Beyond ACEs: Building Community Resilience

The Crater Health District has hosted two “Beyond ACEs: Building Community Resilience” summits to highlight the tremendous impact, both positive and negative, childhood experiences have on future violence, victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity. Thus, early experiences are an important public health issue. Much of the foundational research in this area has been referred to as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). The summit engages a variety of participants – teachers, healthcare providers, social services, community members, etc. – to learn about ACEs and how understanding ACEs can improve delivery of care, and build resilience to prevent the negative impact of ACEs.


Summit Highlights

2019 Summit

The 2019 summit took place at Petersburg High School in Petersburg, VA. The 2019 summit theme was The Impact of Race, Culture and Poverty. There were over 500 attendees for the two-day event including a variety of professionals, community members and youth. This year’s summit included an adult and a youth track with sessions and activities tailored for each. Keynote speakers included Dr. Joy DeGruy, Dr. Camara Jones, Mr. Ivan Juzang, Mrs. Helga Luest, Mr. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Dr. Marleen Wong. In addition to keynote speakers, the summit included breakout sessions, artistic performances, physical activity and artists-in-residence who worked with youth in dance, music and song. Magellan created a calming room as part of the summit that is a permanent fixture in the Petersburg High School to provide students, faculty and staff with an alternative option for coping and self-regulation. The summit’s culminating event is the HOPE Fest- a community celebration of healing and resilience. This year’s HOPE Fest included a community dialogue on race. Click here, or see the photos below, to learn more about the 2019 Beyond ACEs Summit: Building Community Resilience- The Impact of Race, Culture and Poverty.

2017 Summit

The 2017 summit took place in Petersburg, VA at Tabernacle Baptist Church, Gilfield Baptist Church, Saint Stephens Episcopal Church and the Petersburg Health Department. The were over 275 attendees for the three-day event including community members, educators, public health practitioners, human service providers, juvenile justice representatives, parents and students. Keynote speakers included Dr. Marva Lewis, Dr. Jerry Yager and Rev. Paul Abernathy. The summit included three artist residencies in dance, spoken word and visual art as well. These artists worked with youth to teach coping mechanisms and emotional expression through art. The summit ended with the HOPE Fest which is a community celebration of healing and resilience. See the videos and photos below for more highlights from the 2017 Beyond ACEs Summit: Building Community Resilience.

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Contact Us

For questions about the Summit, or other upcoming trauma and resilience events, please contact us at 804-863-8972 or craterevents@vdh.virginia.gov.

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