Information for supporting families during Covid

Welcome to the MHVI Covid-19 Resource Digest, volume 59, June 22, 2021. We’re departing from our usual content to
bring you resources for these times. Think a friend or colleague should get this newsletter? Share this link with them to
sign up.

Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) works closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), other Federal agencies and our local Boards of Health to share the most up to date information available. The
DPH website is updated continuously with the latest guidance, including printable fact sheets in multiple languages.
Looking for resources for families: call 2-1-1 or visit mass211.org.

Information for supporting families during Covid:
       Mass.gov: COVID-19 Community Impact Survey. More than 35,000 people participated in this survey.
        The COVID-19 Community Impact Survey (CCIS) findings were initially released at the February 17,
        2021 meeting of the Public Health Council, new findings are updated every month, with the most
        recent update on sexual orientation, gender identity, and youth, on June 9, 2021. Please see
        Mass.gov/Covid-19 Community Impact Survey for a summary of key findings and other supporting
        materials.
       DHCD: DHCD has received an award of 917 Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHV) under the American
        Rescue Plan. These are tenant-based vouchers available to 1) homeless; 2) at-risk of homelessness; 3)
        fleeing, or attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human
        trafficking; or 4) recently homeless and for whom providing rental assistance will prevent the
        household’s housing instability. Please review PIH Notice 2021-15 and visit www.hud.gov/ehv for
        additional information on this program. There will be two Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) Listening
        Sessions on July 7 at 11:30 am; Register in advance for this meeting; and 6:00 pm. Register in advance
        for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about
        joining the meeting.
       Lifehacker: How to Claim Your Monthly Child Tax Credit Payments Even If You Haven’t Filed Your Taxes.
        A relaunched IRS tool will also help you claim the recent $1,400 economic impact payment. IRS FAQ,
       Shah Family Foundation/Children’s HealthWatch/several others: Find Your Funds.org You can have
        low or no income to get this money. This money is not just for people who need to complete tax
        returns because of the amount of money they make.
       Boston Globe: ‘There is still really a need for this’: Community fridges charge on as pandemic wanes
       Huffpost: Democrats Have A Plan To Slash Child Poverty, But It Goes Through A Shoddy Website. A
        badly designed government website stands between America’s poorest families and much-needed
        monthly checks.
       Huffpost: For Those Who Lost Someone To COVID, There Is No 'Returning To Normal.' Widows and
        children impacted by the coronavirus share how they feel about post-pandemic life and how they're
        navigating the grieving process.
       WebMD: COVID Tied to Spike in Suicide Attempts By Girls
       CDC: Emergency Department Visits for Suspected Suicide Attempts Among Persons Aged 12–25 Years
        Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, January 2019–May 2021
       NYT: Kids, Covid and Delta. A guide to help parents. For most American adults, the Covid-19 situation
        is now straightforward. … For children under 12, however, the situation is more complicated.
       TIME: 'A Year Full of Emotions.' What Kids Learned From the COVID-19 Pandemic, 6 minute video

   Knowable: Covid-19: Why race matters for health. The pandemic has highlighted the complex links
       between inequality, racism and disease risk in America. Harvard public health scholar David Williams
       explains.
      WBUR: The Pandemic Left More Kids Feeling Suicidal. One Mass. Teen Found Her Way Out Of The Dark
      WBUR: Pandemic School Year Anxieties: In Chelsea, Counselors Navigate Rise In Mental Health Needs,
       6 minute audio
      NYT: We Were Promised a Village: A Year in the Life of Pandemic-Baby Parents

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Other news, towards racial justice and racial healing:
      Boston Globe: Data points to disparities among Asian Americans, a demographic that often is
       portrayed as monolithic
      Boston Globe: How white supremacy weaponizes ignorance. Racists have always understood that if
       they can censor what people learn, they can control what people believe.
      NYT: Teaching My Black Son to Swim. A mother’s determination to end a legacy of racial trauma
       started with mother-son swim lessons.
      NYT: Juneteenth, Celebration and Expectation and 6 more articles
       1. What Walmart Doesn’t Get About Juneteenth, opinion
       2. Why Juneteenth Matters: It was Black Americans who delivered on Lincoln’s promise of a “new
            birth of freedom.
       3. Juneteenth Is a Reminder That Freedom Wasn’t Just Handed Over. I’ve celebrated this holiday all
            my life. It’s different this year. Opinion
       4. What Does It Mean to Be Crowned ‘Miss Juneteenth’? For contestants, it’s a pageant, yes, but also
            a place to celebrate Black sisterhood and promote a deeper understanding of a complex holiday.
       5. Most Americans Know Little or Nothing About Juneteenth, Poll Finds. Academics believe that
            increases in the number of Americans familiar with the holiday, which commemorates the end of
            slavery in the U.S., may be a result of last summer’s protests against racism.
       6. So You Want to Learn About Juneteenth? On June 19, 1865, enslaved African-Americans in
            Galveston, Texas, were told they were free. A century and a half later, people in cities and towns
            across the U.S. continue to celebrate the occasion.
      PSYCHE: Sounds for Mazin , a moving and attentive portrait of Mazin, a Dutch boy going through the
       process of receiving a cochlear implant. The world of hearing – including that of family conversation –
       is a new joy, but he must renegotiate his relationship with his Deaf friends at the same time. 20 minute
       video.
      WSJ/Pocket: Essential Reading: Celebrating Juneteenth. Black writers on the history and traditions of
       America's newest national holiday and why it has always been one of the most important days on the
       calendar.
      NPR: Here's What You Need To Know About Juneteenth, The Nation's Second Independence Day
      Five-Thirty-Eight: Juneteenth Challenges A Narrative About America’s History
      The New Yorker: Growing Up with Juneteenth
      NYT: Why Juneteenth Matters
      The Atlantic: Black Joy—Not Corporate Acknowledgment—Is the Heart of Juneteenth
      Jezebel: The Story of Katie Darling and the Complex Jubilation of Juneteenth
      Five Books: The Best Books for Juneteenth
      Oprah Daily: The True Meaning of the Juneteenth Flag, Explained

