December 2017

By implementing summer programs for students in early grades and high-quality preschool that focuses on preparing students for kindergarten, one California county is improving the reading skills of its young children. While San Mateo County has a significant number of residents with advanced degrees, 44 percent of 3rd-graders in the county were not reading at grade level, based on standardized test scores in 2012-13, said Diana Harlick of the San Mateo County Office of Education. The...

Synapses go off like fireworks every time I attend a RYSE event or workshop. RYSE consistently approaches trauma-informed work from a structural, systems lens; then shares the fruits of their learning in workshops available to the public.

On an early fall evening, hundreds of students, ranging from 1st-graders to high school seniors, filed onto the stage of a cavernous auditorium at a San Francisco Bay Area high school. One by one, they marched to the microphone to state their name and their milestone in achieving perfect attendance for at least a year: Some had made the goal for four years, some for seven years. One girl, a recent graduate, received a trophy in absentia, for 12. Twelve years without a single tardy, let alone...

How do you build a narrative around ACEs science, bolster it with data and convince your leadership that integrating it is critical for the community you serve? Representatives from San Francisco Bay Area health and social service agencies had an opportunity on December 5 to learn about ACEs science, find data sets to help them make a case for supporting ACEs education and resiliency programs, and then role play ways to deliver powerful messages. Donielle Prince, ACEs Connection Network’s...

This interactive tool allows you to explore how changes to housing costs, minimum wage, and the social safety net could affect child poverty statewide and in your county. We find lower housing costs and minimum wage increases could lower child poverty substantially—while helping Californians across the income spectrum. And though investments in California’s safety net would need to draw from the state budget, these approaches could also reduce child poverty considerably—while concentrating...

When the scent of smoke from wildfires in the nearby hills began wafting through the San Diego air once again last week, residents in Scripps Ranch immediately thought back to 2003, when hundreds of homes burned to the ground. Now, every time a fire gets within 100 miles — as it did again this week — residents ready a box with important documents, bottles of medication and copies of treasured photographs. They once again found themselves glued to the news, watching with the knowing sorrow...

Gov. Jerry Brown warned that the state’s fire seasons will continue to get longer and more volatile, and called for a global fight against climate change after visiting devastated parts of Ventura County on Saturday morning. “This is the new normal,” Brown said, in a news conference after his tour. “We’re facing a new reality where fires threaten peoples’ lives, their properties, their neighborhoods and cost billions and billions of dollars. We have to have the resources to combat the fires,...

Ronald Epstein MD -- family physician, teacher, researcher and writer -- has devoted his career to understanding and improving patient-physician communication, quality of care and clinician mindfulness. Dr. Epstein has conducted groundbreaking research into communication in medical settings and developed innovative educational programs that promote mindfulness, communication and self-awareness. Dr. Epstein directs the Center for Communication and Disparities Research and co-directs the Deans...

A food recovery model now being eyed by neighboring counties was refined through the work of a lifelong Orange resident – whose experience as a restaurateur opened the door to turning millions of pounds of excess food into meals for the hungry. This year, nearly 11.5 million pounds of excess food in Orange County, normally headed toward the garbage bin, went instead to help those struggling with food insecurity, thanks to a model developed by the Waste Not OC Coalition and refined by its...

Don’t be fooled by California’s increasing diversity. Racial and ethnic inequity remains a key problem and a potential barrier to future growth, according to Race Counts, a new Web tool that measures racial and ethnic disparities in the state’s 58 counties. Marin County, for example — one of the wealthiest and most socially progressive communities in America — ranks dead last when it comes to racial inequities in several key factors, according to the data. Likewise, the four county Southern...

A new strategy of alternatives to incarcerating Californians with mental health needs has been released as part of the work to help counties develop more effective criminal justice systems. After an 18-month review, the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission (MHSOAC) this month released “Together We Can: Reducing Criminal Justice Involvement for People with Mental Illness,” a roadmap to address this complex and growing issue in California. The recommendations in the...

A new law in California allows women to pick up birth control pills from pharmacies without a doctor's prescription. But more than a year after the law took effect, women say they're still struggling to get the medicines, in part because they can't find pharmacies offering them. A study released Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. found that only 11% of pharmacies in the state are dispensing hormonal birth control to women without prescriptions. Pharmacists don't have to...