Happy New Year to KIDS Network members and friends! Our next meeting of the KIDS Network General Membership will be March 3, 2021. We look forward to gathering virtually as we kick off the new year, and in the meantime, we want to share some updates about the ACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities and invite you to revisit the Resilient Santa Barbara County (RSBC) Community Partner Agreement and Resilience Toolkit.
ACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities
Jane Stevens, ACEs Connection Founder, has started convening meetings of the ACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities. Affiliate members include ACEs initiatives from two other California communities -Fresno and San Diego, as well as Richmond, VA. ACEs Connection Regional Managers from throughout California and across the nation are also participating in the meetings. Terri and Barb have been representing Santa Barbara County. We are excited to be learning about the other affiliates, and to be shaping future opportunities for our Resilient Santa Barbara County members. Please let us know if you would like to be included in these meetings.
Each of the affiliates has developed their membership through an MOU / Agreement, and all are using the Community Milestone Tracker as a data collection tool. An ACEs Connection Community group has been established for the Cooperative.
Community Partner Agreement & Resilience Toolkit
While KIDS Network has been the hub for Resilient Santa Barbara County, not all of the KIDS Network members have signed on to be RSBC Community Partners. RSBC currently has 24 member organizations that have signed the Community Partner Agreement.
Member organizations agree to work collaboratively with other partners, and they make a commitment to upholding the vision and principles of RSBC as they increase their capacity for being ACEs-aware, trauma-responsive, and resiliency-focused. Each signed partner receives the link to the Community Milestone Tracker, though not all organizations have entered their baseline data at this point in time. ACEs Connection will be providing support to get us up to speed. A checklist is provided as part of the Resilience Toolkit, and each organization moves through it at their own pace, with support from RSBC leadership.
KIDS will continue to be the hub for countywide ACEs work, and meetings will continue to focus on countywide collaboration.
Development Opportunities
The ACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities will be offering training opportunities, webinars and additional resources to affiliates in the coming year. These resources and opportunities will be extended primarily to Community Partners and may not be available to the Network as a whole.
KIDS Network members who have not yet joined are invited to revisit the Community Partner Agreement, and to consider signing on. (The Agreement is in the zipped Toolkit). We anticipate that training opportunities will begin in February. If your organization is not ready to commit to being a Community Partner, you may join as an individual by signing the Individual Pledge, and you will be considered a member.
Roadmap
We are making progress on Provider Engagement through our ACEs Aware grant, with a focus on engaging health care partners and building strong networks of care. ACEs Aware and the Office of the Surgeon General released a draft Network of Care Roadmap.
Bridges to Resilience
We continue to work with partners in Ventura and San Luis Obispo to bring the next Bridges to Resilience Conference to our community. This year’s virtual conference will be held in June – the specific date will be announced soon.