   Public Domain Review: Early Photographs of Juneteenth Celebrations
      Boston Globe: Why is Asian American history barely taught in Mass. schools?
      The Atlantic: The Truth About Black Freedom. This year’s Juneteenth commemorations must take a
       deeper look at the history of Black self-liberation to understand what emancipation really means—and
       how far the country still has to go.
      The Atlantic: The Quintessential Americanness of Juneteenth. The most famous Emancipation holiday
       is more necessary now than it has ever been.
      CNN/Black History Refocused: 150 years ago, Republicans fought hard for Black voter turnout. Oscar
       James Dunn was one of 1,500 Black men elected to office during the Civil War Reconstruction period.
       Black voter turnout was at a high, thanks to a big push from President Lincoln and Congressional
       Republicans. 7 minute video; 6 additional videos
      Smithsonian: Juneteenth, the U.S.’ Second Independence Day, Is Now a Federal Holiday. June 19, 1865,
       marked the end of slavery in Texas and, by extension, the Confederate states
      CNN: Juneteenth's path to becoming a federal holiday was a long time coming
      Huffpost: Don't Treat Juneteenth As Another Day Off. Do This Instead. Here's how to make Juneteenth
       a celebration and a day of learning about our nation's true history. (Tuck this aside for next year’s
       celebration.)
      TIME: Juneteenth Isn't Just a Celebration of the End of Slavery. We Also Honor the Black Americans
       Who Helped Create Their Own Freedom
      The Undefeated: Like the original Juneteenth celebrants, we are still fighting for black humanity.
       Juneteenth was a way for black people to honor the dawn of freedom while claiming their right to
       public space and participation in the American body. Includes a short video by Marc Spears.
      The Undefeated: The ugly truth at the center of Juneteenth. Texas slave owners profited from their
       enslaved people not finding out the truth.
      CNN: For many tribal nations, the pandemic also brought an increase in population
      Robert Woods Johnson Foundation: How We’re Working Toward Becoming an Antiracist Community
      Robert Woods Johnson Foundation: Why Discrimination is a Health Issue
      Robert Woods Johnson Foundation: Racism and Health. Inequities across our nation have their roots
       in discrimination.
      Robert Woods Johnson Foundation: Maternal Health Inequities During the COVID-19 Pandemic
      New England Journal of Medicine: Understanding and Mitigating Health Inequities — Past, Current,
       and Future Directions
      The Conversation: How Black writers and journalists have wielded punctuation in their activism
      The Nineteenth: Six decades after Freedom Rides, activist says work isn’t done. Freedom Rider
       Catherine Burks-Brooks fought for equal rights alongside John Lewis and Diane Nash. That fight
       continues today, she says.
      TIME: The U.S. Is Increasingly Diverse, So Why Is Segregation Getting Worse?

Other news and information:
      Lifehacker: How to Understand Your Child's Temperament. You can't change your child's
       temperament, but you can embrace the one they have.
      CNN/Pandemic Parenting: Raising Resilient Kids, 28 minute audio
      Pandemic Parenting/Dr. Bruce Perry: What do our children need right now?, 1 minute audio
      Center for the Developing Child/Harvard U.: How Early Childhood Experiences Affect Lifelong Health
       and Learning, 5 minute audio
      Science Daily/U. of Cambridge: Teenagers at greatest risk of self-harming could be identified almost a
       decade earlier

