Blog

Note new time for Friday, May 8 Better Normal discussion on systems transformation. We will meet from 1:00-2:00 and hear from RYSE Associate Director, Kanwarpal Dhaliwal, about the rapid emergency community response initiative, West Contra Costa Covid Community Care.

African American community leaders in Sacramento ask city and county leaders to respond proactively to prevent health disparities in Covid19 infection, disability and death in the African American community.

In the thirteenth installation of the " A Better Normal " community discussion series, ACEs Connection facilitated a conversation focused on health inequity as it pertains to the COVID-19 pandemic . This discussion featured myself and ACEs Connection member Joshunda Sanders and highlighted the role of racism, historical trauma and poverty when it comes to the impact of this pandemic on African Americans and other vulnerable populations. In this session our guests were Sarah Bounse with...

By April Simpson, April 18, 2020, PEW Trust Black women are two to three times more likely to die from causes related to pregnancy than white women, regardless of income or education. Black midwives could be part of the solution, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, but restrictions on midwifery make it difficult to practice in many states. Pregnant women in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi have been calling nonstop to CHOICES Midwifery Practice in Memphis, but the center is...

By Xenia Shih Bion, California Health Care Foundation, April 20, 2020 Latoyha Young had a birth plan. She was going to have the baby in Sacramento with community doula Joy Dean by her side. Dean was funded by the county’s Black Child Legacy Campaign , which works to reduce the disproportional number of Black infant and child deaths in Sacramento. But in mid-March, when Young went into labor just as Governor Gavin Newsom ordered Californians to stay at home to avoid spreading the novel...

In the seventh installation of the " A Better Normal " community discussion series, ACEs Connection facilitated a conversation focused on health inequity as it pertains to the COVID-19 pandemic . This discussion featured myself and ACEs Connection member Joshunda Sanders and highlighted the role of racism, historical trauma and poverty when it comes to the impact of this pandemic on African Americans and other vulnerable populations.

Dr. Nadine Burke-Harris joined Gov. Newsom for the first time last week to announce a number of actions leaders have taken to address the pandemic. By Genoa Barrow, Sacramento Observer, April 17, 2020 As a pandemic sheds a spotlight on long-standing health inequities for African Americans, California’s surgeon general looks to find lasting solutions. Dr. Nadine Burke-Harris was named to the new position created by Gov. Gavin Newsom in January 2019. She is an African American pediatrician,...

“ Surviving is important but thriving is elegant” Maya Angelou In my series of blogs raising awareness on childhood trauma, I will tackle intergenerational trauma. I had scheduled to write and post this some weeks ago but the Coronavirus pandemic sent me into a disregulated and anxious state like many of you. I was reflecting the other day that it is the first time the whole of humanity is facing the same threat, I hope it makes us look inside of us and connect more with ourselves and the...

You are extraordinary. Writing this post feels like I have come full circle. In April of 2019, Alfred White reached out to me on ACEs Connection. Shortly after, we spoke at length about the plans he had to create a place of healing and hope in Federal Way and King County, Washington, specifically for individuals with a history of trauma and who were now impacted with symptoms such as addiction and homelessness. I recall sharing with Alfred that there was such a need for this in that...

By Andrea Y Henderson, March 13, 2020, STL Public Radio For decades, white women have been the face of yoga across the nation. But inside a yoga studio in Old North St. Louis, the atmosphere is worlds apart. At the Collective STL , yoga is taught by black instructors and the floor is filled with black educators and other professionals, community activists and students — many of whom are there to release the stress of trauma, family struggles and depression. To read the full story click here:...

From Race Forward, March 27, 2020 As the coronavirus spreads and a public health emergency intensifies, Race Forward calls on local and state governments and those who are doing emergency planning to pay special attention to the impact that this disease and the response to its spread may have on people and communities of color. We call for an approach that provides accurate information and advances practices and policies based in science, and that ensures compassionate and comprehensive...

Please welcome these two new communities to ACEs Connection . ACEs & African Americans ACEs Connection at Boston University School of Public Health (MA) ACEs & African Americans This group is focused on the descendants of Africans dispersed throughout the Americas during the Transatlantic Slave Trades. Topics include adverse childhood experiences, historical trauma, intergenerational transmission of trauma, African American parenting practices, health disparities, the effects of...