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District finds that creating more trauma-informed schools requires a change of culture [thenotebook.org]

Caitlin O'Brien | Tuesday, February 18, 2020 - 5:01pm

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“The world of thinking about trauma, the importance of school climate and social-emotional learning is 20, 30, 40 years behind the world of instruction." Joanna Schwartz, a 2nd-grade teacher at Eliza B. Kirkbride Elementary School, was about to take a scheduled break and desperately needed a place to have peace and quiet. But the only place she could find was a broom closet. A few years earlier, in another school, Schwartz said teachers were baffled by a 3rd grader who continually fell...

Mental Health Happy Hour

Aviva Perlo, MSW | Thursday, January 30, 2020 - 9:44am

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This is a good story about mental health. Let’s say a bunch of social workers, nurses, trauma specialists, philanthropists, non-profit professionals, writers, EMTs, and data crunchers walk into a bar. Knock knock, no joke, this actually happened in December 2019. Mental health professionals begin to schmooze over spinach mushroom rolls, cheese and hummus platters, and ginger brew. Sounds good right. There’s so many reasons to luv Philly. The event was sponsored by the Scattergood Foundation...

Aviva Perlo, MSW | Thursday, January 30, 2020 - 9:37am

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An onslaught of violence begs the question: What makes us safe? Should we run and hide, should we become heavily armed, should we only speak with people who look like us? It would be easy to frame recent hate crimes in Monsey , Pittsburgh , and San Diego solely as anti-Semitic. It is that and more. Hateful attacks against Jews indicate a “rot in democracy” and call for systemic reform, according to History Professor Dr. Deborah Lipstadt. I began thinking about safety over 25 years ago when a...

Casey Chanton | Thursday, January 9, 2020 - 9:43am

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The Drexel University Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice is currently seeking applicants for our 9-week Community Health Worker Peer (CHWP)/Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) Training Academy. This program, sponsored by a grant from the Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime, is designed to train men, ages 18-30, who have lived experience of violence to become Community Health Workers / Certified Peer Specialists. The basic requirements for eligibility for this training are:...

Caitlin O'Brien | Wednesday, December 4, 2019 - 8:57am

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On an afternoon in October, kids in the Sunrise of Philadelphia after-school program made tissue-paper marigolds, assembled little altars and created masks. It was the Day of the Dead celebration held by Sunrise partner, Fleisher Art Memorial . They wrote poems about people who were no longer with them, either lost to death or simply separated across distance — a possibility in this largely immigrant and refugee community. The activity gave them a chance to explore loss and sadness, which —...

Caitlin O'Brien | Monday, December 2, 2019 - 11:25am

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Robert Warner and his crew don’t have medical degrees. But in the midst of Philadelphia’s gun violence epidemic, they are in the business of saving lives. Day or night, Warner and his outreach workers are on North Philly streets mediating disputes, organizing basketball games between youth factions, dissuading folks from violence, and helping young people find jobs. When someone gets shot, they’re in the hospital, helping the victim’s family, and on the street, preventing retaliation. “I...

Caitlin O'Brien | Monday, October 7, 2019 - 9:38am

Robert Mayweather wasn’t pressed to find a job Thursday night at the YMCA in West Philadelphia. However, he’s glad he satisfied his curiosity to “see what was going on.” Mayweather was one of a few hundred people who passed through the doors of the YMCA for the District Attorney’s Office’s One-Stop Job and Resources Hub. The hub opens up on the first Thursday of each month, in a different neighborhood each time. The goal of the event is to connect city residents in under-served neighborhoods...

Caitlin O'Brien | Thursday, September 26, 2019 - 3:30pm

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Philadelphia’s poverty rate, a stark and stubborn indicator of hard times that has long hindered the city’s reputation, dropped to its lowest level since 2008 — near the start of the recession. At the same time, median household income here rose. The findings, contained in a voluminous report from the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday, showed that the city’s poverty rate declined from 25.7% in 2016 to 24.5% in 2018. The number of Philadelphia residents living in poverty dropped by 14,537...

Caitlin O'Brien | Monday, September 9, 2019 - 9:16am

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The case for a children’s czar in Philadelphia. This summer, the Scattergood Foundation — a behavioral health nonprofit — partnered with data analytics firm Azavea to produce a report on the well-being of children in Philadelphia. The project used a raft of public data to map risk factors that affect the city’s kids — exposure to shootings, family poverty, and educational attainment, for example — as well as the quality of local “assets” that help mitigate those risk factors, like schools,...

Caitlin O'Brien | Friday, June 21, 2019 - 1:38pm

PHILADELPHIA — Forty-seven community-based organizations in Philadelphia that offer violence prevention services and support were given each a cut of more than $700,000 awarded by the city. Efforts being funded include job training in areas such as culinary arts, barbershops, and entreneurship; "Peace Pop Up Shops" that offer trauma-informed care for those affected by violence; grief support programming for impacted families; and training for young adults to become "Peace Ambassadors" in...

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