   Spitfire: How to talk about Pride without missing the point After more than a year of quarantine, fear
       and anxiety, people across the country are clamoring for the excitement brought by the parades,
       marches, parties and events celebrating LGBTQIA+ Pride Month in the post-vaccine era. While joy is
       important to Pride, celebrated every June, there are serious dangers and threats to the LGBTQIA+
       community that must not fall into the shadows.
      NYT: The ABCs of L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+
      The Conversation: Nurturing dads raise emotionally intelligent kids – helping make society more
       respectful and equitable
      HealthyChildren.org/AAP: Guns in the Home. An estimated 4.6 million kids live with unlocked, loaded
       guns. That's a scary statistic when you think about the fact that even young toddlers are capable of
       finding unlocked guns in the home, and they are strong enough to pull the trigger.
      WebMD: Gun Suicides Are Rising Sharply Among American Youth.
      Science Daily/U. of Kent: New research led by the University of Kent has found that there is no link
       between bed sharing, infant-mother attachment, and infant behavioural outcomes.
      Children’s Safety Network: Protecting Children from Heatstroke in Vehicles. Every 10 days a child dies
       from Pediatric Vehicular Heatstroke (PVH) while unattended in a car. The total number of PVH deaths
       in the US, from 1998 through 2020 is 882; an average of 38 fatalities a year. Archived Webinar
      NPR: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Reveals New Regulations On Infant Sleepers, Advice
       from experts on new federal safety standards for infant sleepers and how parents can help keep their
       babies safe while soothing them to sleep. 2 minute audio
      Greater Good Science Center: How a Father’s Love Helps Kids Thrive in Life. A new study suggests that
       affection from dads can help children grow up to be more satisfied with their lives and accepting of
       themselves.
      Health Day/Web MD: Gun Suicides Are Rising Sharply Among American Youth
      Fatherly: Why The Declining Birth Rate is Probably the New Normal. It may be the new overall norm.
      The Conversation: Fathers need to care for themselves as well as their kids – but often don’t
      The Conversation: The understated affection of fathers
      The Conversation: Navigating the tricky waters of being a stepdad

Reports, Briefs, Infographics and other downloads:
      Prevent Child Abuse America: Physical Punishment: Attitudes, Behaviors, and Norms Associated with
       Its Use Across the US
      Center for the Developing Child/Harvard U :Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body: Early
       Childhood Development and Lifelong Health Are Deeply Intertwined
      Children’s Safety Network: Disparities in U.S. Childhood and Adolescent Drowning Deaths, infographic
      Children’s Safety Network: Fire and Burn 2021 Resource Guide
      Children’s Safety Network: Firearm Safety 2021 Resource Guide
      HRSA: Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Issue Brief on Family Enrollment
       and Engagement
      HRSA: In FY 2020, the MIECHV Program served over 140,000 parents and children and provided more
       than 925,000 home visits, infographic
      Administration for Children and Families: Data Snapshot: Changes in Responsible Fatherhood Clients’
       Outcomes Over Time
      Administration for Children and Families: Five Ways Fathers Support Their Child’s Learning Every Day
      Zero to Three/Child Trends: Racism Creates Inequities in Maternal and Child Health, Even Before Birth

Did someone forward you this newsletter? To subscribe please send an email to Maxene.Spolidoro@mass.gov. Please put
subscribe in the subject line.

For Self-care:
      Greater Good Science Center: Four Ways Self-Compassion Can Help You Fight for Social Justice. Fierce
       self-compassion can help us cultivate the clarity and courage to stand up to oppression.
      Greater Good Science Center: Noticing Nature in the City. When was the last time you stopped to
       admire a tree? Paying attention to the greenery near home can bring peace of mind.
      NPR: The Importance Of Mourning Losses (Even When They Seem Small), 14 minute audio
      Greater Good Science Center: Self-Compassion Quiz Does your inner voice sound like a caring,
       supportive friend—or like a pestering, harsh critic?
      Verywellmind: How to Maintain Work-Life Balance Like a Pro
      Verywellmind: Why You Need to Take a Vacation This Year, Even If You Don't Go Far
      Verywellmind: 5 Simple Stress Reducers to Try Now
      NPR: You're Apologizing All Wrong. Here's How To Say Sorry The Right Way, 16 minute audio
      WBUR: 5 Ways To Stop Summer Colds From Making The Rounds In Your Family
      HealthyChildren.org/AAP: Finding a Self-Care Ritual That Works for You
      Healthline: Jump Roping Craze: How to Get the Most Out of This At-Home Exercise
      NPR: A Taste Of Freedom (Beloved Black cook books for Juneteenth) 32 minute audio
      NPR: Celebrating Juneteenth And Black Music Month With Classical Classics, a 5 minute audio; and,
       o Lettie Alston, "Lift Every Voice and Sing" (scroll down)
       o Sam Cooke "A Change Is Gonna Come" You Tube
       o Lara Downes, "A Change Is Gonna Come" (scroll down)
      Verywellmind: 10 Psychological Tricks That Will Boost Your Creativity

