The third annual Racial Truth & Reconciliation Week begins today! The mission of RTRW is to empower the voices and experiences of marginalized communities in acknowledgement of truth to promote healing, reconciliation, and justice. This year, we celebrate good troublemaking and young changemakers. Head to the Voices website to register for workshops, view the full schedule of events, presentation descriptions, presenter bios, and more! Even if you can't make a workshop, registration will...

"A healed society would be one in which no one becomes the bearer of unjust hardship, where individuals don’t bear the weight of systemic failures. There is a degree of loss and pain that is a part of the human experience, but we can heal our relations to each other to move toward a reality in which no one is given a life that only produces trauma and suffering." Read more from adrienne maree brown on love as accountability . Head to the Voices website to register for free workshops and...

Disability justice organizers have developed tremendous knowledge and creative approaches to care, safety, and preventing and stopping violence. How do disability justice strategies and knowledge inform transformative justice practices? In this video, disability justice and transformative justice organizers Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarsinha and Elliott Fukui explore some of the intersections of these movements. VA TICNs Annual Survey Please take a moment to fill out the annual VA TICNs survey...

June is Pride Month! LGBTQ+ advocacy and crisis support organization The Trevor Project released its latest research into the mental health of LBGTQ+ youth, a survey of 34,000 young people ages 13-24. The report is a revealing portrait of how LGBTQ+ youth are dealing with legislative attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the importance of social support and affirmation. Find additional resources on the NCTSN website . Celebrating Juneteenth in Virginia There are lots of Juneteenth...

The third annual Resilience Week VA is fast approaching! No celebration of resilience is too big or too small. Take a moment during the week for self and/or community care. This Jamboard put together by folks from across VA has lots of ideas - feel free to add yours! Click the image above to download it as a larger slide you can share with your networks. You can also download a simple Resilience Week one-pager with general info to share. These resources and more are available on the...

Apply for FACT's 35th Anniversary Community Resilience Awards Awards of $350 are available to help support local community resilience activities led by TICNs throughout VA. Applications have been made simple and straightforward. Visit the FACT website for full details and to apply by January 31 ! Funds may be used during Resilience Week! General Assembly Updates from Voices for Virginia's Children Read about Voices' Youth Advocacy Day , efforts to increase language access and equity in...

September 15-October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month . View a collection of Hispanic and Latino Heritage Events in the Commonwealth via the Governor's website . You can read about the history of the month and the importance of considerations of language, equity and justice during this month and beyond, as well as peruse a collection of resources , on NPR. Longstanding racism and the harms caused by the COVID-19 pandemic create significant strains on mental wellbeing. The pandemic has...

Miss out on an event from Racial Truth & Reconciliation Week 2021? Check out the recordings for each day’s events in their Events Archive or on Voices for Virginia's Children's YouTube channel ! Trauma-Informed Return to School This month, students and teachers are returning to classrooms amid an ongoing pandemic. In this interview with Newsweek , Dr. Nadine Burke-Harris and other experts talk about the importance of acknowledging the trauma of the pandemic and how to help students and...

For the first time, state general funds are being allocated to the VA TICNs! " $1,000,000 [of American Rescue Plan funds] to the Department of Social Services for the Virginia Trauma-Informed Community Network (TICN) to provide a community awareness campaign, education, professional development, mini grants, and other initiatives to support existing networks. " We will continue to share information about this exciting news as we receive it! The website for Virginia's 2nd annual Racial Truth...

"Prioritizing healing and trauma-informed policy is a commitment to restoring and healing the soul of our nation and our communities. Only when our policies and budgets are driven by compassion and center the experiences of those closest to the pain, will we finally live up to the promise of a government for the people, and by the people." - " From This Year Of Hurt And Beyond, There Is Hope " by U.S. Representative Ayanna Presley Young Black Athletes Are Launching a Mental Health Revolution...

There's a new webpage for the VA TICNs ! You can find a PDF of the full list of networks, an interactive map, the eNote archive, resources, and more. We will continue to update and add to the page and ask that you please share any resources, updated information, or additional info! -send to ceure@grscan.com or mmcginn@grscan.com- Advocacy Opportunity! The RISE From Trauma Act provides a unique opportunity to help launch a new federal grant program of up to $4.8 billion over eight years ($600...

"The pandemic has upended the meaning of authenticity in my life and has made me reconsider my own resilience in the face of hardship. ...Every day I wake up and I choose to reimagine and shape what future worlds will look like. I don’t want a new normal; I want a new era." Read more from disability justice advocate Bri M . and check out Power Not Pity , a podcast that centers and celebrates the lived experiences of disabled people of color. “People put their heads down and do what they have...