How United way of whitewater valley is addressing adverse childhood experiences

Black girl around age 10 is sitting in a white plastic chair and hugging a brown teddy bear. She’s wearing a white shirt with a lacy pattern and blue jeans. She’s looking down towards the floor with a sad expression. In the background an adult in a blue shirt and blue pants is sitting in a white plastic chair and holding a clipboard and pencil.

Have you heard about ACEs? ACE stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences. ACEs are traumas that children under age 18 experience during their most critical developmental years. Preventing or mitigating the effects of these experiences to maximize the potential of youth in our community is a priority for United Way of Whitewater Valley and our community partners. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 6 adults and 1 in 5 high school students has experienced four or more types of ACEs, and ACEs are linked with several leading causes of death in the U.S., including heart disease, depression and suicide, and substance misuse.

Reducing the number of adverse child experiences (ACEs) that young children and teens in our community face is critical to preventing mental health crises later in life. Traumatic childhood and youth experiences could be anything from domestic or sexual abuse within the household to parental separation and divorce, bullying, discrimination, and micro-aggressions, having an incarcerated parent or a parent with an untreated mental illness, knowing someone who takes their own life, unstable housing or homelessness, or not knowing where your next meal will come from. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), periods of prolonged stress from ACEs can negatively affect children’s brain development, immune systems, and stress-response systems. It can also affect their relationships and life opportunities like work.

Partnering to Ensure Every Child Can Thrive

United Way of Whitewater Valley works with partners across our community to prevent or remediate the effects of adverse child experiences and to ensure that every child can thrive. Through partnership and funding, United Way works with Amigos Latino Center, Boys and Girls Clubs of Wayne County, Communities in Schools of Wayne County, Girls, Inc. of Wayne County, Junior Achievement of Wayne County, Richmond Family YMCA, and Every Child Can Read, to maximize the potential of every child under age 18 in Wayne and Union Counties.

In addition, United Way of Whitewater Valley and community partners like Circle U and Gateway Hunger Relief are addressing both acute needs and the underlying causes of local challenges, including food insecurity. An estimated 11,000 individuals, including 3,500 children were food insecure in 2022. 46% of those families aren’t eligible for federal food programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), or Free and Reduced Lunch programs in schools (Map the Food Gap, Feeding America).

Struggling Families in Our Community

According to the latest report from United for ALICE, 1 in 2 (13,487) working families in Wayne County and 1 in 3 (930) families in Union County struggle to meet their most basic needs – like food, childcare, healthcare, transportation, and housing. Many of these families live in Jackson Township, Wayne Township, Center Township, and Liberty Township. In addition, the cost of these essentials is rising faster than the overall inflation rate. Learn more about ALICE families

Sign up for our monthly newsletter to learn more about what we do at United Way of Whitewater Valley and how we work across sectors and across organizations to collectively reduce ACEs in Wayne and Union Counties.