Key points
The CDC Injury Center prioritizes funding for the prevention of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), overdose, and suicide. This page shows how funds were appropriated in the state of California in FY22.
ACEs prevention funding - California
ACEs are preventable, potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood (0-17 years). Examples include neglect, experiencing or witnessing violence, or having a family member attempt or die by suicide.
*ACE statistics are reported by U.S. adults and include exposure to eight types of ACEs: physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, witnessing intimate partner violence, household substance abuse, household mental illness, parental separation or divorce, and incarcerated household member.
Total ACE prevention funding for California
- San Diego Unified School District: $16,195
Examples of how California is working to prevent ACEs
Surveillance activities
The San Diego Unified School District is adding questions about experiencing ACEs to the California Youth Risk Behavior Survey to provide representative state-wide estimates of ACEs for California public high school students.
Strengthening economic supports
The California Essentials for Childhood team is working to increase access to and use of California's paid family leave benefits and earned income tax credit (known as CalEITC). The team is particularly interested in ensuring applications for both programs are accessible for all California families. Key partners in this approach include multiple state government agencies and violence prevention organizations, including the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.
Changing social norms
With key partners in the California Department of Social Services' Office of Child Abuse Prevention, the California Essentials for Childhood team is engaging local- and state-level stakeholders to promote these messages. In the first three years of the project, the California team worked to improve and expand data sources on social norms related to child health and parenting. The California team has developed a toolkit for local health departments to help them "tell their communities' story" from this new data.
Other support for ACEs in California
Beyond the ACEs appropriation, CDC supports several initiatives, research, and partnerships to build state and tribal surveillance infrastructure and enhance ACEs prevention and mitigation.
In California, some of those other initiatives include:
Overdose prevention funding - California
There were 106,699 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2021 (32.4 deaths per 100,000 standard population), a 16% increase from 2020.2
Total overdose prevention funding in California
- California State Award: $4,814,093
- Riverside County Local Award: $1,967,685
- San Diego County Local Award: $1,186,613
- Overdose Response Strategy: $74,500*
- Public Health Foundation Enterprises: $362,432
- University of California, Davis: $350,000
- University of California, Los Angeles: $749,955
*average award amount
Examples of how California is working to prevent overdose
Enhanced data reporting
California provided enhanced surveillance data, including additional data on opioid overdoses, to the Riverside County Inland Empire Opioid Crisis Coalition (IEOCC). This helped IEOCC understand the impact of opioid overdoses, including those involving methamphetamine, in the county and prompted the coalition to expand its goals from a sole focus on opioids to include harm reduction, methamphetamine interventions, and health equity related initiatives.
Harm reduction media campaign
Riverside County's University Health System launched a media campaign tailored for youth, young adults, and their parents. The campaign focused on overdose signs and symptoms, strategies for responding to an opioid overdose, and resources for substance use help such as a pocket card for youth with overdose response strategies and resources.
Suicide prevention funding - California
- 4,148
- 10.1
Total suicide prevention funding for California
- California Department of Public Health: $1,033,000
California's suicide prevention priorities
California is preventing suicide with CDC Injury Center funding by:
- Creating protective environments
- Teaching coping and problem-solving skills
- Identifying and supporting people at risk
- Strengthening access and delivery of suicide care
Some groups have higher rates of suicide than others. To address disparities, California is focusing on:
- 13 counties with high rates of suicide and emergency department visits for self-harm
- Rural communities
Examples of how California is working to prevent suicide
Pharmacist training
California will provide suicide gatekeeper training to pharmacists. This training helps participants identify and respond to people who may be at risk of suicide. This training also includes best practices in safe storage of medications.
- Swedo EA, Aslam MV, Dahlberg LL, Niolon PH, Simon TR, Guinn AS, Mercy JA. Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences Among U.S. Adults – Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, 2011-2020. MMWR.
- Spencer MR, Miniño AM, Warner M. Drug overdose deaths in the United States, 2001–2021. NCHS Data Brief, no 457. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2022. DOI: https://dx.doi. org/10.15620/cdc:122556
- NVSS – Drug Overdose Deaths
- Suicide Rates by State (cdc.gov)
- This snapshot reflects suicide prevention priorities and activities under Year 1 funding of the Comprehensive Suicide Prevention (CSP) Program. This information is subject to change. For additional information, please see CSP: Program Profiles.