On May 13, 2020, the California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative held a webinar entitled, “Health Equity and COVID-19: Opportunities to Improve Child Wellbeing through Policy” and heard from special guest speaker, Dr. Flojaune Cofer, Senior Director of Policy with the All Children Thrive (ACT) California project . This interactive webinar examined what success could look like to address COVID-19 by describing equity concerns arising for children and families that have been...

On April 29, 2020, the California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative held a webinar entitled, “Trauma-Informed Care/Practices in Light of COVID-19: Applying Lessons Learned from Child-Serving Systems” and heard from special guest speaker, Dr. Melissa Bernstein, an Implementation Specialist with the Advancing California’s Trauma-Informed Systems (ACTS) Initiative . Dr. Bernstein shared considerations for practical application of key trauma-informed elements put into practice through...

Our next COVID-19 "Better Normal" community discussion is Thursday, April 2, with Vic Compher and Rodney Whittenberg, producers of CAREGIVERS (Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion, Their Pain). These wonderful folks are bringing an entire team of people from the secondary traumatic stress committees from the Philadelphia ACE Task Force (PATF).

By Chloe Yang, 5/26/20, positiveexperience.org Last Monday, Dr. Robert Sege was invited by the Maine Resilience Building Network (MRBN) to speak about HOPE and Positive Childhood Experiences during an interactive webinar. Usually an in-person meeting, the gathering attracted nearly 300 virtual participants. Our Zoom screens were tiled with pages and pages of faces, front-line workers across Maine who continue to serve families during this time. Among the audience were teachers, social...

On June 16, 2020, the California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative held a webinar entitled, “Fostering HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences) during COVID-19" and heard from special guest speakers, Drs. Robert Sege and Dina Burstein from the HOPE Project at Tufts Medical Center . Drs. Sege and Burstein presented research and data supporting the benefits and importance of Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs), background on the HOPE Project, and the relevance to ACEs...

On June 11, 2020, the California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative held a webinar entitled, “California’s Budget & Legislative Landscape Impact of a Pandemic on Child Wellbeing” and heard from special guest speaker, Kelly Hardy, Senior Managing Director of Health & Research for Children Now . This interactive webinar provided an overview of the current legislative and budget situation in California, with a focus on child wellbeing. The state has quickly moved from an expected...

On July 15, 2020, the California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative held a webinar entitled, “Essentials for Childhood Initiative Webinar: OCAP 2020-2025 Strategic Plan” and heard from Angela Ponivas, Bureau Chief at the Office of Child Abuse Prevention (OCAP) at the California Department of Social Services (CDSS). The OCAP, a backbone agency in the Essentials for Childhood Initiative, works collaboratively with partners at the federal, state, and county- level with communities,...

Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic: One-Pager

November 17th and 18th, 2020 Early-Bird registration prices have been extended until October 6. Please see the attachment for more information about the conference.

On January 20, 2021 the California Department of Public Health, Injury and Violence Prevention Branch (CDPH/IVPB) and the C alifornia Department of Social Services, Office of Child Abuse Prevention (CDSS/OCAP)’s , Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative hosted a webinar entitled, “Creating Compelling Messaging with ACEs Data”. This webinar featured presentations from Shaddai Martinez Cuestas, MPH, Strategic Communications Specialist at Berkeley Media Studies Group ; Donielle Prince, Ph.D,...

On behalf of the CDSS FURS Implementation Team The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) is proud to announce the launch of: Family Urgent Response System (FURS) MARCH 1, 2021 at 8:00 a.m. FURS includes a 24/7 Statewide Hotline and a 24/7 County-based Mobile Response and Stabilization !! FURS will provide current and former foster youth (up to age 21) and their caregivers with immediate, trauma-informed support by caring and trained professionals when they need it. FURS is intended...

The Essentials for Childhood Initiative is pleased to share the Building Synergy and Connections Across the Essentials for Childhood Initiative Convening Summary and Presentation Slides. The Convening Summary contains a detailed overview of the information shared and the feedback provided by the participants during the convening. You will find these documents attached below. The EfC Initiative team appreciates the speakers and coalition chairs that served as panelists and the attendees who...

On April 29, 2021, the California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative held a webinar entitled, “Family Experiences During COVID-19 Pandemic Data.” The purpose of this webinar was to share findings from wave 1 of the Family Experiences During COVID-19 Pandemic Questionnaire that was administered in November 2020. Drs. Robert Sege from the HOPE Project at Tufts Medical Center and Lori Turk-Bicakci from the KidsData program at PRB provided an overview of the questionnaire, summarized...

The California Department of Public Health, Injury and Prevention Branch (CDPH/IVPB) and the California Department of Social Service, Office of Child Abuse Prevention’s (CDSS/OCAP) , Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative , ACEs Connection , and the Yolo County Children’s Alliance have co-created a newly developed resource, “Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic” in both English and Spanish. This material is intended for Californian families experiencing the severe economic...

English: The California Department of Public Health, Injury and Prevention Branch (CDPH/IVPB) and the California Department of Social Service, Office of Child Abuse Prevention’s (CDSS/OCAP) , Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative , ACEs Connection , and the Yolo County Children’s Alliance co-created “Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic” in both English and Spanish. This material is intended for Californian families experiencing the severe economic consequences resulting from...

The CDPH Injury and Violence Prevention Branch ’s California Violent Death Reporting System (CalVDRS) Project has released four new injury data briefs and an infographic on suicide, homicide, firearm-related deaths, and violent deaths involving multiple victims using data from 2018. These briefs summarize vital statistics data as well as supplemental data from coroner/medical examiner and law enforcement reports to identify trends and circumstances in violent deaths in California. These...

The Essentials for Childhood Initiative is pleased to share the “ Building Partnerships to Strengthen California’s Families” Convening Summary and Presentation Slides that supported the event that took place on November 3, 2021. The Convening Summary contains a detailed overview of the information shared and the feedback provided by the participants during the convening. You will find these documents attached below. To view the recording, please access the video at this link and use...

The Essentials for Childhood Initiative is pleased to share the “ Child Wellbeing During the Pandemic Webinar” Presentation Slides and recording that supported the event that took place on November 18, 2021. The purpose of this webinar was to increase understanding of child well-being during the pandemic, share where to access the “Family Experiences During COVID-19 Questionnaire” data, and support participants to learn about a school-based approach to address child health and well-being...

Health in All Policies and the Essentials for Childhood Initiative would like thank all attendees’ participation in the collaborative virtual meeting series entitled, “Envisioning a Trauma-Informed, Healing-Centered, and Resilient California: Supporting State Government Efforts to Move toward Recovery” that took place on Monday, December 13 , 2021 from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM. The meeting minutes and slides from this event are attached below for your review. The purpose of this formative event was...