In case you didn’t see the announcement, Prevent Child Abuse America's back-to-school campaign launched this month. We are encouraging people to go to https://share.preventchildabuse.org/ to add their photo and show how they are growing a better tomorrow for all children. You’ll have the option to leave the default caption or add your own content. After the photo and caption are added you can easily share it on any social platform and get your network to do the same. This campaign will run...

We are now accepting proposals for presentations through May 15th for "Transforming Our Tomorrow: 2021 Prevent Child Abuse America Virtual Conference." Our goal is to continually dedicate resources and implement changes in an equitable manner by providing all children and families with equal opportunity for healthy growth and development and allow all families to thrive. We encourage all presenters to consider the implications of their work for promoting equity and social justice. Important...

While Americans agree that child abuse and neglect is unacceptable and are more likely than ever to consider child development an important policy issue, it can be difficult to build the public understanding and political will we need to effectively prevent, identify, and address childhood adversity. As communicators, we still encounter persistent dilemmas in deciding what to say, how to say it, and what to leave unsaid. Understanding the need for fresh, powerful framing strategies, Prevent...

Excelerator: A Community in Action is the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities brand new, reimagined fall experience for learning, networking, and entertainment, starting October 19. This is a completely virtual experience that will provide a space for exchanging ideas, collaborating on solutions, and of course, having fun. Explore the program to discover courses and events that will be available through the online, interactive community, VeloCity. Here, participants will come...

Since 2014, the Caminos program at the Board of Child Care (BCC) in Baltimore has helped unaccompanied immigrant youth overcome the trauma they face when coming to the U.S. alone. Often fleeing environments where they have experienced extreme poverty, abuse and neglect, persecution, and the impact of horrific gang violence, these young people have already been exposed to significant and acute adversity and trauma. The disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been significant for...

As we navigate the effects of a global pandemic and economic recession, we have the opportunity to rethink the ways we provide services and supports to children and families before they find themselves in crisis. Essential to this new thinking is the realignment of our systems to make them more prevention-oriented, integrated, science-informed, and equitable, and thereby better meeting the needs of children and families, not just during this pandemic, but into the future. Creating a...

June is normally a time for celebration among the LGBTQ community. But in the age of COVID, there will be no Pride parades, parties, or other personal gatherings with our friends and loved ones. Instead we must consider other ways to celebrate our history and shared experiences. As our nation joins voices together in condemnation of the systemic racism that led to the death of George Floyd, it is also important to hearken back to the prejudices of 50 years ago that launched the gay pride...

South Carolina and Wisconsin’s optional ACE Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) module and the supplemental ACE questionnaires provided a unique opportunity to examine the relationship among ACEs, extreme childhood poverty and mental and physical health in adulthood, as poverty is not included as an ACE in BRFSS ACE module. This study used the 2014 Wisconsin BRFSS and the 2016 South Carolina BRFSS to (1) assess the prevalence of ACEs and poverty and (2) examine the association...

The current global pandemic and associated economic crisis is shining a spotlight on the stresses and resiliency of families and some of the fundamental flaws in the U.S. child welfare system. Many of these have been obvious to child welfare leaders and professionals for decades but change doesn’t come easy to this reactive, antiquated system. Now, as we struggle through circumstances and challenges of unprecedented proportions, our systems and leaders must be nimble and creative in ensuring...

The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities will be launching a monthly e-newsletter at the end of June. You can now subscribe online . Created for policymakers, practitioners, and advocates, this e-newsletter will delve into the public health approach to child welfare transformation. We’ll feature innovative efforts being led around the country to bend the arc of policy and practice toward prevention so that all families can thrive. We encourage you to sign up and share with your...

Three Change in Mind partners (The Family Partnership, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, and Children & Families First in Delaware) were just recognized in an article about TFP’s Executive Functioning Across Generations. Reflection Sciences is the developer of the Minnesota Executive Function Scale, the best tool out there for measuring EF in kids. Here’s the link: ...

Blog by Michelle Hinton, Undraye Howard, and Jennifer Jones Since COVID-19 hit the United States, so many families, communities, and organizations have come together to support each other and share the universal message that we are all in this together. But the reality is, our African American neighbors are being disproportionately impacted by this virus. Inequities that are experienced through lack of access and opportunity have existed in our country for hundreds of years and have always...

Please remember to join us this Friday, April 17th at 11:30 AM (central) for the second in our self-care webinar series. The Change in Mind Institute is hosting a weekly webinar series on self-care. The series runs on Friday at 11:30 AM (central) and will be held every Friday at the same time through June 26 th . They will last 20-30 minutes and provide you with practical ideas and concrete practices for keeping yourself in top condition for meeting the unprecedented demands of the times.

As part of their involvement with the Change in Mind Initiative, a project of the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities and the Palix Foundation in Alberta, CUPs reframed their entire organization’s theory of change to align with brain science research and developed an integrated care model for families and adults living in adverse conditions. The integrated care process is designed to build clients’ executive functioning by helping clients prioritize the problems to be addressed,...

The new podcast, More than Health Care: A Community Health Conversation is now available through the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities. Every other week a new episode will uncover keys to collaboration and holistic health in pursuit of improved health outcomes and lower costs for all. It discusses the latest on best practices, policy, and opportunities for integration and innovation. In the first episode, our cohosts interview Beth Babcock, president and CEO of Economic Mobility...

Health and Human Services Reporter, Mattie Quinn spoke with the Change in Mind Institute at the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities about childhood trauma, brain science and the Families First Prevention Services Act. Here's her article... ...

New York Life Insurance Company and the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities today announced the launch of a new grant program to support children, adults, families, and communities experiencing trauma resulting from natural disaster or community-wide tragedy. The partnership will serve as the first-ever disaster-focused grant for the New York Life Foundation, the charitable arm of the company. The program, Building Resilience in the Face of Disaster, will fund and administer efforts...

By Jennifer Jones, director of the Alliance’s Change in Mind Institute Brain science research will come to prime time during a 60 Minutes segment this Sunday at 6 p.m. CT. Reported by Oprah Winfrey, the story will discuss the prevalence and impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and efforts to build resilience through trauma-informed care. Focusing on Milwaukee, Oprah’s hometown, the episode will feature Alliance for Strong Families and Communities member SaintA. Those of us who have...

New briefs show impact of intentionally embedding brain science Briefs feature lessons learned, site-specific examples Through the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities' two-year Change in Mind initiative, a cohort of 10 U.S. and five Canadian organizations have demonstrated the impact of intentionally infusing brain science and evidence into programs and organizations. It also has identified new insights into the longer-term opportunities and challenges of facilitating and...

My first thought when I saw the headline “Chicago Police Department announces plan to hire nearly 1,000 new officers” on the WLS-TV website was, “Is it really more police officers that we need on our streets?” The mayor of Chicago recently announced the city will hire 1,000 more police officers over the next two years to combat violence, in particular gun violence in its urban core. Though police officers are critical to a neighborhood and city’s sense of safety, I would argue that more cops...