March 2019

Our state is poised to take a vital leadership role. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have been part of a national dialogue for over 20 years, since Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted their ground-breaking study in the 1990s. While this public awareness has been important to our understanding of the social and economic consequences of ACEs, and we are making great strides in responses to the crisis, we still have yet to translate that effort...

H.O.P.E. aims to create a community for students who have gone through adverse childhood experiences. A new student group that started at the University of Minnesota last month hopes to provide support and teach coping mechanisms to students affected by traumatic events during childhood. H.O.P.E. is working to create a community for students with traumatic childhood experiences while raising awareness of adverse childhood experiences. The student organization was founded by research...

Native students face the highest rates of inequity in higher education because of systemic and structural barriers On February 6, the American Indian College Fund released a report identifying eight powerful declarations that colleges and universities should do to better support Native students and make them visible at their institutions. This work was in response to a college tour incident at Colorado State University, after which made many Native students and families questioned who...

State Rep. Dave Paul, D-Oak Harbor, got his first bill through the House of Representatives. The House passed a bill on Tuesday that helps low-income students pay for dual-enrollment programs such as College in the High School or Running Start. House Bill 1973 establishes a pilot program for financial assistance for these students. “Students shouldn’t have to take on enormous debt in order to attend and graduate college,” said Paul. “This is a creative and cost-effective solution to help...

Press Release — New Survey of California Community College Students Reveals More than Half Face Food Insecurity and Nearly 20 Percent Have Faced Homelessness March 7, 2019 Sacramento — More than half the students attending a California community college have trouble affording balanced meals or worry about running out of food, and nearly 1 in 5 are either homeless or do not have a stable place to live, according to a survey released today. Click HERE to read the press release and click HERE...

On a wall at Santa Rosa Junior College’s newly expanded Dream Center is a framed, whimsical drawing of a woman with her eyes closed and hair windswept, surrounded by dozens of monarch butterflies. Above her head, white letters read: “My dreams are not illegal.” For many of the 1,800 students at the college who are undocumented, monarchs, which migrate thousands of miles between Mexico and Canada, symbolize hope. “When students walk into the center, I hope that they see the empowerment and...