All posts by careysipp

Trauma-informed policing: Learn how three highly experienced community leaders strengthen ties between police and community

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedbecky-haas, black-lives-matter, books, faith, fiction, george-flod, law-enforcement, life, mental-health, renee-wilson-simmons, tennesse-association-of-chiefs-of-policecareysipp

Carey Sipp 7/24/203:29 PM

ACEs initiative participants in communities where there is tension between the community and law enforcement will want to join Becky Haas in a compelling conversation on law enforcement, ACEs science, COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement and protests. Haas is a nationally recognized adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) science initiative builder and trainer. She and colleagues Renee Wilson-Simmons, the head of the ACE Awareness Foundation of Memphis, Tennessee, and Maggi Duncan, executive director of the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will share a vision of trauma-informed law enforcement and answer your questions on Friday, July 31 at noon PDT; 3 p.m. EDT.

Wilson-Simmons and Haas will discuss, among other topics, how parents are the key to preventing many ACEs, and give an in-depth look at the ACE Awareness Foundation’s signature program, Universal Parenting Places (UPP), where parents can receive professional counseling, information, and emotional support for family-related issues or concerns, no matter how small.

Haas and Duncan will discuss how their mutual passion to reduce childhood trauma has led to their work on behalf of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to launch, statewide, the Handle with Care (HWC) law, an innovative partnership with law enforcement and education.

In 2016, when Haas was working for the Johnson City Tennessee Police Department, staff was approached by HWC developer, Andrea Darr, about launching the program. Since Haas was simultaneously beginning to train her community about ACEs she knew that HWC was what they needed in her area of Tennessee, ravaged with opioid addiction, to help prevent trauma for children there.

Haas had started sharing ACEs science with her community shortly after learning about it in 2015. Getting the word about HWC was another step in a long path toward helping the state of Tennessee, and now communities throughout the United States, become more trauma-informed.

“When children have seen parents fighting, or acting out in other ways on drugs or alcohol, to the point that law enforcement comes to their home, these children are in no shape, emotionally, physically, or mentally, to perform at school the next day. This law helps prevent already traumatized kids from having to take tests or go through other stressors at school. There is little learning done when a child is not rested, fed, regulated, and connected to his or her teachers. This law is about not re-traumatizing already traumatized children, by forcing them to perform when they are wrung out and dysregulated,” Haas said.

“By having law enforcement communicating by email to the child’s school, with only the child’s name and the words ‘handle with care’ on the email, school administrators, teachers, and counselors now know to give a child who needs it some safe and nurturing space and time to rest and recover,” Haas said.

HWC was among many topics discussed when Haas and her partner in community building, Dr. Andrea Clements, a psychology professor at East Tennessee State University, hosted two governor’s wives, representatives from Tennessee and 20 other states at a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration forum (SAMHSA) forum in Johnson City in September 2018.

It was at that forum that several of Wilson-Simmons’ staff members from the ACE Awareness Foundation in Memphis shared about what they are doing with regard to the innovative UPP program, based on the work of international speaker Robin Karr-Morse, founder of “The Parenting Institute” based in Portland, Oregon.

Haas wanted to know more about this program with four sites in Memphis and one in Leland, Mississippi, and reached out to Wilson-Simmons.

During the webinar, Wilson-Simmons and Haas will discuss the work done by the ACE Awareness Foundation and the UPPs. She will also ask Wilson-Simmons to share the latest on the work the foundation is doing to develop a partnership with the City of Memphis to ensure that the city’s police officers and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) are aware of ACEs and the important work of the UPPs, and are prepared to share information about the UPPs and make informal referrals to the UPPs.

Webinar participants will also be invited to ask Wilson-Simmons questions about the origin of the partnership, and her advice on how such a partnership might be replicated.

