State's real maternal health crisis lies in stark and widening racial disparities
By Danubia Camargos Silva and Kelly Harrington · Dorchester Reporter ·You may have seen the recent headlines, warning of a crisis in maternal health, citing reports of an explosion in the number of women who die in childbirth. As we note in a recent Boston Indicators report, the reality is actually more co...
Here’s what doulas do, and how they’re fighting for Black maternal health
By Dasia Moore · The Boston Globe ·Rhode Island is expanding access to doulas and investing in healthier birth outcomes. Why isn’t the rest of the country doing the same?
As School Reopens, Don’t Forget The Hidden Victims Of Police Violence: Children
By Renée Boynton-Jarrett, Marisha L. Humphries and Stephanie M. Curenton · WBUR ·So many of our students will have an additional, often less visible, burden to bear: the police violence they have seen, heard and experienced this spring and summer.
‘As healthcare workers, this is our fight, too’: Healthcare workers unite to support Black Lives Matter
By Matt Berg · The Boston Globe ·Healthcare workers across the state joined together Thursday afternoon to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement and stand up against police brutality, honoring the victims who have died at the hands of police.
The Forgotten Essential Workers
By Lynette M. Fraga & Renee Boynton-Jarrett · RealClearPolicy ·As politicians and pundits rightfully praise essential workers during this pandemic, rarely does anyone mention another group of genuine heroes: those who care for the children of other essential workers. Could it be that because these ...
We Tried to Find the Most Equal Place in America. It Got Complicated
By Emily Barone · Time Magazine ·For nearly 20 years, Dolores Acevedo-Garcia has been collecting data on the access—and lack thereof—that children in neighborhoods across the U.S. have to necessities like healthy food and a good education.
Beyond Trauma-Informed Care Is a Healing-Centered, Culturally Rooted Approach
By Lauren Padilla · Boston Medical Center: Health City ·Héctor Sánchez-Flores, executive director of the National Compadres Network, shares how culturally rooted healing can uplift marginalized communities.
Positive relationships can buffer childhood trauma and toxic stress, researchers say
By Kay Lazar · The Boston Globe ·Traumatic events and toxic relationships during childhood can cast long shadows, often damaging mental health well into adulthood.
Breastfeeding Coalition Targets Racial Disparities, Workforce Development
By Karen Morales · Boston Medical Center: Health City ·With drop-in support groups and a service-learning program, the Vital Village Network seeks to support breastfeeding and create economic opportunity.
Boston Globe: ‘The school has a soul’: Urban College of Boston graduates reflect on their journeys
By Gal Tziperman Lotan · The Boston Globe ·When Arlene Wilhite of Mattapan enrolled at the Urban College of Boston in 2002, she was 24 and five months pregnant. She gave birth to her son, Kendrick, and left school. Over the next 14 years she got married, took a job in early child...
New Mobile App Fights Food Insecurity and Stigma
By Kim Etingoff · Boston Medical Center: Health City ·A grassroots effort seeks to fight stigma and create accountability for food providers.
Acclaimed community health expert Dr. Renée Boynton-Jarrett presents 2019 Pinderhughes Diversity Lecture
By Shona Simkin · BCSSW News ·On April 26, BCSSW hosted the 13th annual Pinderhughes Diversity Lecture
To Ease the Effects of Rent Burden, Policymakers Should Look Beyond Affordable Housing Initiatives
By Sandra Larson · HealthCity ·A report explains the intertwined impact of childcare costs, taxes, and eviction policies on housing stability — and offers an affordable solution.
Panelists Discuss Aspects of Childhood Adversity at CHS Event
By Emmy Freedman · NBC29.com ·People came together at Charlottesville High School on Wednesday night for a panel discussion on childhood adversity.
BMC Podcast: What is the Vital Village Network?
Founder, Dr. Renee Boynton-Jarrett and Program Manager, Erica Pike, were featured on the Boston Medical Center Podcast, "MedTalks."
BMC Selects 10 Communities to Strengthen Trauma-Informed Early Childhood Systems and Promote Child Wellbeing
By Jenny Eriksen Leary · ·Boston – Boston Medical Center’s (BMC) Vital Village Network is working with communities across the country to expand their model of community building to promote child health and opportunity. Through a $2.2M grant supp...
The Winners of the 2018 Make the Breast Pump Not Suck Hackathon
By Becky Michelson · Make the Breastpump Not Suck Medium Blog ·Vital Village Network members involved in the Boston Breastfeeding Coalition were awarded the Connections Award at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology's Make the Breastpump Not Suck Hackathon. Read more here!
The Learning Goes Both Ways: Engaging Community Members in Resilience Work
By Anndee Hochman · ACEs Connection ·ACE's Connection highlights Vital Village's community leadership in resilience work - featuring the Breastfeeding Coalition and the Social Justice Mediation Program.
Boston Mom Champions Community and Self-Care
Vital Village Network Community Champion, Marisa Luse's story about her experience with the Community Organizing and Family Issues training and her role as a Community Champion with the Network.
Boston school students advocate for free bus passes
By Yawu Miller · Bay State Banner ·Were it not for her boyfriend’s bus pass, Jaylean Sawyer would have to walk 1.8 miles from her South End apartment in the Villa Victoria housing development to Fenway High School in the Roxbury Crossing area. Instead, the pair foll...
This Roxbury Nonprofit Wants Every Child to Grow Up with a Father
By Jamie Ducharme · The Boston Magazine ·For his entire life, Charles Daniels Jr. has been shaped by the absence of his father—first personally, then professionally. Daniels, a social worker and a father himself, runs a unique clinic called Fathers’ Uplift...
