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Update : Passed by the House and now headed to the Senate next. Delegate Lashrecse Aird has introduced House Joint Resolution No. 537, a resolution to declare racism as a public health crisis in Virginia. The American Public Health Association defines racism as a social system with multiple complex dimensions, including internalized or interpersonal individual racism and institutional or structural systemic racism, which unfairly disadvantages some individuals and communities, and unfairly...

By Patrick Sisson, January 19, 2021 for Bloomberg El Camino Real is a 600-mile historic thoroughfare that once linked Spanish missions in California, running from San Francisco to San Diego. Between Daly City and San Jose, the road is a nearly 45-mile corridor of suburban offices, fast-food outlets, auto parts stores, and other businesses slicing through Silicon Valley, tying together some of the nation’s priciest residential neighborhoods. Like so many other shopping-center laden strips of...

By Kriston Capps , January 27, 2021 for Bloomberg President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Jan. 27 directing his administration to end policies that enable discrimination in housing and lending, and acknowledging the federal government’s role in erecting systemic barriers to fair housing. It’s a blueprint for an agenda aimed at swiftly undoing the controversial efforts of his predecessor . With the new directives and several recent agency appointments, the full parameters of the new...

By Christopher Marquis on October 6th, 2020 for Forbes From its start as an egg business with 20 hens on a small 27-acre plot of land in 2007 to its current-day network of 200 small family farm partners, Vital Farms, an ethical food company, has maintained its commitment to sustainability and ethics. The company’s attention-grabbing IPO this year — raising $200 million in capital — is the latest step in its growth journey, positioning the Certified B Corporation as an example of a business...

By Western Youth Services , January 27, 2021 In response to the disruption that COVID-19 has brought to homes and schools, Western Youth Services (WYS) announced the RESET Toolbox, a collection of resources and trainings to build resilience in children and teens. WYS collaborated with several organizations, most notably Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) and Orange County Department of Education (OCDE) to pool their knowledge base, relationships and resources into one online mental...

In this episode of "Delusional Optimism," Dr. B highlights the importance of taking care of ourselves, and of cultivating that practice in children. She also explains the neuroscience around empathy and compassion while addressing racial disparities in healthcare. Listen to how you can take a better care of yourself and the people around you without the risks of over-empathizing. “We know that Covid-19 disproportionately impacts communities of color. Racism is alive and well, not only in our...

In 2018, I to introduced to heart rate variability in a series with Curt Mower and Dr. Jerry Yager on the Trauma-Informed Lens Podcast. At the beginning of the series, I had barely heard of HRV, by the end, I believed HRV was the best way to measure post-traumatic growth, the impact of trauma, the health of staff, and organizational wellness. These podcasts motivated me to write a book, start companies on two continents, and create a smartphone app designed for those doing trauma-informed...

Recently we have been discussing the twenty-four most common symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). We’ve discovered in pieces one and two in this series how people living with the aftereffects of severe repeated trauma often experience sleep disturbances, flashbacks, and other problems. Recapping What We Have Covered As we have already learned, there are dozens of symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress disorder listed online and there may be more. However, for the...

Organizations often see measurement and program evaluation as a luxury or something extra to do - they'll do it if they have extra cash or if it's required by a grant or a change package they purchase. It’s viewed as something that will tell them at the end whether the intervention moved the needle. What they fail to recognize is that the process of measurement is an intervention in and of itself and it can drive the change process... Read More

By Padma Nagappan, California Health Care Foundation, January 19, 2021 Lupita was six months pregnant with triplets when her water broke. The quiet 36-year-old farmworker suddenly had to leave her four children and enter Bakersfield Memorial Hospital for three months so doctors could watch over her during an unpredictable third trimester. She had recently separated from her husband, so her 17-year-old was tasked with taking care of his younger siblings until she returned from the hospital.

By Michael Burke, EdSource, January 25, 2021 With a multilayered approach to detect and prevent the spread of Covid-19, campus leaders at the University of California, San Diego say they have created something rare in higher education this year: a safe on-campus experience for thousands of students. Even with Covid-19 spreading rapidly in Southern California, about 10,000 students are living on UC San Diego’s La Jolla campus this year. After avoiding any significant Covid-19 outbreaks during...

By Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, January 20, 2021 T hey could be real-estate agents or police officers, bakers or firefighters, veterans of American wars or CEOs of American companies. They might live in Boise or Dallas, College Park or College Station, Sacramento or Delray Beach. Some are wealthy. Some are not. Relatively few of them were at the United States Capitol on January 6, determined to stop Congress from certifying a legitimate election. Millions more cheered the rioters on—and...