Update on our Journey with ACEs:

In the last issue of Waves, we provided an update on the Foundation’s journey of exploration of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) over the past year. If you missed it, you can read it here.

We ended the article with a call to action to continue to take the journey with us from awareness to action.  And WOW! – did you ever respond!

• 265 people attended one of our free screenings of the film Resilience: The Biology of Stress & the Science of Hope. Two events have been held to date, and we are getting requests for more!
• 20 organizations have requested partnering with us for screenings with their organization. Of note, Loyalist Collegiate & Vocational Institute had a screening and discussion at their last professional development day (and other schools are exploring doing the same) and all staff of the City of Kingston’s Housing and Social Services Department will be doing the same at their upcoming staff training day.
• 24 organizations have identified a keen interest in being involved in future community discussions on moving to action on ACEs.
• The library reports a waitlist of some 20 people to sign out a copy of the film (so they are responding with organizing a public screening of their own – see below).
• A small working group has met to explore steps to build on the momentum building.

Missed it and want to attend a screening?

The Isabel Turner Branch of the Kingston Frontenac Public Library is hosting a screening and discussion on November 26 from 6:30 – 8:00 pm. Click here for details and to register.

We are looking at hosting another public screening. You can click here to express your interest in attending. We are tentatively looking at another event at Queen’s in February.

If you haven’t seen the trailer for this powerful documentary, you can watch it here: kpjrfilms.co/resilience

Next Steps…

Given the strong interest and momentum around ACEs, a small working group has met to explore recommended next steps.  The Foundation has been, and will continue to be, at this table. 

To inform this meeting, feedback from participants of our May 14 Speakers Series on ACEs and the October 10 screening of the film Resilience with community leaders and practitioners was reviewed. The ideas and recommendations generated were mapped against something called the “Building Community Resilience” model (see diagram in image above) which includes four components: “developing a shared understanding of adversity and resilience, assessing readiness, creating cross sector partnerships, and engaging the community”. (Source: https://publichealth.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/downloads/Redstone-Center/BCR%20Coalition%20Building%20and%20Communications%20Guide.pdf)

The ideas for action generated from the community align nicely with this model, indicating a readiness and willingness to move forward with this model.  One of the recommendations from the working group is to convene a meeting of interested individuals and organizations to determine how KFL&A can work together to build resilience in individuals, families, and communities.   

In the meantime, the Community Foundation will continue to support building a shared understanding by supporting additional screenings of Resilience through the license rights we purchased.

Our upcoming November 15 Speaker Series will provide another lens to the conversation on ACEs, as we begin to shift our focus to explore the protective factors that will support the development of resilient children and youth. 

For more resources on ACEs, visit our website at www.cfka.org/ACEs.