? Join us 1:00-2:00 PT!
Note new time for Friday, May 8 Better Normal discussion on systems transformation. We will meet from 1:00-2:00 and hear from RYSE Associate Director, Kanwarpal Dhaliwal, about the rapid emergency community response initiative, West Contra Costa Covid Community Care.
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Race and Health in Sacramento Amid the Covid19 Pandemic Crisis
African American community leaders in Sacramento ask city and county leaders to respond proactively to prevent health disparities in Covid19 infection, disability and death in the African American community.
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Race Forward Statement on the Coronavirus and Its Impacts on Communities of Color [raceforward.org]
From Race Forward, March 27, 2020 As the coronavirus spreads and a public health emergency intensifies, Race Forward calls on local and state governments and those who are doing emergency planning to pay special attention to the impact that this disease and the response to its spread may have on people and communities of color. We call for an approach that provides accurate information and advances practices and policies based in science, and that ensures compassionate and comprehensive...
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Suicide Rates Are Rising Significantly Among African American Teens (scienceblog.com)
A large-scale study from The University of Toledo of young African Americans who have attempted or died by suicide suggests there is a greater need for mental health services in urban school districts, and that we need to do a better job in convincing parents and caregivers to safely secure firearms and ammunition in the home. Taking those measures, Dr. James Price said, could save lives. Price, UToledo professor emeritus of health education and public health at UToledo, recently authored...
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12 Myths of the Science of ACEs
The two biggest myths about ACEs science are: MYTH #1 — That it’s just about the 10 ACEs in the ACE Study — the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study . It’s about sooooo much more than that. MYTH #2 — And that it’s just about ACEs…adverse childhood experiences. These two myths are intertwined. The ACE Study issued the first of its 70+ publications in 1998, and for many people it was the lightning bolt, the grand “aha” moment, the unexpected doorway into a blazing new...
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2 New Communities Join ACEs Connection: March 2020
Please welcome these two new communities to ACEs Connection . ACEs & African Americans ACEs Connection at Boston University School of Public Health (MA) ACEs & African Americans This group is focused on the descendants of Africans dispersed throughout the Americas during the Transatlantic Slave Trades. Topics include adverse childhood experiences, historical trauma, intergenerational transmission of trauma, African American parenting practices, health disparities, the effects of...
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"A Better Normal" Community Discussion Series-Health Equity
In the seventh installation of the " A Better Normal " community discussion series, ACEs Connection facilitated a conversation focused on health inequity as it pertains to the COVID-19 pandemic . This discussion featured myself and ACEs Connection member Joshunda Sanders and highlighted the role of racism, historical trauma and poverty when it comes to the impact of this pandemic on African Americans and other vulnerable populations.
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ACE Surveillance Study of Teachers and Administrators in Public and Private Schools in Southwest Nigeria, West Africa
Note: These findings were presented at the Child Trauma Conference in Lagos on October 25-26, 2019. Rationale: Many children today live with layers of stress both subtle and overt which in this report are collectively referred to as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Specifically, these ACEs are physical, emotional and sexual abuse; physical and emotional neglect; household dysfunction and domestic violence as well as community violence. The children have a life marked by chaos,...
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ACEs & African Americans Community on ACEs Connection
ACEs Connection envisions a resilient world where ALL people thrive. We are an anti-racist organization committed to the pursuit of social justice. In our work to promote resilience and prevent and mitigate ACEs, we intentionally embrace and uplift people who have historically not had a seat at the table. ACEs Connection celebrates the voices and tells the stories of people who have been barred from decision-making and who have shouldered the burden of systemic and economic oppression as the...
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Another "A Better Normal" Community Discussion Series-Health Equity
In the thirteenth installation of the " A Better Normal " community discussion series, ACEs Connection facilitated a conversation focused on health inequity as it pertains to the COVID-19 pandemic . This discussion featured myself and ACEs Connection member Joshunda Sanders and highlighted the role of racism, historical trauma and poverty when it comes to the impact of this pandemic on African Americans and other vulnerable populations. In this session our guests were Sarah Bounse with...
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Be Part of The League of Extraordinary People
You are extraordinary. Writing this post feels like I have come full circle. In April of 2019, Alfred White reached out to me on ACEs Connection. Shortly after, we spoke at length about the plans he had to create a place of healing and hope in Federal Way and King County, Washington, specifically for individuals with a history of trauma and who were now impacted with symptoms such as addiction and homelessness. I recall sharing with Alfred that there was such a need for this in that...
