My Mellow Brick Road

In my last post, I noted the dispiriting increase of rates of serious mental illness in Orange County youth. There was, however, another principal area of concern identified in last year’s Conditions of Children in Orange Country report: childhood poverty. The sobering facts are detailed across several pages, broader trends backed up by a robust compilation of statistical data. I’ve highlighted some of the major findings here. Although unemployment rates remain low and the market has had an amazing run since the recovery from the Great Recession, economic well-being has been declining in recent years for OC youth, with almost half of children — 49.1%, to be exact — eligible…

For a few years now, I’ve considered the possibility of someday starting a charitable fund or nonprofit in honor of my mother Patricia (1952-2014), who passed away unexpectedly a year after I graduated from university. It was a project I had originally intended to start much further into the future, perhaps even decades from now. Recently, however, a women’s volunteer organization (the Orange County chapter of Junior League, or JLOCC) provided me with the opportunity to be part of an ad hoc committee founded for the sole purpose of reviewing scholarship applications from local high school seniors. The experience was tremendous, as I found myself greatly moved by the stories…