Haas and Duncan met at the 2018 Tennessee Governor’s Summit, where Haas was speaking. Fellow Summit attendees from the Office of Criminal Justice Programs introduced the two women and Duncan, knowing of Haas’ work in crime reduction and with the Johnson City PD, she knew she wanted her assistance when the time came. Duncan and the TACP have been providing training on the West Virginia HWC model for a few years but now were ready to look at launching HWC throughout Tennessee and asked Haas to help train law enforcement. This program of the Tennessee Association of Police Chiefs was set to begin this past spring, but was tabled, for now, by COVID-19.

Today Haas consults with leaders in law enforcement, juvenile justice, corrections, education, healthcare, and communities of faith. Her work to help create groundbreaking programs, including Building Strong Brains Tennessee and the Building a Trauma Informed System of Care toolkit, has led her to speaking and meeting officials throughout the country.

Haas and Duncan say that during the webinar they will talk about how HWC is a good starting point for community sectors such as education, police, and child services to begin working together to the benefit of all. They will also

Discuss the importance of police understanding trauma/ACEs science
Share tools to help reduce trauma on-scene for children
Give examples of trauma-informed policing and officer self-care
Paint a picture of some solutions for what has been happening in policing for the last couple of months, since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, including the worldwide protests against police brutality and for defunding police forces
Do a reality check on the challenges of taking trauma-informed policies into a police department
Share the benefits of what an informed partnership between officers of the peace could mean for officers and communities

Click here to register for the Trauma-Informed Policing webinar.

https://us02web.zoom.us/meetin…lI2bOoTcbYkz8_tuS_y2

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IMG_0001: Renee' Wilson-Simmons, head of the ACE Awareness Foundation of Memphis, Tennessee

IMG_0280: Maggi Duncan, executive director, Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police

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Building a Trauma Informed System of Care Toolkit.pdf

Carey Smith Sipp

carey.pacescommunites@gmail.com

Tags: Becky Haas, Tennessee Association of Chiefs of polic, police chiefs, police, George Floyd, Protests, chiefs of police, Black Lives Matter, Building a Trauma Informed System of Car, law enforcement, ACEs Awareness Foundation, Strong Brains Tennessee

Baby courts: A proven approach to stop the multigenerational transmission of ACES in child welfare; new efforts to establish courts nationwide

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedbaby-courts, fiction, healing, infant-toddler-court, judge-lynn-tepper, mental-health, mimi-graham, parenting, traumacareysipp

Carey Sipp 7/31/203:20 PM

The organization Zero To Three estimates that in the U.S., a child is taken into the child welfare system every six seconds.

“Many of society’s most intractable problems can be traced back to childhood adversity. Being in the child welfare system increases the likelihood of more adversity and criminality. Baby court is a proven approach to healing the trauma of both child and parent, and breaking the cycle of maltreatment,” says Mimi Graham, Ed.D., director of the Florida State University Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy.

Join us for “A Better Normal” on Friday, Aug. 7 at noon PDT/3 p.m. EDT, when Graham will be talking about Florida’s Early Childhood Courts with Lynn Tepper, retired Early Childhood Court judge from Florida’s Sixth Judicial Circuit. This timely conversation happens as the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to learn more about Infant-Toddler Courts in the proposed new Strengthening America’s Families Act (SAFA).

“Healing parent and early childhood trauma has many benefits across the lifespan,” Graham says. “The small investment early produces a huge savings, not only in child welfare but in reducing later mental and physical health issues, addictions, criminality, and other negative consequences associated with toxic childhood stress.”

Florida’s Early Childhood Court, fondly known as “baby court”, has three unique parts: a trauma educated judge who holds monthly hearings with families; a multidisciplinary team who meets monthly to encourage families in their case plan; and an infant mental health clinician who provides child-parent therapy to heal trauma and strengthen the relationship.

“This integration of therapy and supports increases the likelihood of reunification with parents, getting families out of the system faster, but more importantly, reducing recurrence of abuse. With this model, you’re healing the underlying issue, which, for a family with generations of ACEs, is one of the best things happening to stop the cycle,” says Graham.

A recent recipient of the Medal of Honor Award from the Florida Bar Foundation for children’s advocacy and for spearheading the creation of Florida’s Early Childhood Court, Graham says the early childhood work also reduces later criminality.