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Black Yoga Collective Brings Wellness, Yoga’s Healing Powers To At-Risk St. Louis Communities (STL public radio)
By Andrea Y Henderson, March 13, 2020, STL Public Radio For decades, white women have been the face of yoga across the nation. But inside a yoga studio in Old North St. Louis, the atmosphere is worlds apart. At the Collective STL , yoga is taught by black instructors and the floor is filled with black educators and other professionals, community activists and students — many of whom are there to release the stress of trauma, family struggles and depression. To read the full story click here:...
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Efforts to Reduce Black Maternal Mortality Complicated by COVID-19 [chcf.org]
By Xenia Shih Bion, California Health Care Foundation, April 20, 2020 Latoyha Young had a birth plan. She was going to have the baby in Sacramento with community doula Joy Dean by her side. Dean was funded by the county’s Black Child Legacy Campaign , which works to reduce the disproportional number of Black infant and child deaths in Sacramento. But in mid-March, when Young went into labor just as Governor Gavin Newsom ordered Californians to stay at home to avoid spreading the novel...
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Elevating people of color and women in the workplace (The Harvard Gazette)
This is one in a series of profiles showcasing some of Harvard’s stellar graduates. Deeneaus ‘D’ Polk, M.P.P. ’20, found his way from Mississippi to Harvard Kennedy School with plans to return to the South Growing up in the small, blue-collar Mississippi town Pascagoula, Deeneaus Polk could not have predicted that his path would take him to Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). Or that it would run by way of Germany. As the oldest of three children, Polk — who goes by “D” — was responsible for...
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Eradicating the roots of childhood trauma [indianapolisrecorder.com]
On the east side of Indianapolis in late March, a barrage of bullets sprayed through a home, killing 1-year-old Malaysia Robson as she slept on the couch. It was a drive-by shooting in the middle of the night by two men in their late 20s. It’s the kind of violence that can shake a community, leaving its distraught members wondering how much more they can take. Community violence — and other forms of trauma — are especially harmful for children. They’re called adverse childhood experiences...
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EVENT: Cost of Darkness Documentary Preview on 5/30
Message from Sandy Holman, Director of The Culture C.O-.O.P, www.cultureco-op.com : Please join The Culture C.O-.O.P. virtually, this Saturday, May 30th, from 2-4pm to preview our Cost Of Darkness Documentary done in collaboration with UC Davis Students, nationally and internationally renowned experts, courageous community activists, families, and communities nefariously impacted by entrenched, “dark skin,” racism, supremacy ideology, systemic oppression, injustice and insidious inequity,...
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Commentary: Why so many black Americans are dying from COVID-19 and how to make health care equitable (sandiegouniontribune.com)
Evidence suggests that during the early phase of the coronavirus pandemic, blacks are suffering the greatest death rates compared to all other ethnic groups. Why? I can assure you that the coronavirus does not discriminate based upon skin color or ethnicity. Instead, it has a predilection for populations with the highest rates of chronic diseases, poor access to health care and too little information from trusted sources. For decades, the National Medical Association — which represents more...
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A Better Normal, Tuesday, June 9th at Noon PDT: Racial Trauma & How to be Anti-Racist
Please join us for the ongoing community discussion of A Better Normal, our ongoing series in which we envision the future as trauma-informed. Protests and riots across the country--and even worldwide--are making it impossible to ignore the racial trauma of police brutality and historical trauma embedded within our society. Many of us are grappling with complex feelings of helplessness and righteous anger. In response to this pandemic of racism in America, "A Better Normal" will hold space...
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A Better Normal Friday, June 19th at Noon PDT: LGBTQ+ Identity and Race in the US: An Intersectional Discussion On Historical and Generational Trauma
Please join us for the ongoing community discussion of A Better Normal, our ongoing series in which we envision the future as trauma-informed. LGBTQ+ Identity and Race in the US: An Intersectional Discussion On Historical and Generational Trauma With Panelists Rev. Dr. D. Mark Wilson and Alexander Cho, Ph.D., Moderated by ACEs Connection staff members Jenna Quinn and Alison Cebulla Friday, June 19th, 2020 Noon to 1pm, PT (3pm to 4pm ET) >>Click here to register<< Please join us...
