Welcome to Season Two of Ground Truthing, Westchester Children’s Association's monthly podcast where we offer policy insights from the ground up by featuring community voices from Westchester county. 
Hosted by Erica Ayala. 

This episode, we chat with Karen Blumenthal. 
Karen will soon retire after 25 years working as a policy advocate at Student Advocacy. Karen has been at the forefront of the code of conduct conversations happening throughout the county. We break down the history of codes of conduct, districts diligently working to make less punitive school environments, and what still needs to change at the state level. 
Karen also discusses the Cornell Blumenthal Internship, which she and her husband David created to promote paid internship opportunities in Westchester. 
Finally, Karen breaks down the status of the Every Students Succeeds Act (ESSA) and Solutions Not Suspensions and what we can do to support more positive and less punitive learning environments for all students. 

You can find all our ground truthing episodes at wca4kids.org 
or on our Data Hub at www.gps4kids.org
Follow Us @wca4kids
Find more episodes by searching #WCAPodcast

Ground Truthing is a Westchester Children's Association production. The show is edited by Eloise Sherrid. Original music is composed by Al Saniuk.

Ground Truthing Season 2 Episode 6: Karen Blumenthal 'Helping Kids Thrive in School'

WCA Podcast Season 3 Episode 2 - 'Ground Truthing' interview of Dr. Lilian Reynolds and Karl Bertrand regarding child homelessness and race in Westchester County, New York. Hosted by Erica Ayala

In part 1 of this episode, both of our guests discuss how data guides their homelessness work, why varying definitions lead to an inaccurate count of the homeless population, and how the history of race and racism impacts homelessness today.  Dr. Lillian F. Reynolds is a social worker and homelessness liaison for the Mount Vernon City School District who is tasked with identifying and supporting students in temporary housing according to the McKinney-Vento Act.  Karl Bertrand is the founder and President of Program Design & Development, LLC, (PD&D) which specializes in helping public and private organizations develop effective and innovative programs, with particular expertise in the development and management of multi-agency collaborations. 

Learn more about the gaps and issues affecting homeless children in our county through our 2019 Data Bulletin and report "Making the Invisible Visible" at www.wca4kids.org

WCA Podcast S3E2-Part 1 Child Homelessness

Ground Truthing unites community voices from across Westchester County to discuss topics that impact children and families. Guests represent content experts, advocates and youth voices. The show will highlight bright spots and critically question existing policies and practices through data-informed conversations. Hosted by GPS4Kids Program Manager and WCA staff, Erica Ayala.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

WCA Podcast S3E2-Part 1 Child Homelessness

Westchester Children's Association

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