'Baby Cafe' helps support parents and newborns at Boston Medical Center
By Kristin Toussaint · Boston METRO ·The new Baby Cafe at the Boston Medical Center isn't a spot to drink coffee or work on a laptop. Instead, it's a place where new moms and dads can get some often much-needed help. "The Baby Cafe is an opportunity for an expecting parent ...
Boston pediatrician in Gary: Collaborate to prevent childhood trauma
By Giles Bruce · NW Times ·GARY — During the recent lead-tainted water crisis in Flint, Michigan, there was at least testing available to determine which children had been contaminated. There is no such blood test to measure exposure to early childhood tr...
Prevention focus of child abuse forum
By Christin Nance Lazerus · Chicago Tribune ·As the stark image of the Flint (Mich.) Water Plant was posted on the screen, pediatrician Renee Boynton-Jarrett told a packed Berglund Auditorium that the city's lead-poisoned water supply was a stark reminder that lead and other early ...
Boston’s architect of community well-being: Pediatrician Renée Boynton-Jarrett
By Cissy White · ACES Too High News ·he Aces movement is filled with pioneers. There are physicians, professors and researchers who treat, teach and study. There are leaders of non-profits who partner with individuals, neighborhoods and organizations. Volunteers who give ti...
Changing Minds and Creating Trauma-Informed Communities Convenings - South and North
By Jane Stevens · ACES Connections ·Last week, on two separate days in Los Angeles and in San Francisco, about 150 people (total) convened to listen and brainstorm about creating trauma-informed communities. Futures Without Violence, which is rolling out its Changing ...
Communities Poised to Expand Groundbreaking Work in Childhood Trauma
By Health Federation of Philadelphia · ·Oct. 30, Philadelphia – Fourteen communities from across the country now have an opportunity to expand their innovative work in addressing childhood adversity through a new project launched by The Health Federation of Philadelphia,...
Dr. Neena McConnico honored for work with children
By Victoria Groves · Transcript@wickedlocal.com ·West Roxbury resident Neena McConnico was honored recently by Massachusetts Youth Villages for her work helping children who have experienced and witnessed violence, at a special 2015 Youth Villages Women of Excellence Breakfast at the ...
City needs sustainable, unified psychological trauma response system
By Jule Pattison-Gordon · The Bay State Banner ·City Councilor Ayanna Pressley held a hearing last week aimed at establishing a coordinated and sustainable system for psychological trauma response in Boston. The devastating effects of homicides, shootings, domestic abuse and other tra...
Dr. Megan Sandel, Vital Village Network Partner Boston Foundation Award Recipient
By Boston Foundation · ·Health Starts at Home is an initiative hosted by the Boston Foundation that brings together housing and health-care organizations to support work that focuses on the positive benefits of stable, affordable housing on children’s hea...
The Paul Revere Award
By MA Public Health · ·Paul Revere Award Honoree, Dr. Renee Boynton-Jarrett
Boston educator named Massachusetts Teacher of the Year
By Jeremy C Fox · The Boston Globe ·IHI Announces Final Selection of Communities for Health-Focused Scale Initiative
Business Wire ·24 community coalitions from across the US will be part of newly funded initiative to support and learn from each other while actively working to improve the health of their populations
Child Health Outcomes
By Veronica Ruckett · Wisconsin Public Radio ·Wisconsin Public Radio interview of Dr. Renee Boynton-Jarrett on the Vital Village Network
Examining child wellbeing in America
By Scottie Lee Meyers · Wisconsin Public Radio NPR ·A new PBS documentary calls for a more coordinated effort to ensure better outcomes for childhood health and wellbeing.
Boston ranks low in opportunity for Hispanic, African-American children
By Catherine Cloutier · The Boston Globe ·Inequity in access to neighborhood opportunity is high among Hispanic and African-American children in Boston.
Clinicians and Health Leaders Gather in Dallas to Accelerate Changes in Primary Care and to Improve Health in the Community
Finalists announced for newly funded initiative to support and learn from communities actively working to improve the health of their populations
Dudley intersection to be dedicated to Sr. Margaret Leonard
By Bill Forry · Dorchester Report ·Honoring those who serve
Domestic Violence Awareness: Kids Witnessing Abuse
Huffington Post ·As a part of the weeklong Deep Dive series on domestic abuse, HuffPost Live takes an in-depth look into the impact of domestic violence on children. How does growing up in an abusive home affect innocent witnesses. Listen to Dr. Nee...
Patchwork repairs, agency by agency, won’t help kids thrive
By Audrey Jackson · The Boston Globe - Letter ·In the wake of Jeremiah Oliver’s tragic disappearance, the state Department of Children and Families has been in the spotlight with urgent demands for reform (“Woes in child welfare agency run deeper than Oliver case,” ...
Why do poor people smoke more?
By Megan Sandel and Renée Boynton-Jarrett · CNN ·Crystal R. takes pictures of her neighborhood as part of Witnesses to Hunger. Among Crystal's photos of piles of trash, abandoned lots and barbed wire fences is a striking picture: large advertisements for "special prices" of cigarettes ...
A healthy place to live
By Megan Sandel · The Boston Globe ·My world changed when I was a pediatric resident in 1997. I was working in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Boston Medical Center, and I admitted a child with a terrible asthma attack. As we pumped IV medicine and continuous aerosoli...