“Research shows that the biggest predictor of criminality is a history of child welfare, especially sexual abuse in that system. Addressing trauma early and increasing healthy relationships buffer the toxic effects of early adversity,” said Graham.

Joining Graham on the webinar will be Judge Lynn Tepper. Retired in 2018, Tepper had served on the bench for more than three decades, and has received wide recognition for her trauma informed courtroom and dedicated service to families.

Tepper says she appreciates the improvements that Early Childhood Court has brought to dependency courts, as many traditional dependency cases have children with multiple foster family placements, often with abrupt transitions, and with little or no consideration of the importance of attachment and trauma.

“In Early Childhood Court, that abrupt transition doesn’t happen,” says Graham. “The judge knows the value of a child having a healthy attachment with the parent, and the trauma caused by separations, so we strive for the first placement to be the only placement,” says Graham.

Tepper adds, “Now, together with a trauma-informed team, we see babies and parents through a trauma lens, and the multi-generational cycle of trauma that brought children into my courtroom, people who are now parents or defendants or even grandparents, has a chance to stop. Early Childhood Courts help individuals live with more hope than fear. These courts make it possible to end the cycle of parent and early childhood trauma with this generation.”

During the webinar, Graham and Tepper and will discuss more about:

The growth of the Early Childhood Courts movement in Florida
The science behind the baby courts
Outcomes of children who go through baby courts as compared to regular courts
New legislation to expand baby courts across the nation (Strengthening America’s Families Act).

To register for the webinar, please click here.

https://us02web.zoom.us/meetin…I5Vhu6W0EPqzNHhFJGRY

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IMG_0041: Judge Lynne Tepper and Dr. Mimi Graham, friends and colleagues in the work to prevent adverse childhood experiences by advancing the acceptance and spread of "baby courts."

Carey Smith Sipp

carey.pacescommunites@gmail.com

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Tags: Safe Baby Courts, heal trauma, prevent trauma, trauma cycle, Baby Courts, Judge Lynn Tepper, Mimi Graham, Infant Toddler Court

‘Death by structural poverty’: US south struggles against Covid-19 [theguardian.com]

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedcareysipp

Carey Sipp 8/6/209:33 AM

Monica McCasklill, left, and her daughter Kena Johnson, at their home in Greenwood, Missisppi. They respectively lost their grandmother and great grandmother, Ethel Huntley, to Covid-19. Huntley lived in a nearby nursing home and the family allege failings in her primary care. Photograph: Rory Doyle/The Guardian.

By Oliver Laughland, The Guardian, August 5, 2020 Poor access to healthcare, failed political leadership and the endurance of segregation and racism have contributed to a surge in deaths.

Lowndes county, Alabama

It was only two years ago that Pamela Rush travelled from Lowndes county, Alabama, to Washington DC to testify in front of a panel of US lawmakers, describing the conditions of crippling poverty and predatory lending in an area still blighted by generations of racial inequality.

“They charged me over $114,000 on a mobile home that’s falling apart,” she said. “I got raw sewage. I don’t have no money, I’m poor.”

And it was only last month that she died of Covid-19.

Her death from the virus, wrote the civil rights and moral movement campaigner the Rev William Barber, was “a death caused by structural poverty”.

The same could be said of many deaths in black belt counties in the deep south, where a combination of poor access to healthcare, failed political leadership and the endurance of segregation and generational racism has contributed to a surge in Covid-19 deaths in recent months.

As the rain pounded her raised front porch, Sandy Oliver, one of Rush’s best friends from high school, took a moment to reflect on those she had lost to Covid-19. Sitting in her rocking chair, she counted them in her head, gazing to the roof where an old ceiling fan whirred gently. “At least 10,” she said. “All within the last month and a half.”

