Friday Update 7-20-18

Greetings faithful readers. Let’s see; I think we need a few Black Eyed Peas for good luck, don’t you? Embrace the message of the Black Eyed Peas in their song One Tribe, think about the ways we are more connected to each other than not, and then get to readin’ Friday Update, cuz we got work to do!

Most important reads for this week

Trump’s War on the Poor Has Just Begun
Mission accomplished in the “War on Poverty.” So declares the White House, which in a white paperreleased last week from the president’s Council of Economic Advisers claims that the war is “largely over and a success” and that it is time for more stringent work requirements for public assistance. Never mind all the decades President Trump’s party has spent trashing anti-poverty programs to justify shredding them: The new narrative states that these programs have worked so well that U.S. poverty has been all but eradicated.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore Training Institutes Features Multi-Country Research Study on Using “Big Data” to Evaluate Systems of Care Expansion
Mansoor Kazi discusses the ongoing research project involving Chautauqua and Rockland counties (NY) and Manchester City Council (UK). Kazi’s research is focusing on how to incorporate “big data” from all system of care human service agencies and school districts into an evaluation of system of care expansion efforts. You can attend a presentation on this research at the upcoming University of Maryland, Baltimore Training Institutes. Hope to see you there!

Early Childhood Is Critical to Health Equity
The first few years of life are crucial in establishing a child’s path toward—or away from—health and well-being across the entire lifespan. This report, produced in partnership with the University of California, San Francisco, examines some of the barriers to health equity that begin early in life, and promising strategies for overcoming them. There is no single solution, but a range of promising approaches. Approaches like high-quality early care and education, home visiting, coordination across social services and medical care, and broader supportive economic policies can all help support lifelong health, starting early in life.

Save the Dates!
Save the dates for the 32nd Annual Research & Policy Conference on Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Behavioral Health: March 3 – 6, 2019 in Tampa, FL! Oh man, it’s gonna be a good one.

ADHD Study Links Symptoms With Digital Media Use
The more teens check social media and stream video, the more likely they might develop symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a new study suggests. The study, published in the medical journal JAMA on Tuesday, sheds light on how more research is needed to determine whether symptoms of the disorder, commonly called ADHD, are possibly caused by digital media use.

A Framework of Recommendations for Colleges and Universities to Support the Mental Health of Students of Color
The Equity in Mental Health Framework offers expert recommendations for America’s colleges and universities to better support the mental health and emotional well-being of students of color. It was created in partnership by The Steve Fund and JED. It is based on a systematic literature review, a survey of existing evidence-based programs, expert input from mental health and higher education leaders, and a survey of more than 1,000 students.

The Science is Clear: Separating Families has Long-term Damaging Psychological and Health Consequences for Children, Families, and Communities
After the United States Department of Justice announced the “Zero Tolerance Policy for Criminal Illegal Entry,” Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE — an arm of the Department of Homeland Security) separated approximately 2,000 children from their parents in April and May 2018 as they approached the U.S. border. Children and parents were placed in separate facilities as they were being processed and were not told when or how they would be reunited. This policy and its consequences have raised significant concerns among researchers, child welfare advocates, policymakers, and the public, given the overwhelming scientific evidence that separation between children and parents, except in cases where there is evidence of maltreatment, is harmful to the development of children, families, and communities.

NIH-Funded Scientists Put Socioeconomic Data on the Map
The Neighborhood Atlas, a new tool to help researchers visualize socioeconomic data at the community level is now available. This online platform allows for easily ranking and mapping neighborhoods according to socioeconomic disadvantage. Seeing a neighborhood’s socioeconomic measures, such as income, education, employment, and housing quality, may provide clues to the effects of those factors on overall health, and could inform health resources policy and social interventions. The Neighborhood Atlas is housed at the University of Wisconsin and described in a perspective in the June 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The project is funded by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, both part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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Scott Bryant-Comstock
President & CEO