DID YOU KNOW

May is Mental Health Month, and this year, Mental Health America is educating people about habits and behaviors that can increase the risk of developing or exacerbating mental illnesses, or even could be signs of mental health problems themselves. Risk factors include risky sex, prescription drug misuse, internet addiction, compulsive buying or excessive spending, marijuana use and excessive exercise. If you know of someone who engages in these risk factors, May might be a good time to let them know about Mental Health America and its Risky Business toolkit for help.

April is national Child Abuse Prevention Month, and area nonprofits and county agencies are putting the focus on ways to detect and intervene on behalf of area children. This is an important initiative, given that between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015, there were 1,355 children involved in valid cases of child abuse and neglect in Loudoun County. A report spearheaded by 100WS grant recipient Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN), highlighted dichotomies in Loudoun County – such as median household incomes that are more than double the national average, while one out of 25 school-age children in the country lives in poverty. Called Resilient Children, Resilient Loudoun!, the report was created by the Loudoun County Partnership for Resilient Children & Families Steering Committee, which includes 100WomenStrong grant recipients HealthWorks, INMED Partnerships for Children, Inova Loudoun Hospital, Loudoun Abused Women’s Shelter (LAWS) Loudoun Child Advocacy Center, and county agencies and public service organizations. They explored the changes that have taken place that are impacting families and explored recommendations for how to:

• Increase community outreach to underserved and isolated families in Loudoun County;
• Make supports and services more accessible to parents;
• Improve and increase reporting of children in danger of abuse or neglect; and
• Increase funding and support for Loudoun County human service providers.

A recent study on hunger shows that a hungry child suffers for years after experiencing the hunger. It also suggests that children who experience food insecurity early in life are more likely to lag behind in social, emotional and to some degree, cognitive skills when they begin kindergarten. In fact, the younger the children were when the family struggled with hunger, the stronger the effect on their performance once they started school. For example, children who suffer food insecurity at 9 months old were more likely to have lower reading and math scores in kindergarten than 9-month-olds who didn’t experience food insecurity. Published in the recent Child Development journal, the study reinforces prior research that has shown that children who enter kindergarten behind, stay behind and do not catch up. Food insecurity affects an estimated 13.1 million children live across the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The effect of food insecurity lasts a lifetime.

Homelessness and hunger among college students is widespread. It exists in all regions of the country and is not isolated to urban or high-poverty areas, according to a new study of more than 33,000 students at 70 community colleges across the country. The researchers found that 14 percent of respondents were homeless, and one in three were going hungry while pursuing a degree. To make it worse, they found that nearly a third of the students who were going without food or shelter did hold jobs and/or received financial aid. In tandem, many school administrators and policymakers presume that because community colleges cost a fraction of most four-year universities, the costs are easily covered.

The return on investment in high-quality early-childhood education has as much as a 13-percent return in terms of better education, health and social and economic outcomes for the children who receive it, according to the Heckman Equation’s Lifecyle Benefits of an Influential Early Childhood Program study. According to their findings, the biggest “chunk of the return on investment” is a reduction in crime, especially for males. Learn more about the ROI of early childhood education here.

Research shows that poor children grow up to have a host of physical and psychological problems as adults, according to research from Cornell University and others. Cornell’s study – which lasted for 15 years – showed that impoverished children in the study had more antisocial conduct such as aggression and bullying, and increased feeling of helplessness, than kids from middle-income backgrounds.   However, early intervention to prevent some issues associated with poverty could help. Read the full article, including some potential solutions from Cornell’s researchers, here.

Excerpts from an opinion piece by Karen Weese (Salon)

Fifty-seven percent of the families below the poverty line in the United States are working families with jobs that just don’t pay enough. They are childcare workers, janitors, house cleaners, lawn-service workers, bus drivers, hospital aides, waitresses, nursing home employees, security guards, cafeteria workers and cashiers. They are the people who keep society humming along for everybody else.

In addition to low wages, they often don’t garner much respect and are treated as replaceable, invisible or both. For example, Princeton University researchers showed two groups the same video of a little girl answering questions about school subjects. They told the first group that her parents were affluent professionals and told the second group that she was the daughter of a meat packer and a seamstress. The girl performed at grade level, answering some questions correctly and missing others.  When asked about her performance, the group who believed she was wealthy felt she had performed above grade level.  The second group, which believed otherwise, felt she had performed below grade level.

Sometimes we see what we’re looking for …and what we’re looking for changes based on the context.  There are many prescriptions for combating poverty, but we can’t even get started unless we first examine our assumptions, and take the time to envision what the world feels like for families living in poverty every day.”

“Compassion is a skill that we get better at with practice.”  Karen Armstrong, Theologian

More than 60 percent of Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office employees – from dispatchers to deputies –have received Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training to help them to spot a person with mental disabilities, from autism and post-traumatic stress disorder to traumatic brain injury. CIT helps them to better communicate and possibly de-escalate situations before they can become violent. Training included site visits to Inova Loudoun Behavioral Services, the homeless shelter,  past 100WomenStrong grant recipient Paxton Campus, and other locations.  Read the article here.

Along with living in one of the best areas in America comes very high expectations for residents, including the “peer pressure” to keep up with wealth and success of friends and neighbors. This push for perfection is creating additional stress for Loudoun teens, according to Loudoun County Public Schools’ supervisor of diagnostic and prevention services, and may be contributing to our county’s high teen suicide rate. Parents, teachers and administrators recently met to discuss strategies to mitigate this stress and help children and teens develop higher self-esteem and better coping skills. The school district is drafting a strategic plan for suicide prevention and overall student safety that will include school-based mental health services and will address suicide prevention, bullying prevention and behavior intervention.  Read more here.