To read the rest of this post, please click here.

https://www.theguardian.com/wo…coronavirus-pandemic

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Carey Smith Sipp

carey.pacescommunites@gmail.com

Blue Shield of California Foundation awards $500,000 grant to ACEs Connection

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedblue-cross-foundation, books, equity, grant-to-end-domestic-violence, jane-stevens, movies, news, photos, prevention, rescinded-grantcareysipp

NOTE FROM Carey Sipp on 8.9.26 – This grant, announced in September of 2020, was ultimately rescinded. Right now I am uploading stories I wrote or posted on for the social network over the course of nine years. There was a post subseqent to this one in which Jane Stevens shared that the grant was rescinded. If/when I find it, I will do my best to link it back to the post below. Following the Pandemic, there were many shifts in priorities by grant-making organizations and funding became harder and harder to secure.

Carey Sipp 9/22/207:58 PM

ACEs Connection — the digital catalyst, information exchange and resource uniting the people, organizations, systems and communities in the worldwide adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) movement — was today awarded a $500,000 grant from Blue Shield of California Foundation for its work to support communities and families in these challenging times.

“This inspiring and impactful grant supports our mission to make California the healthiest state and end domestic violence,” said Debbie I. Chang, MPH, foundation president and CEO.

“Prevention, equity, and changing systems so that they support the needs of individuals and families are key elements of health. We are proud to contribute to collaborations and organizations like ACEs Connection that address critical issues today while also building a better tomorrow,” said Chang.

ACEs Connection was among 20 organizations receiving grants that totaled $10.6 million. (ACEs Connection’s award is listed as TSNE, which is ACEs Connection’s fiscal sponsor.) Those organization’s missions include preventing domestic violence, strengthening the economic position of childcare workers and families who rely on them, and enabling multi-sector collaborations that drive health equity.

“We are honored, grateful and thrilled to receive a grant from Blue Shield of California Foundation,” said Jane Stevens, founder and publisher of ACEs Connection. “ACEs Connection is working at the nexus of the most pressing issues of the day. Racism, the inequitable response to the pandemic, lack of healthcare, lack of childcare, domestic violence, affordable housing …. ACEs are at the root of all of these challenges and more, and the pioneers in the ACEs science movement have already shown that incorporating ACEs science into organizations in any sector can solve communities’ most intractable problems. We are overjoyed to work together with Blue Shield of California Foundation on this mission to build a healthier and safer California for all.”

ACEs Connection has nearly 9,000 members in California, the most in any state, and all 58 counties have ACEs initiatives at various stages of development. The social journalism network has nearly 47,000 members total and provides guidance and tools for more than 300 communities with ACEs initiatives. Its staff and members post solution-oriented articles, essays and videos, and contribute to resources and calendar sections. The network also posts a daily digest and weekly roundup. For an overview of ACEs Connection, please go to ACEsConnectionInfo.com.

Carey Smith Sipp

carey.pacescommunites@gmail.com

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The Emotional Toll of Racism (insidehighered.com)

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedemotional-toll, fiction, greta-anderson, history, life, politics, racism, writingcareysipp

Carey Sipp 10/26/2012:49 PM

By Greta Anderson, Inside Higher Education, October 23, 2020

Black students continuously experience, fight against and bear emotional scars from racism, which can lead to increased anxiety and poor mental health outcomes. Some colleges are just starting to address these issues.

Colbie Lofton’s first week of classes at Appalachian State University is sealed in her mind.

Lofton, who is Black, asked her macroeconomics professor a question during class and heard someone sitting behind her say, “I guess n****rs don’t understand.”

Lofton, “completely shocked” to hear a racial slur used so casually, said nothing, and neither did her professor, who Lofton said paused and appeared to have heard the comment. When the class ended, Lofton left, reeling from hurt, and went to a nearby bathroom to cry. She then returned to her dorm and confided in her roommate, but she said she didn’t report the comment to the university because she was not aware of the process to do so.

That 2018 incident was a marker for other racial incidents that would follow at the predominantly white campus in North Carolina and leave Lofton without any illusions about the deep prejudices that some students on campus have against Black people. She has felt “out of place” ever since and hyperaware of her surroundings, which has taken a toll on her mental health.

“That is a story that continues to sit with me,” said Lofton, who is now a junior.

