Youth Center for Wellness

Today we are a national leader in the effort to advance pediatric medicine, raise public awareness, and transform the way society responds to children exposed to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress. It all started with our community pediatric clinic and dogged investigation of the question: “What is the connection between childhood adversity and poor health?” Now we also work at a larger scale: building a national movement, advancing clinical practice, and pushing the science forward. See how far we’ve come and where we’re headed. April 2007 CPMC Bayview Child Health Center (BCHC) founded with Dr. Nadine Burke Harris as the first medical director. May 2010 Tipping Point Community raises over $4 million for the Center for Youth Wellness building in the Bayview Hunters Point Neighborhood of San Francisco. 2013 April 2013 Center for Youth Wellness Community Advisory Council (CAC) created. Enters policy conversations when CEO Dr. Nadine Burke Harris speaks at Congressional Briefing in Washington, DC on behalf of the National Health Collaborative on Violence and Abuse. October 2013 Co-hosts a trauma convening with The California Endowment in Sacramento. CEO Dr. Nadine Burke Harris receives the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine award presented by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition (NCE). December 2013 Serves 200+ patients impacted by ACEs and toxic stress this year. June 2013 Announces partnership with "Too Small to Fail," a joint initiative with Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation and Next Generation. September 2013 Partners with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and Supervisor Malia Cohen to implement $1 million federal grant to address the impact of crime victimization in Bayview. 2014 January 2014 Contributes an essay on the impacts of ACEs and toxic stress on children to the Shriver Report: “A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back from the Brink." May 2014 Publishes first white paper “An Unhealthy Dose of Stress: The impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences and toxic stress on childhood health and development”, establishing Center for Youth Wellness’ emphasis on disseminating learnings throughout broader ACEs community. June 2014 Establishes the Community Research Board (CRB), a body of community stakeholders to provide feedback on our research agenda. September 2014 Dr. Nadine Burke Harris takes a global stage, speaking at the 2014 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting on panel, “The Science of Success: Investing in Babies’ Minds,” with early childhood development champion Hillary Clinton. February 2014 CEO Dr. Nadine Burke Harris and COO Suzy Loftus, Esq. honored with 2014 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award. Celebrates the opening of the Center for Youth Wellness Building located at 3450 3rd Street housing the Bayview Child Health Center (BCHC) and the Children’s Advocacy Center. The opening was the culmination of a months-long collaboration between the Center for Youth Wellness and community advocates dedicated to seeing the clinic come to fruition. August 2014 Assembly Concurrent Resolution 155, recognizing the impact of ACEs and toxic stress on childhood development and sponsored by the Center for Youth Wellness, is passed by the California Legislature with unanimous bipartisan support. October 2014 Hosts members of the Henrietta Lacks family (featured in The New York Times bestseller “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”) and more than 150 Bayview Hunters Point community members to discuss biomedical research in low-income communities of color. November 2014 Hosts the first California ACEs summit “Children Can Thrive,” welcoming over 200 leaders from across the state to address ACEs as a public health crisis. Publishes “A Hidden Crisis: Findings on Adverse Childhood Experiences in California,” a first-of-its-kind report examining the prevalence of ACEs using data from the California Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. 2015 June 2015 Founder and CEO Dr. Nadine Burke Harris speaks in front of Congress on behalf of the Kempe Center at the Summer 2015 Washington Child Abuse and Neglect Research Visibility Initiative Congressional Briefing. September 2015 Launches the Bay Area Research Consortium (BARC) with a ground-breaking $4.8 million grant from the Tara Health Foundation and in partnership with UCSF and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland to study biomarkers, bolstering research and delivering the first validated tool to investigate how childhood adversity affects children’s health. Releases policy report, “Children Can Thrive: A Vision for California’s Response to Adverse Childhood Experiences,” sparking conversation about social change. November 2015 Hosts California Policy Convening on Childhood Adversity, inviting leaders from early childhood, education, health, child welfare and juvenile justice from around California, resulting in publication of “An Action Plan: 7 Recommendations for Addressing Childhood Adversity in California.” July 2015 Develops and releases the CYW Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACE-Q) and User Guide as a screening tool and protocol for pediatric care providers, a resource that has been since downloaded more than 2,000 times in 24 countries. October 2015 The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) hosts its first-ever pre-conference session on ACEs and toxic stress, and features CYW founder and CEO Dr. Nadine Burke Harris as their keynote speaker. November 2015 ACEs TEDMED talk by CYW Founder and CEO Dr. Nadine Burke Harris viewed 3 million+ times and used actively in trainings, college curricula and continuing education programs. The TED talk has been pivotal in CYWs role as a national messenger of ACEs and toxic stress awareness. 2016 January 2016 Featured in Jamie Redford’s film, “Resilience: The Biology of Stress; The Science of Hope,” selected for participation at Sundance Film Festival and shown nearly 3,500 times throughout 7 countries. August 2016 Completes first-of-its-kind community-based participatory research (CBPR) study on childhood adversity in partnership with Leadership High School students. September 2016 Visits the White House with Leadership High youth to participate in a panel on trauma-informed approaches in school and specific efforts to support girls of color and rethinking discipline. Our founder and CEO Dr. Burke Harris awarded the prestigious Heinz Award for the Human Condition, recognizing her leadership in the field. October 2016 Supports launch of the California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity (4CA), a collaboration of stakeholders representing child welfare, early childhood, education, health, and youth justice to develop a statewide policy agenda to prevent and mitigate effects of ACEs. May 2016 Completes FIT pilot study. June 2016 Dr. Burke Harris, as a guest of the Child Development Agency (CDA), speaks with health professionals about ACEs. CDA is a leader in Jamaica’s child protection system and works to promote child-friendly policies and groundbreaking programs to strengthen families. October 2016 Convenes second biannual Center for Youth Wellness National Conference on ACEs with 500+ practitioners, educators and pediatricians, featuring inspirational speakers like Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha and Bryan Stevenson. October 2016 Hosts pediatric symposium for 122 pediatricians, nurses and other medical staff working on or interested in ACE screening and referrals within pediatric medical settings. 2017 March 2017 Begins recruitment for PEdiatric ACEs Screening and ResiLiency pilot study (PEARLS study) in collaboration with the Bay Area Research Consortium (BARC), contributing to the science of childhood adversity. September 2017 Presents findings from systematic review of pediatric health outcomes associated with childhood adversity at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference & Exhibition October 2017 Assembly Bills 340 and 1340, improving trauma screening in children, and supported by 4CA's Policymaker Education Day in July 2017, are signed. May 2017 Launched National Pediatric Practice Community on ACEs to support our national effort to transform clinical understanding and practice for children exposed to early adversity through universal screening for ACEs October 2017 Publishes "Adversity and Academic Performance Among Adolescent Youth: A Community-Based Participatory Research Study" in Journal of Adolescent and Family Health