The Orenda approach: We describe the foundational base and health and education process to interface science and health learning for vulnerable adolescents, who live in extreme urban poverty in the US, 'the forgotten children', to manage emotional and social barriers at this critical stage of their lives. These children live in neighborhoods concentrated with dysfunctional families many with Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). They are at risk for complications of personal and environmental factors while still adolescents. They lack the opportunity to build resilience and leadership to overcome these challenges. We integrate experiential learning approaches between contemporary physician health and K-12 science learning pedagogy to emphasize the value of science to a community. Our experiences are presented of challenges faced and barriers overcome over 4-years in over 100 adolescents in different extreme neighborhoods of poverty in the rust belt city of Pittsburgh. Mission: 1. To experience the social skills in an ethical framework for critical thinking and leadership by conducting successful community research in forgotten children. 2. To improve the local culture of health care to reduce health disparities in underserved neighborhoods. The Orenda Approach, An Iroquois adjective, denotes the goal of developing leadership in adolescents. The approach is by organizing health sciences clubs for at-risk adolescents as an after-school activity with trained mentors. Small teams select and identify locally relevant health disparities micro-Community-Based Participatory Research (mCBPR) projects. Using the 5 steps of mCBPR scientific process. with a mantra of 'learn, decide and do' at each step, they conduct a wide range of practices to extend skills promoted by STEM disciplines by adding arts and science as STREAM learning, The mCBPR projects are used to draw inferences and present recommendations to reduce barriers posed by the local community. Fitted into an academic school year in weekly OST club meetings with an end-of-academic-year, the results are shared in a local community health fair. Long term objectives: We offer a model for a city-wide network of clubs, targeted to the most underserved neighborhoods, as an approach to improve city-wide health equity. If sustained. This could contribute multiple topics for a cumulative increased awareness to enhance the local culture of health. Without help, these forgotten children are destined to the local cycle of failure; a societal lost opportunity. With help, each year a cohort of students would be trained in problem-solving as an increased societal opportunity as community leaders for the future.

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is the premier public resource on scientific and technological developments that impact global security. Founded by Manhattan Project Scientists, the Bulletin's iconic "Doomsday Clock" stimulates solutions for a safer world.

Children are the foundation of the United States, and supporting them is a key component of building a successful future. However, millions of children face health inequities that compromise their development, well-being, and long-term outcomes, despite substantial scientific evidence about how those adversities contribute to poor health. Advancements in neurobiological and socio-behavioral science show that critical biological systems develop in the prenatal through early childhood periods, and neurobiological development is extremely responsive to environmental influences during these stages. Consequently, social, economic, cultural, and environmental factors significantly affect a child's health ecosystem and ability to thrive throughout adulthood. Vibrant and Healthy Kids: Aligning Science, Practice, and Policy to Advance Health Equity builds upon and updates research from Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity (2017) and From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development (2000). This report provides a brief overview of stressors that affect childhood development and health, a framework for applying current brain and development science to the real world, a roadmap for implementing tailored interventions, and recommendations about improving systems to better align with our understanding of the significant impact of health equity.

Scores of talented and dedicated people serve the forensic science community, performing vitally important work. However, they are often constrained by lack of adequate resources, sound policies, and national support. It is clear that change and advancements, both systematic and scientific, are needed in a number of forensic science disciplines to ensure the reliability of work, establish enforceable standards, and promote best practices with consistent application. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward provides a detailed plan for addressing these needs and suggests the creation of a new government entity, the National Institute of Forensic Science, to establish and enforce standards within the forensic science community. The benefits of improving and regulating the forensic science disciplines are clear: assisting law enforcement officials, enhancing homeland security, and reducing the risk of wrongful conviction and exoneration. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States gives a full account of what is needed to advance the forensic science disciplines, including upgrading of systems and organizational structures, better training, widespread adoption of uniform and enforceable best practices, and mandatory certification and accreditation programs. While this book provides an essential call-to-action for congress and policy makers, it also serves as a vital tool for law enforcement agencies, criminal prosecutors and attorneys, and forensic science educators.

Sections include: "A theory of change approach to evaluation", "Reflections from evaluation practitioners" and "Issues in measurement and analysis".

This essential text unpacks major transformations in the study of learning and human development and provides evidence for how science can inform innovation in the design of settings, policies, practice, and research to enhance the life path, opportunity and prosperity of every child. The ideas presented provide researchers and educators with a rationale for focusing on the specific pathways and developmental patterns that may lead a specific child, with a specific family, school, and community, to prosper in school and in life. Expanding key published articles and expert commentary, the book explores a profound evolution in thinking that integrates findings from psychology with biology through sociology, education, law, and history with an emphasis on institutionalized inequities and disparate outcomes and how to address them. It points toward possible solutions through an understanding of and addressing the dynamic relations between a child and the contexts within which he or she lives, offering all researchers of human development and education a new way to understand and promote healthy development and learning for diverse, specific youth regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or history of adversity, challenge, or trauma. The book brings together scholars and practitioners from the biological/medical sciences, the social and behavioral sciences, educational science, and fields of law and social and educational policy. It provides an invaluable and unique resource for understanding the bases and status of the new science, and presents a roadmap for progress that will frame progress for at least the next decade and perhaps beyond.