She is not alone. Black students at many predominantly white colleges have long complained of the racial hostility, subtle and blatant, that they regularly encounter on their campuses. Whether victims of constant microaggressions or outright verbal or physical assaults, many have stories of being called a racial slur directly or seeing it scrawled on a campus wall, viewing racist posts by classmates on social media, or sitting through a presentation by a classmate professing a white supremacist conspiracy. The incidents were the focal points of protest movements and demands for change for several years, but the calls for action seemed to reach a crescendo this year as Black students at colleges across the country repeatedly called for college administrators to condemn and address racism on their campuses.

(To read more, please click here.)

Carey Smith Sipp

carey.pacescommunites@gmail.com

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Why I support ACEs Connection: To join a community that shares the truths of ACEs science and motivates action

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedaces-study, carey-sipp, health, mortality, news, poetry, racism, writingcareysipp

Carey Sipp 11/10/203:43 PM

My heart broke for my children when I first read the 1998 CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, mailed to me by a mentor in 2000. I wept about my high score (9) and then shoved the report in a drawer, resolving to not pass on the pain and to minimize my children’s ACEs. That report scared the hell out of me.

Years later, I plowed through the report again in earnest, and learned that most of my quirky behaviors: inability to focus, trouble with relationships, earlier fatalistic view, deep fears, etc, were likely due to developmental trauma at the hand of parents whose own lives had been severely affected by childhood trauma.

I’d been in recovery, in a program for children of alcoholics and their families, for many years at that time, and had learned how to be kinder and gentler with myself, as opposed to listening to my “inner parent” and beating myself down. I’d been taking medication for attention deficit disorder (ADD) so I could focus at work and hit deadlines — most of the time. But I hadn’t tied my need for medication to what had likely happened to my brain when I was in utero, when I likely experienced the toxic crush of my terrified mother’s adrenaline and cortisol as she carried me. My father was many things, among them, an abusive alcoholic.

Today I share great news: At 64, I continue to grow healthier thanks to the “resilience” part of ACEs science that explains and promotes actions we can take to become healthier as individuals, and as members of our families and communities. And that’s a relief, because research published in 2009 from the ACE Study showed that having six or more ACEs can chop 20 years off your life.

Screen Shot 2020-12-06 at 10.27.26 PM ACEs Connection launched in January 2012, and over the last eight years, has become one of the leaders in the ACEs movement, thanks to the tens of thousands of people and hundreds of communities who’ve joined and accelerated the spread of knowledge about childhood adversity. People in this movement have also developed innovative approaches using ACEs science to help people turn despair into hope, hate into love, and inspired them to pass on that knowledge and wisdom.

I have so many reasons for supporting ACEs Connection. One is so that pregnant women will take the ACE survey and connect the dots between their own ACEs and poor health outcomes for themselves and their children, and work to make things better.

Another reason I support ACEs Connection is to change the systems that perpetuate racism across all sectors, including medicine, as Black women are three to four times as likely to die in childbirth than White women, and Black babies are twice as likely to die than White babies.

I support ACEs Connection because we have the knowledge to solve our most intractable problems. And when I say “we”, I mean all the people who learn about ACEs science and join ACEs Connection to help grow a world that’s healthier that the one we live in now. At the moment, that’s nearly 48,000 influencers….and growing!

As a member of ACEs Connection, you’re invited to make a tax-deductible donation in any amount to our Changemakers Matching Grant campaign, and add your own “Why I Support ACEs Connection” essay here, on the main blog of ACEs Connection. Your essay will be identified as part of the campaign. If you believe the work of ACEs Connection has improved your life and the lives of people you care about, please join me in sharing a gift to help us raise $50,000 from our ACEs Connection community. That amount will be matched by a generous donor, who prefers to remain anonymous. The deadline for your tax deductible donation is December 31, 2020. Thank you in advance for your generous donation, your post, or both!

Click here to make a donation to ACEs Connection Changemakers Matching Grant Campaign

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Tags: ACEsChangemakers Matching Grant Campaign, Gift, matching grant, Donate, ACEs study

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Make “Giving Tuesday” your day to support the work of ACEs Connection. Help us meet our matching grant goal of $50K, and your gift will be matched, dollar-for-dollar!

