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A harsh light is cast these days on what divides us. But Americans fundamentally agree on many things. Perhaps first and foremost: that all of our kids deserve a shot at achieving the American Dream. Two organizations not known for shared ideology — the conservative American Enterprise Institute and the progressive Brookings Institution — recently laid out a blueprint for action to make sure that the opportunity to succeed is not just a dream for some but a reality for all. It's called...

A few months ago, not long after I announced that 2017 would be the year I would step down as president and CEO of this remarkable organization, I experienced a deeply moving and defining moment. It happened during our annual Culture of Health Prize celebration, when the Foundation honors the men and women of communities across the nation who are working to make their towns, their tribes, their cities, and their neighborhoods as healthy as they can be. These are people who are passionate...

In Albany, trauma-informed policy change means working from the top down as well as the bottom up. After years of advocacy from HEARTS (Healthy Environments and Relationships That Support), along with trainings for the state’s Department of Health conducted by one of the network’s leaders, New York agreed in December 2015 to add questions about ACEs to its Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey. “That’s huge, because policy-makers look at that data and use it to make...

The Iowa ACEs Policy Coalition continued its legislative advocacy this week at the Iowa Capitol. As elected officials shift their focus to the appropriations process, advocates emphasized the importance of two key priorities that will be addressed through funding legislation: Statewide expansion of the 1st Five Healthy Development Initiative Advancement of the Mental Health Workgroup's recommendations More than 25 advocates joined small group meetings with key legislative leaders on these...

A scientist at Harvard Medical School planned to keep on collaborating with Iranian academics on HIV/AIDS research. Scholars at Columbia Law School’s human rights clinic wanted to study the impact of armed conflict on the mental health of people in Yemen, a country in the midst of a deadly civil war . And thousands of students from Muslim-majority countries hoped to attend American universities. When President Donald Trump signed a temporary ban on travel from seven countries in January, all...

The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health invites eligible organizations in Texas to respond to this request for proposals (RFP) to identify and build on resources that improve academic achievement through mental health. The goals of this initiative are to improve academic achievement and mental wellness in educational settings through culturally and linguistically appropriate mental health supports and interventions. Depending on the quality of proposals received, the foundation plans to award...

Of the men and women completing a survey of mental health issues in rural Scotland 67 per cent reported suffering depression, 22 per cent admitted to suicidal thoughts and feelings, while of the 12 per cent describing self-harming behaviour the majority were under 24 years old. These were some of the preliminary findings described to this week's meetings of the National Rural Mental Health Forum, and the Scottish Parliament 's Cross Party Group on Rural Policy, by Professor Sarah Skerratt...

I love t his essay by Rebecca Solnit and while it's about the silencing of women, mainly, it's applicable to so many kinds of silence and silencing. One of the reasons I love this network is because it is one of the few places where parents, academics, policy makers and individuals getting and/or providing services are all gathered together and sharing ideas, questions and resources and sharing this cyber space and community. It's so rare. Together, sharing stories and statistics. research...

Angus Deaton studies the grand questions not just of economics but of life. What makes people happy? How should we measure well-being? Should countries give foreign aid? What can and should experiments do? Is inequality increasing or decreasing? Is the world getting better or worse? Better, he believes, truly better. But not everywhere or for everyone. This week, in a speech at a conference held by the National Association for Business Economics, Deaton, the Nobel laureate and emeritus...

Is your baby eating enough, babbling enough, and what does it mean if she still hasn't rolled over when all the other babies in your play group have? New parents spend plenty of time worrying and waiting for milestones to be met. Now to add to the list, a study suggests that behind those sweet, gummy smiles, depression and anxiety may already be lurking. A recent study out of Washington University School of Medicine found there are patterns present in the brain from birth in some children...

Defending children from deportation Alexandra Rizio has long fought for refugees in her professional life, starting as a volunteer with the Refugee and Immigrant Fund in Queens, New York. Today, she is a senior staff attorney at Safe Passage Project, where she also serves as co-coordinator of the Unaccompanied Latin American Minor Project (ULAMP), a collaboration with City University of New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice that provides pro bono legal assistance to children in...

This post originally appeared at National Lawyers Guild . In recent weeks, multiple articles have pointed to the wave of new anti-protesting bills introduced in state legislatures since the end of 2016. The Intercept , The Washington Post , AlterNet , Democracy Now! and other news outlets have provided overviews of the types of bills under consideration, the potential chilling effect on protests and the unconstitutional nature of these measures. Because NLG has a long history of protecting...