Louisiana CASA is holding a 10 part public webinar series in 2021-2022. Every month we will be hosting FREE educational webinars presented by a statewide network of subject matter experts with first-hand experience working in the child welfare field. We will be discussing a variety of topics focused on protective factors, strengthening children and families, and building stronger communities.

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For the 10th session in this webinar series, we are premiering a recorded session from Dr. Wendy Ellis who spoke at the 2022 Louisiana CASA Conference, Reinforcing Our Roots. Register below to gain access to the webinar premier. An email will be sent out the morning of Thursday, June 30th to those who registered and will include a link and password to the webinar. The webinar will be availble to watch from Thursday, June 30th - Thursday, July 7th.

About the Topic

What does it mean to build a resilient community? In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic this is an urgent question for children and families across Louisiana as communities grapple with unfathomable personal stressors due to death, economic strain and disruption in how our children learn. As guardians of child wellbeing across the state we have faced unprecedented challenges in ensuring the safety of children and equitable access to the supports needed to help communities and families heal. In this thought-provoking keynote, Dr. Ellis will help us consider the reality of child welfare in Louisiana and the possibilities in connecting across sectors to heal trauma, foster equity and ultimately build resilient communities where children and parents can thrive.

About the Speaker

Wendy Ellis is an Assistant Professor in Global Health and the Founding Director of the Center for Community Resilience at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. Dr. Ellis has spent the last decade developing and working to grow a 'resilience movement' to address systemic inequities that contribute to social and health disparities that are often transmitted in families and communities from generation to generation.

The Building Community Resilience (BCR) collaborative and Resilience Catalysts networks are implementing the BCR process and CCR’s Community Resilience framework-- strategic approaches for cross-sector partners to align resources, programs and initiatives with community based efforts to address adverse childhood experiences and adverse community environments-- or as Ellis has coined it "The Pair of ACEs". The strengths-based approach is aimed at building the infrastructure to promote resilience in communities by improving access to supports and buffers that help individuals 'bounce back' and communities thrive. The BCR process and Community Resilience framework are being used in 17 urban and rural regions areas including New York City, NY; Cincinnati, OH; Dallas, TX; Portland, OR; Washington, DC; Baltimore, MD; St. Louis and Kansas City, MO; Seattle and Tacoma, Washington; Leon County, FL; Watauga County, NC; Louisville, KY; Jersey City, NJ; Lee County, IA; Cleveland, OH and Deschutes County, OR. Dr. Ellis’ Community Resilience framework is featured in a special issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice focused on addressing structural racism as a public health initiative.

Leveraging her extensive background in communications, Dr. Ellis produced a documentary that will be released in 2022, “Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation: Cincinnati” that follows her team’s innovative approach to centering conversations on structural racism as a means to further galvanize a resilience movement and foster equity through systems and policy change. Dr. Ellis holds several leadership positions in public health including Chair of the National Academy of Science’s, Enhancing Community Resilience in the Gulf States Committee, Scientific Advisor to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Prevention and Injury Center and the National Academy’s Culture of Health Advisory Board. In 2018 Dr. Ellis was selected as an Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow to support her leadership in developing cross-sector strategies to address childhood trauma, foster equity and build community resilience.

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