Blog

By Matt Barnum, Photo: Youngrae Kim, Chalkbeat, November 15, 2021 Earlier this year, Congress decided to try a remarkably straightforward approach to reduce child poverty: give their families more money. As part of the Biden-backed American Rescue Plan, Congress expanded the child tax credit, which provides cash benefits to most households with children, including some of the country’s poorest families. The IRS has been distributing that money monthly since July. How well has it worked?

By Jonathan Levine, Photo: Glasswing International, Stanford Social Innovation Review, November 18, 2021 The Northern Triangle countries of Latin America are some of the most violent in the world. El Salvador and Honduras have ranked among the highest murder rates for years. It’s not only the gang violence we hear most about, but also domestic abuse and gender-based violence. And the trauma it leaves behind has a devastating effect on entire communities, from the hospital staff who treat...

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a life-altering condition that, according to the National Center for PTSD , affects approximately 8 out of every 100 people at some point in their lives. This article will uncover how, like complex post-traumatic stress disorder, the trauma that causes PTSD changes brain structures and how that affects the lives of those unfortunate enough to form it. A Brief Recap of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Our body cascades many chemical reactions during a...

By Guest Author, 11/18/21, positiveexperience.org/blog The HOPE Innovation Network (HIN) is recruiting for the second cohort. Applications are now being accepted until November 29 at midnight. What is HIN: The HOPE Innovation Network (HIN) is a group of child and family-serving organizations in diverse communities that are implementing the HOPE framework through a guided process. HIN participants will be joining the HOPE team in a paradigm shift from deficits-based services to...

This article was initially published in RACmonitor and appears with the publisher’s permission The country’s smallest hospitals continue to be in peril, as are the patients who rely on them. This issue continues to be the reality for rural health with major challenges for the patients and providers in those regions. 7.4% of babies born in the US are birthed at hospitals handling 10 to 500 births a year, or “low-volume” hospitals. In the context of our industry’s fiscal focus, that number...

By Josh Stearns and Teresa Gorman, Photo: Wichita Beacon, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, November 16, 2021 First the good news: Philanthropy is starting to respond to the demise of local journalism with the urgency it deserves. In the past few years, major national efforts, such as the American Journalism Project , Report for America , and NewsMatch have generated well over $200 million in philanthropic giving to news organizations across the United States. NewsMatch’s annual gift-matching...

By Megan Conn, Photo: St. Anne Institute, The Imprint, November 15, 2021 A cross New York state, the footprint of group homes for children in foster care has steadily shrunk or disappeared altogether. Back in 2013, the St. Anne Institute, a tidy three-story brick building in Albany, was home to as many as 88 teenage girls, but by last summer, the agency had cut its capacity to just 35. Last year, OLV Human Services closed two 8-bed group homes near Buffalo and downsized another. And Graham...

By Naomi Ishisaka, Photo: Alan Berner, The Seattle Times, November 15, 2021 Over the past few months, conventional wisdom has emerged asserting that the U.S. is experiencing a labor shortage. A headline in Fortune on Friday read , “Where are all the workers, and when are they coming back?” Countless articles have lamented the “great resignation” facing the U.S. workforce and theorized over the causes. Some attribute it to expanded pandemic unemployment benefits, but research does not bear...

By Meena Harris, Photo: iStock, November 15, 2021 Over the last year-and-a-half, as the coronavirus pandemic triggered school closures, haphazard virtual learning setups, and confusing safety guidelines, parents of school-age children have been driven to the brink — juggling their jobs with a full-time commitment to ensuring their kids are getting a safe, quality education. For parents of color, including myself, that health crisis has been compounded by a racial justice crisis. While we...

By Melissa Montalvo, Photo: Mike Blake: REUTERS, Cal Matters, November 12, 2021 Siete de cada 10 californianos dicen que la brecha entre ricos y pobres es cada vez mayor, según un estudio estatal lanzado el martes. La encuesta, realizada el mes pasado por el grupo de expertos no partidista, Instituto de Políticas Públicas de California , encuestó a 2,292 californianos adultos sobre sus opiniones sobre las perspectivas económicas del estado, la seguridad financiera, la seguridad laboral,...

By Ashley Gebb, Photo: Jason Halley/CSU Chico, Chico State Today, November 9, 2021 What will it take to shape the next generation of social workers, individuals poised to support communities who have experienced unimaginable disaster and trauma? Perhaps there is no university better suited to address this challenge than Chico State—or at least, that’s the premise of a new course in the School of Social Work. This summer, three professionals and educators came together to teach “Contemporary...

By Sarah Betancourt, Photo: Sarah Betancourt/GBH News, GBH News, November 16, 2021 After a high-speed car chase landed Joel in jail awaiting trial on an extensive list of charges — including carrying a loaded firearm without a license — the 22-year-old is working toward a new life. He was facing a minimum of ten years in prison when his lawyer presented him with an opportunity: plead guilty to the charges and join the Emerging Adult Court of Hope. It will take Joel about two years to...