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PNC Commits More Than $1B to End Systemic Racism, Support Economic Empowerment (abf journal)
June 19, 2020, Industry News. PNC committed more than $1 billion to help end systemic racism and support economic empowerment of African Americans and low- and moderate-income communities. “We are living in one of the most important civil rights movements of our time. Each of us has a role to play in combatting racism and discrimination, and PNC is committed to driving real change in areas in which we can make the greatest impact,” William S. Demchak, chairman, president and CEO of PNC,...
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HHS Announces Partnership with Morehouse School of Medicine to Fight COVID-19 in Racial and Ethnic Minority and Vulnerable Communitie
Press Release $40 Million Initiative Will Help Communities Hardest Hit by the Pandemic The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) announced the selection of the Morehouse School of Medicine as the awardee for a new $40 million initiative to fight COVID-19 in racial and ethnic minority, rural and socially vulnerable communities. The Morehouse School of Medicine will enter into a cooperative agreement with OMH to lead the initiative to coordinate a...
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A Better Normal Tuesday, June 30th at Noon PDT: Reinterpreting American Identity, a Community Discussion
"I think that all of us, regardless of our racial or ethnic background, feel relieved that we no longer have to deal with the racism and the sexism associated with the system of slavery. But we treat the history of enslavement like we treat the genocidal colonization of indigenous people in North America, as if it was not that important, or worse, as if it never happened." —Angela Davis, "The Meaning of Freedom" Please join us for the ongoing community discussion of A Better Normal, our...
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With rolling protest, Black Montrealers denounce the challenge of 'driving while Black' (CBC News)
By Claire Loewen, July 6, 2020, CBC News. Convoys of luxury and other vehicles driven by Black drivers hit the streets of Montreal Sunday as part of a demonstration to denounce racial profiling, and to bring awareness to the phenomenon of "driving while Black," in which members of the Black community are frequently stopped by police. Kenrick McRae, whose racial profiling complaint led to a police ethics committee decision in December that found two Montreal officers acted unlawfully when...
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Does Your Organization Unconsciously Operate with a White Supremacy Culture? 4 White Supremacy Culture Scenarios
As we endure the pain of lost loved ones, manage the anxiety of financial insecurity and potentially fret over becoming ill, it is a brilliant time for change in our country and around the world. There is a special kind of racist exclusion in America. When I took my young son to live in India, initially, he struggled everyday on the bus to school. There was a lot of hazing and bullying from older students. I remember him begging me to please take him to school in a rickshaw so that he didn’t...
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Reclaiming African Herbalism as an Act of Resistance (yesmagazine.org)
I was fairly new to the study of plant medicine when I was introduced to herbalist Sade Musa, who leads the community education and healing project Roots of Resistance . Part of my commitment to self-care and reducing harm meant getting in touch with Mother Earth and learning to seek her out in moments of overwhelm, but it was frustrating that most of the traditions I was being introduced to were European or repackaged indigenous practices. I was starting to feel like the only way to get in...
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YWCA panel talks disciplinary disparities among Black girls (The Independent)
By Austin Koeller, August 28, 2020, The Independent. Experts say research shows Black girls are more likely to face disciplinary disparities in the public school setting, and something needs to be done about it. On Thursday night, the YWCA of Grand Island hosted a virtual screening of the documentary film “Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools.” Based on the book by Monique Morris, the documentary examined the disparities Black girls faced and shared personal stories from...
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19 Black families purchased 96.71 acres of rural Georgia land for a 'fresh start' with a Black-centric community (Insider)
By Ellen Crankey, September 11, 2020, Insider. In less than a month, two women turned a viral news story about a small Georgia town for sale into the foundation for a new Black-centric community with the idea of freedom at its core. Ashley Scott, a realtor from Stonecrest, Georgia, told Insider that events that rattled the US this year — George Floyd's death in police custody in late May and the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic — had left her feeling "distraught" and "looking for...
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Policy and System Change (racialequitytools.org)
Source: https://www.racialequitytools.org/act/strategies/policy-and-system-change Policy, as used here, refers to the laws and regulations that govern major systems, including health, education, criminal justice, education and so on. Individuals are deeply and directly affected by policies and systems, including the laws and regulations themselves. They are also deeply and directly affected by unequal application by race/ethnicity of common policies and laws, and by unequal consequences by...
