Our story

In 2011, Early Childhood Iowa invited Dr. Robert Anda, one of the co-founders of the original ACE Study, to share his findings at a state conference for about 200 attendees.

​After that meeting, several attendees kept talking with each other about what they had heard. 

The video on this page shares our story.  
The ACE Study was unique in several ways:
  • The message was simple even though the idea was complex: trauma has a ripple effect.
  • There's a personal connection in recognizing your own struggles or the struggles of someone you know. 
  • The research shows a significant stair-step progression that links an increase in ACEs to an increase in risk in many poor outcomes and that data continues to show consistent results as studies have been replicated in other areas. 
  • The data relates to every sector including health care, education, business, government, and nonprofit. 

Mid-Iowa Health Foundation invited several stakeholders to talk about how to respond. From those discussions, the group decided to do two things: 
  1. Collect Iowa data
  2. Spread awareness of The ACE Study widely
It was very clear at that first convening at the table, we needed to get the word out, tell the story make sure people knew this research. But in order to be most effective at that, we needed to have Iowa data.
​- Suzanne Mineck, President, Mid-Iowa Health Foundation
The coalition was formed among all of the partners to drive these two efforts. United Way of Central Iowa provided funding to hire a coordinator to support the group's work. Over time, the work expanded into fostering response strategies within sectors, policies, and Iowa communities. 
The work of the coalition has been very responsive and adapted to the needs of the community and what the research tells us. While initially being focused heavily on data collection and sharing results, we have shifted a lot of the focus toward systemic, policy-driven solutions and resilience-building strategies that reflect the need to build more positive, supportive relationships to buffer against trauma and its negative impacts. 
- Erin Drinnin, Community Impact Officer of Health, United Way of Central Iowa

Achievements to date

  • 23 organizations or coalitions are represented on the Steering Committee
  • 600+ members represent sectors including education, health care, government, faith, nonprofit, juvenile justice, and community. 
  • 8 years of ACEs data has been collected in Iowa
  • 2 Iowa ACEs reports have been released; a third will be published in June 2020
  • Iowa law passed in 2018 that requires educators to receive annual training on ACEs and toxic stress
  • 5 ACEs Summits and several learning circles have spread learning to thousands in Iowa
  • 31,000 page views to the Iowa ACEs website each year
  • Best practices and trainings are available for professionals in education and health care