Live webinars & open meetings: (new opportunities added in blue)
      Embrace Race: Racial Socialization as Resistance to Racism, the Early Years, Escuche la traducción en
       español en vivo, June 22, 8:30 pm
      NASBE/Child Trends: Virtual Gathering on Suicide Prevention, June 24
      MIRA Coalition: Intro to Immigration - 2021 Summer Training Series, ABCs of Immigration, June 24
      CLASP/Children at Risk: Healing & Thriving: A National Summit on Children of Immigrants, June 24
      Public Health Institute of Western MA: Vaccines & Masks: Navigating Workplace Culture, June 24
      Brazelton Training Center: Hope in the Face of Adversity: Touchpoints in the Context of Substance Use
       Disorder, June 24
      MDPH/Suicide Prevention: Impacted Family & Friends Lived Experience 101: Ending the
       Marginalization & Why That Matters for Suicide Prevention & Mental Wellness for the Entire Family,
       June 24
      Office of Head Start: Identifying and Addressing Maternal Depression, June 24
      Brazelton Training Center: Hope in the Face of Adversity: Touchpoints in the Context of Substance Use
       Disorder, June 24
      MDPH/BSAS: Cultural Humility as a Methodology for Collaborating with Massachusetts Native
       Communities, June 25
      Brazelton Training Center: Nurturing the Nurturer: Self-care for Providers & Parents, June 24
      Children’s Health Watch: A Place to Call Home: How Equitable Housing Improves Child and Family
       Health, A Virtual Town Hall, June 24
      MIRA Coalition: Intro to Immigration - 2021 Summer Training Series, ABCs of Immigration, June 24
      NIHCM: Achieving Health Equity for People with Disabilities During the Pandemic and Beyond, June 28
      Brazelton Training Center: Using Culturally Responsive Practices During Transitions, June 29

   National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine: COVID-19: Disaster Preparedness and
        Vulnerable Populations, July 1, July 15
       MIRA Coalition: Intro to Immigration - 2021 Summer Training Series, Rights and Benefits for
        Immigrants, July 8
       New England Public Health Training Center: Speaking up at work: why does it matter and how might it
        help us stay healthy? July 8
       Safe Kids World Wide: Childhood Injury Prevention Convention Virtual Conference, July 12 – 16
       Office of Head Start: The Latest Live from the ACF Office of Early Childhood Development, July 13
       Office of Head Start: The Science Behind Social and Emotional Development, July 15
       MIRA Coalition: Intro to Immigration - 2021 Summer Training Series, Immigration and Families, July 22
       EmbraceRace: Racial Socialization as Resistance to Racism: The Early Years, June 22
       Public Health Institute of Western MA: Vaccines & Masks: Navigating Workplace Culture, June 24
       NCCAN: 22nd National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, July 27-29
       Office of Head Start, Stress and Trauma Part 1: Pandemic-related Struggles and Lessons Learned, July
        27
       Office of Head Start: Stress and Trauma Part 2: Buffering the Impact of the Pandemic, July 29
       MIRA Coalition: Intro to Immigration - 2021 Summer Training Series, Immigration Policy Updates and
        the Work Ahead, Aug. 5
       Prevent Child Abuse America: Transforming Our Tomorrow: 2021 National Conference, Aug. 10-12
       Office of Head Start: Asking Good Questions to Support Children’s Thinking and Learning, Sept.2
       Office of Head Start: Mothers and Babies: An Intervention to Prevent Postpartum Depression, Sept. 16
       Boston Association for Childbirth Education & Nursing Mothers' Council: BACE+ Accelerated
        Childbirth Educator Training Workshop, for those with strong content knowledge and experience.
        Hybrid format - online and in person classes, Oct. 20, 21 & Nov 31
       Children’s Trust: 29th Annual A View from All Sides Virtual Conference, Confronting
        Racism: Promoting Racial Justice, Equity, and Inclusion in Family Support, Interview
        with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi Nov. 4

More learning opportunities for family support professionals can be found here.

Covid-19 resources for family support professionals can be found here.

The Massachusetts Home Visiting Initiative has a deep commitment to racial justice. Each of these is a collection of
articles, books, videos and other materials addressing racial injustice, its impact on families and provides context for
moving forward toward a more equitable and just future. Racial justice resource compendiums for family support
professionals can be found here.

Free Massachusetts Department of Public Health education publications and other materials are available at
the Massachusetts Health Promotion Clearinghouse.

Previous volumes of the MHVI Covid-19 Digests can be found in the State Library of Massachusetts archives.

The Massachusetts Home Visiting Initiative brings this E-Digest to you. If you no longer wish to receive the Digest please
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Curator/Publisher: Maxene Spolidoro, MS, Communications Director, MA Dept. of Public Health, Bureau of Family
Health and Nutrition
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