Image 1. Before and After: 100% Taos has a vision of every community being resourced to ensure safe childhoods, empowered families and economically vibrant communities.
We are 100% Taos, a collaborative working to ensure ten vital services for surviving and thriving for 100% of residents across all the communities within the county’s borders. We’re committed to ensuring safe childhoods by preventing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), trauma and social adversity. We are agency leaders, community stakeholders, artists and advocates for family-focused and economically vibrant communities that make up Taos County’s almost 33,000 residents.
Inside
Here’s what you will find throughout the site.
This site provides Taos County residents with all the information and resources to identify the biggest challenges facing residents and the solutions, including an overview of the 100% Taos initiative, framework for change, insights on childhood trauma and social adversity, local data on health challenges, teams and opportunities for engagement.
Adverse Childhood Experiences & Family Trauma
We’re problem-solving on a countywide level
We have much to celebrate about the communities across the lands called Taos, Taos County and Taos Pueblo. It’s a long list of accomplishments worthy of celebrations.
100% Taos was launched to address our unfinished business, historic challenges that have kept residents of all ages from enjoying the benefits of community life in our beautiful physical surroundings amid diverse and rich cultures.
We first look into the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and family trauma endured in the home and how ACEs lead to a host of interconnected problems. We then look at the challenges residents face when stepping outside into a world of social adversity, including disparities and inequities, that diminish participation in the schools, community life and the workplace.
Data illustrating health challenges guide us as we see how problems that start very early in life end up impacting adults who struggle to feel connected and gain the capacity to become contributing members of the broader Taos community.
As you will see, ACEs and social adversity are far more than a family problem for households to fix on their own, they represent the root causes of almost every costly social challenge that impacts every member of the Taos community directly or indirectly. For this reason, solutions proposed and implemented by the local initiative, come from the collective work by local stakeholders and leaders representing the city, county and pueblo of Taos.
COSTS VS. COST-SAVINGS
The goal of 100% Taos, part of the 100% New Mexico initiative, sponsored by the Anna, Age Eight Institute, is to prevent the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), abuse, neglect and trauma that lead to costly interventions by the state-funded systems of child welfare, law enforcement, courts, prison and health care. Preventing traumatized childhoods and untreated trauma in parents represents a prudent return on investment, increasing family stability and school achievement that leads to job readiness, stable employment, taxable incomes and contributing to community life as an adult.
Image 2. What are ACEs?: ACEs represent a variety of abusive and neglectful behaviors endured by children and youth in the home, perpetrated by parents and other household members.
COSTLY CHALLENGES IMPACTING US ALL
Directly or indirectly, ACEs and trauma impact all residents. ACEs disrupt a childhood, often placing a child in a near-constant state of flight or fight, fearful of when adversity, abuse or neglect will arise in the home. The more ACEs endured, the more likely one is to have emotional and physical challenges1,2. Costly challenges associated with ACEs include: increased mental illness3,4, stresses on the child welfare and legal system5,6, school dropout and underemployment8, substance misuse9, and negative impact on employers10.
References
- The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. Felitti et al.1998. https://aae.how/314
- The Lifelong Effects of Early Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress. Shonkoff, et al. 2012. https://aae.how/315
- ACEs and the risk of depressive disorders in adulthood. Chapman, et all. 2004 https://aae.how/316
- The relationship between ACEs and mental health in adulthood. De Venter, et al. 2013. https://aae.how/317
- The economic burden of child maltreatment in the US and implications for prevention. Fang, et al. 2011. https://aae.how/318
- The prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) in the lives of juvenile offenders. Baglivio, et al. 2014. https://aae.how/319
- Education Brief: ACEs for Educators and Stakeholders, The Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative, Health and Medicine Research Groups. https://aae.how/320
- The Consequences of Dropping Out of High School. Sum, et al. 2009. https://aae.how/321
- New Mexico Substance Use Epidemiology Profile https://aae.how/322
- Relationship between ACEs and unemployment among adults from five U.S. states. Liu, et al. 2012. https://aae.how/323
SOCIAL ADVERSITY EXISTS IN THE FORM OF BARRIERS TO VITAL SERVICES
SOCIAL ADVERSITY OCCURS OUTSIDE OUR DOORS
Social adversity exists in the form of barriers to vital service, the very ones that can prevent and treat ACEs, trauma and related health challenges. Barriers to ten vital services can diminish family health, learning and job readiness. Community safety and other issues also impact residents across the county.
Image 3. The 100% New Mexico initiative: The county-based initiative works to ensure that 100% of residents have access to ten vital services for surviving and thriving..
Ensuring residents access to ten vital services can prevent ACEs, trauma and related health challenges
We can prevent almost every health, safety and economic challenge, including ACEs and trauma, by ensuring 100% of residents have access to the ten vital services for surviving and thriving. We know from decades of research on family stability, health, safety and the social determinants of health11, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs12, and the social-ecological model Bronfenbrenner (1979)13 , that well-resourced communities produce healthier, safer and more resilient children and families than those without resources.
Ending barriers to services means families and all residents can connect with the support to achieve physical, mental health and economic health. 100% Taos has the vision, framework and strategies to ensure vital services for all, with participation from all residents.
Explore 10 Vital Services
100% Taos is focused on making sure that the services for surviving and thriving are easily accessible to every county resident. The five surviving services are: medical/dental care, behavioral health care, food security programs, housing security programs and transportation to vital services. The five services for thriving are parent supports, early childhood learning programs, fully-resourced community schools, youth mentors and job training.
References
- The Social Determinants of Health: It’s Time to Consider the Causes of the Causes. Paula Braveman, MD, MPH and Laura Gottlieb, MD, MPH. 2014. https://aae.how/324
- A Theory of Human Motivation. A. H. Maslow (1943) Originally Published in Psychological Review. https://aae.how/325
- An Ecological Model of Stressors Experienced by Youth Newly Diagnosed With HIV An Ecological Model of Stressors Experienced by Youth Newly Diagnosed With HIV. Sybil G. Hosek, Gary W. Harper, Diana Lemos, and Jaime Martinez. 2008. https://aae.how/326