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Partnership with HBCUs Helps At-risk Students Realize Their Dreams of Higher Education (learn4life.org)
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are known for helping students of color and opportunity youth access an affordable and quality higher education. Realizing that high SAT scores and GPAs aren’t necessarily indicators of student success in college, HBCUs instead focus on developing learners through personalized learning and support. Learn4Life and FLEX High serve at-risk students and share this approach to recover dropouts, and promote college access, readiness and...
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My Story
My story began as I was born to an unwed African American teen mother. She had my brother when she was 14 and had me at the age of 16. I vaguely remember the house that I was born in down south. Blacks were not allowed to be born in the hospital at that time so we made use of midwives. My grandfather shot my dad twice in the back with a 22 caliber handgun. He was chasing him away from our house because he told him to stay away from my mother. Shortly thereafter we were kicked out of the...
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Communities of Opportunity Invites Proposals for Black-led Systems and Policy Change (Best Start)
RFP Announcement - King Co Washington state. Proposals are requested for the 2021 grant year. Communities of Opportunity (COO) commits $725,000 to systems and policy change projects led by and for Black communities in King County. Eligible partnerships of Black-led (including African descent and diaspora) organizations working on systems and policy change in the Black community may apply for funding through this Request for Proposal. In June 2020 King County Executive Dow Constantine and...
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Youth-Led Advocacy Creates Healing Opportunities in Baltimore City
After a shooting at a historic Baltimore high school in February 2019—a 25-year-old man, angry about the school’s treatment of his sister, who was a student there, shot a special education assistant with a Smith and Wesson handgun—conversation in the city centered on whether school resource officers should be armed. Students said that was the wrong question. When City Council’s education and youth committee, chaired by council member Zeke Cohen, held hearings on school violence following the...
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Food Insecurity and the Risk of Obesity, Depression, and Self-Rated Health in Women (Women’s Health Report)
By Sydney K. Willis,1,* Sara E. Simonsen,2 Rachael B. Hemmert,2 Jami Baayd,2 Kathleen B. Digre,3 and Cathleen D. Zick4. Women’s Health Reports Volume 1.1, 2020 DOI: 10.1089/whr.2020.0049 Accepted May 21, 2020. Abstract Background/Introduction/Objective: Recent studies have shown that food insecurity is associated with obe- sity, depression, and other adverse health outcomes although little research has been focused on these relation- ships in underrepresented cultural and social groups. In...
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COVID, ACES, and Radical Self-Care
COVID, ACES and Radical Self-Care Dr. LateshIa Woodley, LPC, NCC & Alexis Kelly, MPA COVID Thursday, March 13, 2020, I woke up thinking I love my life, I have the best job in the world, I get to wake up every day and strive to make a difference in the lives of students and families. Little did I know that a few hours later my life, the lives of my family, and the lives of the families that I serve would forever be changed due to the COVID pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, I was leading...
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Black Trans Lives Matter: Activists call for inclusion in racial justice movement (msn.com)
Joslyn Allen, Jaslene Busanet and Eden Estrada weren't fearing for their safety after a night out on Hollywood Boulevard in mid-August. The three friends, all popular influencers on Instagram, were exiting a store in the early hours of Aug. 17 when cellphone video caught a violent, unprovoked attack against them. Activists across the country have marched in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement since the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in late May, sparking...
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Disparities in COVID-19 Outcomes: Understanding the Root Cause Is Key to Achieving Equity [journals.lww.com]
By La Quandra S. Nesbitt, Journal of Public Health Management & Practice (January/February 2021), December 2020 As the number of COVID-19 cases in the United States increased, and public reporting of demographic characteristics improved, the stark disparities in COVID-19–related incidence and mortality became evident. 1 While these disparities were alarming to many, for others, they illuminated the unfortunate inequities in health and health care that exist and persist in the United...
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After her incarceration ‘broke’ son, this woman created non-profit to support children of offenders (AI.com)
By Roy S. Johnson, December 4, 2020, AL.com. Danielle Lacey Chavers rolled the dice. Though she didn’t fully grasp the depth of the consequences. Not even as she rounded the corner inside a gated Trace Crossings community in Hoover and saw a fire truck leaving the cul-de-sac where her family lived. Or as she saw an ambulance and a phalanx of police cars in front of their home. Or realized it was a drug raid. The oldest of Chavers’s two sons, Jeremy, a teenager who had picked his younger...
