The youngest of 20 children in a sharecropping family, she had only a few years of schooling. She lived in poverty for the majority of her life; the owner of the plantation where she sharecropped evicted her for having the temerity to register to vote, and night riders subsequently shot bullets into the house of the family who provided her with shelter. After an arrest as part of a group who sought to do nothing more unlawful than eat at a bus station, she received a beating, on the orders of a highway patrol officer, so severe that she lost a kidney and lost most of the sight in one eye.

Despite these challenges, she continued a life course which bolstered the civil rights movement. After attending a voting rights rally in 1962, she became an active spokesperson for justice, and within just a few years, the nation heard her voice at the Democratic conventions of 1964 and 1968.

Hamer inspires me for several reasons, and her civil rights career adds to our insight regarding how best to do applied research at Wilder Research, to improve the lives of individuals, families and communities.

The Body Keeps Score: Early Childhood Trauma
Gael Thompson, Early Childhood Intervention Program Coordinator for Wilder's Child Guidance Clinic,explains how trauma can impact the youngest members of our community. More

For more, see our research in this area.

We would like to wish June Heineman a happy retirement after 28 years at Wilder Research. Over her career, June has worked primarily on studies related to community corrections programs, housing, and homelessness and has been instrumental in working with homeless providers across the state for the statewide homeless study. You will be missed, June!

At right, June poses with her longtime supervisor, Greg Owen, on her last day in the office. Check out more photos from June's career at Wilder.

For a look back, check out 13 ways in which Wilder Research and our partners impacted the community in 2013. More

An awareness campaign now underway from the African American Babies Coalition, in partnership with Wilder Foundation and Minnesota Communities Caring for Children, shares information about brain development in a culturally relevant and accessible way with parents, grandparents, and other caregivers. Resources also include information to help address trauma and toxic stress, in hope that it will begin to prevent the achievement gap. The campaign builds on the Babies Project, including the Babies in Minnesota study conducted by Wilder Research. 

Learn more about the African American Babies Coalition:
Check out our web page
Like them on Facebook
Follow them on Twitter and use #brainsarebuilt