Catalysing a movement for resilience in a community
From an article by Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC)
In Pennsylvania, USA in 2011, a county-wide training on trauma, hosted by Crawford County Human Services and attended by 150 professionals, yielded curiosity, a brief ripple of enthusiasm and…not much else. (WOTS - a county is about the same size as a UK parliamentary constituency).
Two years later, another Crawford conference—this time, drawing 170 professionals and service providers, family members and youth—became a catalyst, a key moment in the genesis of Peace4Crawford, a cross-sector, grass-roots movement to build a healthy and resilient community in the western Pennsylvania county.
The difference, according to Peace4Crawford steering committee members, is that by the time of the second conference, social service agencies, the juvenile probation department, drug and alcohol recovery centre and schools had begun to collaborate, using the shared language of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and resilience to plumb the root causes of the disparate problems all were seeing.
“The one thing that resonated with everybody was the discussion about trauma,” says Joe Barnhart, system of care manager for Crawford County Human Services. Trauma was the common thread that linked student behaviour problems, adult drug addictions, domestic and sexual violence and child welfare issues.
“The ACEs study was a game-changer for me,” says Bruce Harlan, executive director of Crawford’s Women’s Services, Inc., which works with survivors of domestic and sexual violence. “We were already having conversations around pooling resources and leveraging one another’s strengths. The ACEs piece was a natural catalyst for focusing our efforts and creating a singularity of vision and purpose. I was glad to be part of a community that rallied around this.”
Today, in a county with a population nearing 86,000, Peace4Crawford and their partners have trained 56 volunteers to present overviews of ACEs, trauma and resilience to community groups and organizations. To date, 7,000 people have received those trainings. In collaboration with another county, Peace4Crawford hosts an annual trauma-informed/community-building conference—a nationally-known speaker, plus workshops—that draws 300 people.
Cross-sector collaboration has produced a trauma self-assessment and planning protocol which involved two high schools and three social service agencies, the juvenile probation department and county drug and alcohol treatment office. Service providers, courts and some faith groups have joined the network’s efforts, along with area hospitals and colleges. Focusing on trauma has proven an effective way to engage teachers and human service providers in Crawford’s resilience-building work.
A data mapping effort has led to a “micro-neighbourhood” project - an intensive effort involving door-to-door conversations and meetings to help residents identify local problems and co-create solutions to them. Already, that project, called the HOPE Initiative (health and wellness; opportunity-making, place-making, engaging influencers) is yielding results, with more residents showing up to local government hearings and making face-to-face connections through neighbourhood events.
Read the full article here.
See also the article: How a community becomes trauma-informed
Why not start a movement for resilience in your community - see The Resilience Challenge.
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From an article by Mobilizing Action for Resilient, 30/10/2024