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Reviving a Crop and an African-American Culture, Stalk by Stalk (nytimes.com)
SAPELO ISLAND, Ga. — Fall is cane syrup season in pockets of the Deep South, where people still gather to grind sugar cane and boil its juice into dark, sweet syrup in iron kettles big enough to bathe in. This autumn, no cane syrup has been more significant than the batches Maurice Bailey and his friends made from the first purple ribbon sugar cane grown here on Sapelo Island since the 1800s. The 11-mile-long barrier island is home to the Salt Water Geechees , who can trace an unbroken line...
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‘The Backbone Of Democracy’: These Black Women Helped Define 2020 (forbes.com)
This year, as we honor the World's 100 Most Powerful Women , we also honor the women—the Black women—who have been instrumental in exposing racial inequity and are some of the most influential drivers for societal change. Kamala Harris, no. 3 on this year’s Power Women list, paid tribute to Black women in her first speech as Vice president elect. The group, she said, is “too often overlooked, but so often prove that they are the backbone of our democracy.” Stacey Abrams, who earned the 100th...
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5 Things You May Not Know About Kwanzaa (history.com)
1. Kwanzaa is less than 60 years old. Maulana Karenga, a Black nationalist who later became a college professor, created Kwanzaa as a way of uniting and empowering the African African community in the aftermath of the deadly Watts Rebellion . Having modeled his holiday on traditional African harvest festivals, he took the name “Kwanzaa” from the Swahili phrase, “matunda ya kwanza,” which means “first fruits.” The extra “a” was added, Karenga has said, simply to accommodate seven children at...
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Black Lives Matter 13 Guiding Principles (DC Area Educators for Social Justice)
1. Restorative Justice We are committed to collectively, lovingly and courageously working vigorously for freedom and justice for Black people and, by extension all people. As we forge our path, we intentionally build and nurture a beloved community that is bonded together through a beautiful struggle that is restorative, not depleting. 2. Empathy We are committed to practicing empathy; we engage comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts. 3. Loving Engagement We...
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Rewriting the Story of Race in Appalachia (yesmagazine.org)
Dr. Enkeshi El-Amin, a researcher, lecturer, and cultural worker at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and William Isom, director of the Black in Appalachia project at East Tennessee PBS, were searching for the project to collaborate on that would help share their passion and research on the Black Appalachian experience. So, in 2019, when PRX—the Public Radio Exchange—began accepting applications for podcast pitches, Isom and podcast producer Chris Smith approached El-Amin about...
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How One Atlanta Church Impacted Martin Luther King, Jr., the Civil Rights Movement and Incoming Sen. Raphael Warnock (time.com)
Formerly enslaved individuals helped found Ebenezer in 1886, and its roots in civil rights activism predate King. His grandfather, A.D. Williams, was the church’s second pastor, and he helped start the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP. The church’s historian Benjamin Ridgeway tells TIME that King’s father, known as Martin Luther King, Sr., was an early advocate for Black police officers in Atlanta and equal pay for teachers as a pastor at Ebenezer. But Martin Luther King, Jr. helped raise the...
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Employee Impact: Making Health Care More Equitable for the African American/Black Communities of Portland (CAMBIA)
February 2, 2021 This post is part of a series that highlights Cambia’s unique Board Placement program, which works to match company employees with nonprofit organizations looking to grow their board of directors. A key part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility approach to giving, the board placement program has become one of the most impactful ways Cambia strengthens local communities and supports employees in their own volunteerism. North by Northeast Community Health Center...
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Sunday Nights with Alfred White: Real Talk Health and Wellness for the BIPOC Community
Join Alfred White, founder and owner of The League of Extraordinary People, on Sunday nights for real talk about health and wellness for the BIPOC Community! Learn about how to heal from trauma, adversity, and chronic stress. Alfred will be going LIVE on the TLOEP Facebook page ! Here is the link to the Facebook and Instagram . On March 7th, Alfred will introduce viewers to TLOEP and our guiding principles. On March 14th, Alfred will lead viewers in an exploration of The Set Up: Living with...
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Anti-Racism Resources List
Racial Trauma, Historical Trauma & Healing 44 Mental Health Resources for Black People Trying to Survive in This Country www.self.com ACEs Connection ACEs Science & Racism Resources Center 3 Realms of ACEs ACEs & African Americans Community on ACEs Connection ACEs teach us why racism is a health equity Issue: Dr. Flojaune Cofer (Part One) Racing ACEs Gathering & Reflections; If it's not racially just; it's not trauma-informed Adverse Community Experiences and Resilience: A...