NAC Rural ACEs Summit
Thank you to all who attended and helped make possible the 4th Annual Rural ACEs Summit!
The 2025 theme, It Takes a Village: Building Systems of Care that Center Youth and Families, focused on the ecosystem of care that supports youth and families in rural Northern California. Check out photos from the event, find resources for continuing the work ahead, and learn more about NAC and PHIL below.
Attend the summit? Please share feedback on your experience through the post-event survey to help us plan future events!
2025 Rural ACEs Summit—Key Learnings Report
Held in December 2025, the 4th Annual Rural ACEs Summit convened rural leaders, youth, practitioners, and state partners to explore how systems can better support children, youth, and families in rural Northern California. Focusing on listening to the lived experience of youth, aligning state and local efforts, highlighting rural innovations, and inspiring insight to action, this event provided an opportunity to strengthen the connection between policy and practice. This brief captures what we learned, what shifted, and what participants committed to doing next.
Continue the Conversation
Explore more summit materials, presentation slides, the summit digital program, and more:
Summit Highlights
Thank you to the following speakers and presenters:
- Land Acknowledgement presented by Irvin Watkins, Case Manager, North Valley Indian Health
- Opening remarks presented by Katherine Lucero, Director, California Office of Youth and Community Restoration
- Interactive musical networking, “Getting to Know the Village”
- Youth panel on lived experience moderated by Susie Rivera, Head of Youth Advisory Board, California Office of Youth and Community Restoration
- Fireside chat moderated by Michael Lombardo, Independent Senior Advisor for Human Services and Education Agencies, MCL Collaboration, and featuring speakers:
- Richard Knecht, Managing Partner, Integrated Human Services Group
- Elizabeth Estes, Founder, Breaking Barriers California
- Matt Reddam, School and Community Wellness Advisor, Butte County Office of Education
- Tracie Neal, Chief Probation Officer, Shasta County
- State Ecosystem Panel: Care Coordination Across Systems, moderated by Richard Knecht, Managing Partner, Integrated Human Services Group, and featuring:
- Sohil Sud, Director, California’s Children & Youth Behavioral Health Initiative
- Dianna Wagner, Assistant Deputy Director, System of Care—California Department of Health and Human Services
- Sharmil Shah, Branch Chief, California Department of Health Care Access and Information
- Judge Katherine Lucero (ret.), Director, California Office of Youth and Community Restoration
- Stephanie Weldon, Deputy Director, Office of Health Equity—California Department of Public Health
- Marlies Perez, Division Chief, California Department of Health Care Services
- Innovation Spotlight presenters:
- Matt Reddam, School and Community Wellness Advisor, Butte County Office of Education
- Keoki Burbank, Director of Partnerships, Two Feathers Native American Family Services
Sponsors
Thank you to the following partners for your generous support of the 2025 NAC Rural ACEs Summit!
Platinum Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
Silver & Bronze Sponsors
About The Northern ACEs Collaborative:
The Northern ACEs Collaborative, often referred to as NAC, is a partnership of rural champions that started in six Northern California counties: Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Tehama, Trinity, and Shasta counties and later expanded to encompass all of rural Northern California. NAC was founded in 2019 out of a need and desire to enhance collaboration among organizations that seek to prevent and address trauma, ranging from domestic violence and child abuse in the home to catastrophic natural disasters in the community. NAC’s goal is to increase the capacity of rural Northern California champions to address trauma and promote resilience to improve the health of the children and families in the communities they serve. Learn more about our mission, vision, and values.
This summit is an activity of NAC’s Rural Resilience Innovation Hub, a space for hosting generative dialogue, disseminating on-point innovative information, and facilitating action to address trauma and promote resilience.
Questions? Contact us at info@pophealthinnovationlab.org.