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedcareysipp

Carey Sipp 11/30/203:07 PM

“This Giving Tuesday, and every day, we thank you for your support,” said members of the ACEs Connection staff on a recent “all staff Zoom.” L-R (top row) Laurie Udesky, Carey Sipp, Gail Kennedy, Lara Kain (second row) Cissy White, Rafael Maravilla, Donielle Prince, Jenna Quinn (third row) Ingrid Cockhren, (off camera) Alison Cebulla, Jane Stevens. Out that day, and grateful all the same, were Karen Clemmer, Dana Brown, Elizabeth Prewitt, Marianne Avari, and Samantha Sangenito

https://www.pacesconnection.com/video-embed/t/0/c/509528241926291842/p/509528241926291894

“We’re hoping December 1 — ‘Giving Tuesday’ — will help us show our supportive matching grant donor just how much our 48,000 members appreciate ACEs Connection. We know we are important to them in their work, their research, their personal or professional understanding of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), their helping their communities take on their most intractable problems of racism and inequity in healthcare, education, housing, and more” said Jane Stevens, founder and publisher of ACEs Connection.

“As the Giving Tuesday campaign says, ‘Everyone has something to give and every act of generosity counts.’ We welcome gifts of any size. What is important is that we are supported, in some way, by as many member donations as possible,” she said.

So far ACEs Connection has raised just more than one-fifth — $11, 223 — of the amount needed to receive the $50,000 matching grant. The “challenge grant” offered in October by a generous donor who chooses to remain anonymous, will be given only if member donations meet the $50,000 mark, essentially turning member donations of $50,000 into a donation total of $100,000.

According to Stevens, this is the first time ACEs Connection has asked its members to support the network in its work of :

educating people about ACEs science
engaging them in the movement to prevent and heal ACEs, and build resilience
increasing the number of people who join ACEs Connection
helping communities launch and grow ACEs initiatives
providing tools to help communities measure their progress
acting as the information resource for the ACEs movement by telling its stories and providing resources.

“Front and center is our desire to understand and address the deeply ingrained problems of racism and inequity — especially economic inequity — and to work with others to tailor solutions that reflect our communities’ unique strengths, needs, and challenges,” Stevens added.

“For six years we have been fortunate to have remarkable support — financial as well as stalwart encouragement for our work — from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF),” said Stevens.

Funders also include The California Endowment, Blue Shield of California Foundation, Genentech, the Lisa Stone Pritzker Family Foundation, the George Sarlo Foundation, and the Cambia Health Foundation.

“Thanks to the generosity of our funders, we’ve been able to make ACEs Connection — with its vast storehouse of resources about ACEs science, the free websites for some 350 geographic communities, data tracking, reports and news — available for eight years.

“Over the next three years, we are transitioning from a combination of funding from several different foundations to a self-sustaining cooperative. By the end of that transition, we intend to derive most of our support from the ACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities. To start 2021 with an additional $100,000 would give us a significant boost toward that goal,” said Stevens of the ACEs Changemaker “challenge” grant campaign.

Going further, Stevens said, “I hope you can find it in your hearts to contribute. This support would help the organization amplify and accelerate this healing journey to replace policies, laws and practices based on blame, shame and punishment with understanding, nurturing and healing.”

“We know from the work of pioneers in the ACEs science movement that we can solve our most intractable problems in all our sectors,” Stevens said, offering examples of how the work is changing lives:

Patients and physicians can successfully manage addiction to opioids and other substances so that 100% of patients are no longer addicted and can hold down jobs.
Plymouth County, MA has an opioid death prevention program that combines law enforcement, rehab centers, and hospitals in a joint cross-sector program that has resulted in a 26% drop in opioid deaths v. an 84% increase in deaths in surrounding counties.
Batterer intervention programs have integrated ACEs science and helped reduce recidivism from 30–60% to just 1%.
Safe Babies Courts show that one year after participating 99% of the children suffer no further abuse.
Thousands of schools – including schools in Antioch, CA, Suisun City, CA, San Francisco, CA, Spokane, WA, San Diego, CA, and Walla Walla, WA — have integrated trauma-informed practices so that suspensions and expulsions have dropped or been eliminated, while grades and graduation rates increase.
A stunning project in Atlanta, GA, provides a community and economic model that successfully combines for-profit trauma-informed low-income housing; health clinics that improve services for families; after-school programs in the housing project; and local gardens for families to grow their own food. Landlords make more money, kids become healthier and do better in school, schools become more successful, residents are more empowered and self-reliant, and communities become more resilient and stable.

“We have the opportunity to build on momentum to continue to report on data-driven successes, to add tools and guidelines requested by communities across the U.S., and to provide guidance to communities making substantial progress in integrating practices based on ACEs science in organizations, institutions, and systems,” said Stevens.

“We hope members will add their support, in any amount, to advance and accelerate this work,” Stevens concluded.

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Screen Shot 2020-11-30 at 4.30.44 PM: As of Monday, November 30, 2020, we were just a bit more than one-fifth of our goal of reaching $50,000.

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Carey Smith Sipp

carey.pacescommunites@gmail.com

Tags: Jane Stevens, Donation, Matching Grant Campaign, ACEs Changemaker Matching, Changemaker, Giving Tuesday

Pender group wants community informed on childhood trauma (Star News)

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedcareysipp

Carey Sipp 12/4/206:45 AM

By Emma Dill, December 3, 2020, Wilmington Star News.

A new resiliency task force aims to make Pender County a stronger and more trauma-informed community.

The task force will focus on educating community members and local providers about the lasting impact of childhood traumas. It will also provide training that helps residents recognize and respond to signs of trauma.

Those instances of instability and stress can impact a child for the rest of their life, said Carrey Sipp, the southeastern regional community facilitator with the nonprofit ACEs Connection.

Adverse childhood experiences or ACEs affect people at every age, said Liz Peterson, the task force chair. Peterson works in 4-H development as an agent at the North Carolina Cooperative Extension in Burgaw.

[Please click here to read more]

Carey Smith Sipp

carey.pacescommunites@gmail.com

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The Black Maternal Mortality Crisis Is Not For Sale [refinery29.com]

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedcareysipp

Carey Sipp 12/6/2012:34 PM

By Kimberly Seals Allers, November 19, 2020

For years, Black women and birthing people have been disproportionately dying during and after childbirth in a medical system that is rooted in racism. For almost as long as the disparities have existed, the problem has not received mainstream attention, sufficient philanthropic and research funding, or any corporate investment. Meanwhile, community organizers, birth activists, and others have been making a way out of no way to create and sustain community-centered solutions—from training and deploying doulas, to creating childbirth centers, reviving Black midwifery, and developing other community resources to help save Black women.

Now, at a watershed moment for racial injustice, and after an unprecedented media spotlight on this issue, which has been led by organizations such as the Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA)—a national network of black women-led organizations and multi-disciplinary professionals who work to ensure that all Black Mamas have the rights, respect, and resources to thrive before, during, and after pregnancy—the issue of Black maternal mortality is finally top of mind. So are corporate interests.

(To read the rest of this post, please click here.)

Carey Smith Sipp

carey.pacescommunites@gmail.com

‘Why won’t Black folks trust us’ on COVID-19? These doctors and nurses have answers [latimes.com]

August 10, 2026Uncategorizedcareysipp

Carey Sipp 12/8/205:00 AM

By Erika D. Smith, Los Angeles Times, November 29, 2020

As a Black man and a nurse practitioner working at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Long Beach, Walter Perez hears a lot of cringeworthy stuff from his Black patients.

Like how the forthcoming COVID-19 vaccines won’t be safe because Big Pharma is cutting corners to make more money. Or how the medical establishment wants to use Black people as guinea pigs to test those vaccines. Or how the vaccines could actually prove more harmful than getting COVID-19.

The list goes on.

[Please click here to read more.]