This week I had the pleasure of being in Johnstown, Pennsylvania for a Trauma-Informed Community Development institute. Last November, I went to Somerset County to meet Hope Beyond Hurt, a multi-county coalition that had formed and was operating at the time as an all volunteer effort. I described to them The Full Press and what I was working on, just having stepped into the role leading HEAL PA, and fortunately for me they wanted to partner. I do not remember if there was som

My last two blog posts have focused on developing a pitch for my work. As I have sat with what I’ve worked on so far, it strikes me that no pitch is complete without an actual ask. There is an implied ask in both, but I never make it explicit. So I won’t keep having blog posts on my pitch, but I felt that a third part was necessary here to finish what I have been working on. I described my work, then modeled its return on investment, and now will finish up by directly stating

As promised in last week’s blog, I will focus this week on the return on investment (RoI) of The Change Campaign’s work. The Full Press is the work that has a quantifiable and financial RoI, so that is what I will focus on in this blog post. As I have shared before, our society’s lack of wellbeing costs us a tremendous amount of money, in the trillions of dollars every year. A 2023 JAMA article estimated that the annual cost of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in the Unit

The Change Campaign’s Q3 board meeting was productive. My board members encouraged me to create a pitch for my work. Nothing long, and unafraid to state the value of an investment in the organization. In an effort to work through that, this will be my shortest post to date. The central thesis in our work is that healthy communities help build healthy people, and that healthy people help build healthy communities. Our view of health aligns with holistic wellbeing across all d

At the beginning of the week, my dad called me while I was picking up my lunch. A normal check in to make sure the day was going well was followed by him making sure that he was sharing my newsletter from last week with his network. I won’t harp on it too much, but this is a small illustration of how my family has supported me, and continues to support me, throughout my whole life. I have said many times that of the many privileges I have been granted in this life, the love a

Unlike other times when I have sat down to write, I am struggling to know what to say this week. Not because I don’t have anything to say, but because there is almost too much to say. Overwhelm is not new to me, unfortunately, it has been a routine part of my career. This week has just held so much within it. The Holy Days just began and there is a tremendous amount of reflection that enters during these times each year. Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of 9/11. This week s

At the beginning of September of 2025, The Change Campaign officially took over as the fiscal agent of HEAL PA, Pennsylvania’s statewide system of trauma-informed care. The initiative that started under Governor Tom Wolf got lost in the reorganization during the transition to the Shapiro Administration. The Office of Advocacy and Reform that Governor Wolf began that housed HEAL PA lost its capacity, and after efforts to change that were unsuccessful, HEAL PA’s Executive Steer

A couple weeks ago I wrote about my thoughts as I was soaring through the sky on my way to China. I won’t write about how amazing flight is again, but I am writing this on my way back to the United States. In between those two posts, I had a very special trip. The last time I was in China was January of 2020. I went with my significant other to visit her family for the first time then, and it did not take long to learn that there were people half way around the world that con

I was going to write a different sort of blog this week. Rather than writing about something directly work related, I was going to write about the first week of my trip in China. I am sure I’d still bring some reflections on work back into the writing, but a lot more sharing about the culture and experiences I am having on the other side of the world from where I normally am. But a set of news stories came a couple days ago that made me feel I had to write about it. I have tr

I am writing this piece during a 16 hour flight. Sometimes I take for granted the fact that a normal part of our world is flying through the sky. It is an absolute marvel of engineering and ingenuity that this is possible; and a testament to the ability to scale what is at one time perceived as impossible to something our society cannot fathom living without. I recognize that not all people fly, but our global society, as well as many societies with massive tourism industry,

Today marks the 17th anniversary of a plane crash, involving a small plane and a helicopter, above the Hudson River that killed all nine people aboard the two aircrafts. In that plane were my childhood best friend Doug, one of my heroes (his father, Danny), as well as his uncle. Doug was just 15 years old. It was a tragedy that not only ended the lives of some truly wonderful humans, but altered the trajectories of so many others. To the extent that healing means to return to

My old mentor used to call me a stray. As with any good mentor, he saw a lot of talent in me. And he was always amazed that I had essentially been hidden when he met me. It was a term of endearment from Dan and it made me laugh. If you ever saw the way Dan took care of his animals, you would know he did not mean this in a bad way at all. It was his way of calling me a diamond in the rough. I had mostly forgotten about that until recently when I had a call with one of his old

It’s been about three months of writing and posting a weekly blog. I have largely enjoyed the practice and feel it has been worthwhile. I am finding myself trusting my voice more than I did at the beginning, having gotten to work through some ideas better than I have before, and gaining confidence to put my thoughts out into the world. On the last point, there has been a steady reduction in engagement to near zero. There are two likely reasons I have been playing with that ex

I got to spend some good time outside this week playing and coaching sports, which is one of my favorite things. Thursday before dinner with my parents, I got to hit some golf balls at the driving range and work on my short game. It’s a work in progress, but that’s not the point of this piece. The air was thick with smoke. The wildfires in Canada brought smoke into the Philadelphia area. The sun was a muted red circle that you could look directly at without it hurting your ey

I talk about The Full Press a lot, but I don’t know how often I’ve shared about where they came from. Both were initially created during the height of the pandemic, but for different reasons. They were not woven together at first, they developed as separate ideas that tackled different aspects of major problems the trauma-informed movement was facing, that perhaps not surprisingly wound up fitting together very well. Social infrastructure development, as is the case with all

I love the United States. I always have and I always will. I come from a family that has shown me unconditional love, and so that is what I know to give back. But I fear that not everyone who claims to love the USA feels this way. There are people who will love this country so long as it feeds their selfish desires, but turn their backs on it as soon as it starts working toward a common good, and then they will find another place to “love” and take advantage of. There are oth

After I transitioned out of my role with CTIPP and as I was getting ready to graduate, having finished my capstone paper and just needing the actual graduation date to arrive, I confronted a serious issue: what was I supposed to do with only one job? I was so excited to be full-time in my role with The Change Campaign that I hadn’t really thought about the fact that I haven’t had just one job and no school since April of 2017. Over the last decade of constantly spinning multi

I have met just about weekly with my primary funder since we began working together, who has supported me in my work since I started as ED on loan to CTIPP over five years ago. Actually, we started meeting regularly about a half a year before that, though those meetings were not always one on one like they often are now. What interested her most in me, beyond honestly my mentor who she wanted to support me to be able to learn more from, was the project financing idea to susta

I’ve been thinking a lot about legacy this week. Today is Doug’s 32nd birthday. Doug was my best friend growing up who passed away tragically when we were 15 years old. Additionally, last weekend, my Bubbie passed away at the age of 92. She lived a wonderful life though her battle with dementia over the last few years was challenging. Two very different lives and trajectories, both with indescribable influence on me, now and forever onward. I will try to do both justice. Doug

The last couple of weeks have been the first time in nearly a decade that I have only had one job, do not serve on any boards (other than The Change Campaign’s), and am not in school. Honestly, I was concerned about whether or not I would be able to do just one thing well. I had gotten good at keeping multiple plates spinning, but questioned if I had the discipline to do just one thing well. These concerns have proven to be unnecessary, as there is more than enough work for m