The Loudoun Education Foundation (LEF), a 100WS partner and grant recipient, recently raised a record $105,000 at its annual Golf Classic. Close to 40% of the funds raised will go directly to teacher classroom grants,. The tournament is LEF’s biggest fundraiser and helps the nonprofit fulfill its mission to enhance the quality of education in Loudoun County Public Schools by supporting projects that stimulate students’ curiosity and create exceptional learning opportunities.  Read more here.

Loudoun County’s Affordable Dwelling Unit (ADU) program has conflicted with state and federal standards for years, effectively shutting area developers out of affordable housing grants that would make it easier for them to build more affordable housing for future residents. In fact, 100WS grant recipient Windy Hill Foundation research shows that it has received the only funding that Loudoun has been awarded in housing grants since 2006, and this was less than 5% of the total funds awarded to Northern Virginia/DC suburbs. Luckily for affordable housing proponents, the Board of Supervisors has agreed to look to amend county regulations to take advantage of millions of dollars offered by the Commonwealth and federal government programs.  Read more here.

Chronic absenteeism rates are highest in high school: more than 2 million high school students are missing 15 days or more. The figures for minority students are even more alarming: More than 20 percent of black high school students are chronically absent. It’s 20 percent for Latino high school students and 27 percent for American Indians and Native Alaskans.

Source:  http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/06/10/480181439/more-than-6-million-u-s-students-are-chronically-absent

August 9. 2016  Loudoun Times-Mirror

100WS grant recipient Loudoun Therapeutic Riding (LTR) has long partnered with Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) to ensure that students with special needs have therapeutic riding opportunities. LTR’s equine-assisted activities and therapies have helped LCPS students and area residents with disabilities or special needs build self-confidence, improve concentration and increase core strength, balance and joint mobility for more than 40 years. 

What is a community foundation? The short answer: a not-for-profit, grant-making organization existing for the benefit of the residents in a given area.  Community foundations also obtain and share information about needs in the community and identify charitable organizations who might best help fulfill those needs. 100WS is a component fund of Community Foundation for Loudoun and Northern Fauquier Counties (CFLNFC), which also helps us conduct due diligence on grant applicants and more. 100WS donors also benefit from fully qualified tax deductions because of our relationship with CFLNFC.

Congratulations to the nurses of 100WS grant recipient Inova Loudoun Hospital for earning Magnet status, the highest institutional honor awarded for nursing excellence, for the 3rd time! Approximately 5 percent of 6,000 hospitals in the U.S. earn the designation, which is a rigorous process involving accreditation, from the American Nurses’ Credentialing Center.

June 5, 2016  Loudoun Now
Loudoun County has fewer permanently homeless than it has in a decade, according to a recent “Point in Time” count. Many say it shows the County’s progress in the area of housing and shelter, much of it resulting from a coalition of area agencies working together to create “permanent supportive housing units” for chronically homeless. However, while permanent homelessness is down, Loudoun County Public Schools says the number of “precariously housed” in our county has grown.  

June 2, 2016  Loudoun Times-Mirror

Graduation can seem a really long way off for a fifth grader, and in at-risk neighborhoods, it may seem impossible. To help make graduation a concrete possibility for its students, Sterling Elementary School invited Park View High School graduates to parade through hallways in their caps and gowns to inspire younger students. Many schools across the nation have started these parades to encourage elementary school students to visualize their own success in school and stay positive about their educations.

May 27, 2016  Loudoun Times-Mirror
Six Loudoun County High School students who “Beat the Odds” recently were awarded a combined $22,500 from the Loudoun Bar Association. This is the 12th year that the Loudoun Bar has supported area youth who have  overcome major life obstacles and thrived. Since 2005, the group has awarded more than $130,000 to 49 students.

March 9, 2016  usnews.com
The American Academy of Pediatrics is urging doctors to “screen for poverty” by asking the parents of their patients if they are having trouble making ends meet and following up by asking if they have adequate food, housing and heat. Why? Because children are highly vulnerable to chronic stress that results from the emotional and economic burden created by poverty and can  resort to risky behaviors, including smoking, excessive drinking and substance abuse. Poverty also can alter brain function, affect immune and psychiatric disorders and has been linked to asthma and obesity. The aim with this more holistic approach is to improve public health outcomes in children. . . read more.

February 19, 2016   Loudoun Now
New homes for military veterans wounded in battle is the goal for Hero Homes in Loudoun County. The group, which aims to build five Hero Homes in the near future, was inspired by a national group that built a home for an Iraq War veteran in Lovettsville last year. Hero Homes plans to build in Purcellville. Read more here.

December 3, 2015  Loudoun Times-Mirror

100WomenStrong grant recipient, Loudoun Interfaith Relief, has received rent abatement for its warehouse space on Miller Drive in exchange for the organization vacating the space in 2020 rather than 2023. LIR Executive Director Jennifer Montgomery thanked Loudoun Supervisors for the action and said it will allow the nonprofit to save money toward its future home. 

October 23 2015

Children in food insecure households get sick more often, recover more slowly from illness, have poorer overall health and are hospitalized more frequently.  Pediatricians will start asking questions such as:  “Within the past 12 months, the food we bought didn’t last, and we didn’t have money to get more. Yes or No?” to identify and help those who are potentially struggling with malnutrition. Read the full article.

Sugarland Elementary now offers free breakfast to the entire student population, as one step in reducing impediments to learning that are out of the school’s control.  While the program has already resulted in increased on-time attendance, the hope is that it will also contribute to higher achievement in the classroom.   State and local officials will be watching carefully to understand how programs like this will impact classroom performance. http://bit.ly/1OjvKL5