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The We Heal Together initiative seeks to promote resilience and equity for the area’s high-risk youth and families most impacted by adversity and trauma by addressing the systems and organizations at the mezzo level in East Winston Salem, NC. In tackling the root causes, not just the aftermath of violence, the We Heal Together initiative seeks to promote resilience and equity by strengthening the work already occurring in the community and working collaboratively across systems, agencies, and with community stakeholders to identify new opportunities for support and sustainable change. Winston Salem, like much of the country, responded to the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor with protests and marches in the streets demanding just and fair treatment by law enforcement. The anger and unrest were magnified when it was learned that a Black man, John Neville, died while in custody at the Forsyth County Detention Center. The Winston-Salem Journal first told the story of John Neville’s death on its front page on June 27, 2020, 7 months after his death. This information caused the community to focus their protests on local law enforcement and what they see as an unjust system. Activists began a 49-day occupation at a city park only blocks away from the Forsyth County Detention Center where John Neville died. The anger, associated trauma, and grievance remain and were exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the disproportionate response to the needs of Black and Brown citizens in East Winston. To understand and address the resulting escalation of community violence and continued civic unrest, We Heal Together seeks to employ a community driven resilience framework to mitigate the impact of trauma and violence that continues to afflict the East Winston community. Through geographical design, East Winston lacks equity in employment, education, access to health care and behavioral mental health services and has the highest percentage of minority residents, highest poverty rates, and highest death rates in the city. The neighborhoods’ high-risk youth and families have repeatedly experienced in-school, at-home, and on-the-street violence, resulting in ongoing exposure to traumatic stress and adversity. We Heal Together will co-create a community centered approach to addressing and meeting identified needs through the following goals: 1) increase participation of East Winston residents and stakeholders in community-based research to identify the community’s needs and resources, 2) enhance trauma informed systems of care through training the Trauma Resilient Communities Model to Backbone Agencies serving East Winston, 3) reduce high-risk behaviors and increase protective factors for East Winston youth exposed to adversity and trauma by implementing a comprehensive advocacy and mentoring strategy, 4) increase first responders’ and youth-involved workers knowledge of youth mental health risk factors through trainings to improve their outreach and interactions with East Winston youth, 5) increase capacity of mental health and health practitioners working in East Winston to incorporate trauma-informed care approaches into their youth and family services and 6) evaluate the impact of the initiative. Crossnore’s Center for Trauma Resilient Communities (CTRC), working along with Backbone Agencies and other community partners, will be at the center of this four-year initiative. The successful implementation of We Heal Together will create a community driven process that addresses the social determinants of health and builds and sustains an integrated system of community care that promotes resilience, well-being, and trauma-informed community health in East Winston. By the completion of this project 1,165 East Winston participants will have received We Heal Together services. The collective impact will have a positive ripple effect, benefiting the greater Winston-Salem community.

Metro Louisville is a thriving metropolitan city, which is experiencing increasing incidents of community violence and civil unrest that threaten to destroy its most vulnerable communities. Further escalated after the killing of Breonna Taylor and coupled with the devastation caused by COVID-19, and due to racial trauma and existing structural and systemic disparities, Black and Brown communities have experienced significantly higher rates of infection, hospitalization, health and mental health diagnoses, and preventable deaths (e.g., suicide). This combined experience of collective trauma has caused a ripple effect throughout our communities of color. The protests around the killing of Breonna, the culture of systemic racism, the increased racial profiling, and separation of immigrant families has intensified and fostered this explosion of violence, that radiates throughout our most vulnerable communities, causing the ripple to spread leaving victims in its path to feel overwhelmed and powerless. This has contributed to internalized anger, which has manifest in higher rates of suicide and interpersonal violence among communities of color. The Louisville Trauma Resilient Healing Project (TRC -HP) is a city-wide program that seeks to promote resilience and healing for Louisville’s high-risk youth and families in the communities most affected by trauma, violence, and civil unrest. To address this growing crisis, the TRC-HP will utilize a comprehensive, participatory, community-based approach consisting of 1) trauma-resilient community capacity building, 2) trauma-informed, culturally specific behavioral health services for youth and their families, 3) trauma-informed care interventions and approaches for first responders and clinicians, and 4) consumer feedback and evaluation to help youth and their families overcome the effects of trauma. Specifically, this project will 1) increase trauma-informed knowledge and skills of personnel who respond to children and families experiencing community violence, trauma, and civil unrest, 2) increase access and capacity regarding trauma-informed, culturally-specific behavioral services for at-risk and their families exposed to community violence, trauma and civil unrest, and 3) evaluate the impact of the project on consumers of this proposed project. TRC-HP will develop a 20-member community advisory board, which will strengthen community empowerment, participation, and community buy-in. In addition, TRC-HP will work with community-based clinicians deeply rooted in the targeted neighborhoods to enhance access and delivery of trauma-informed, culturally-specific behavioral health services to 918 youth and their family members. Additionally, TRC-HP will provide trauma-informed training, coaching, and resources to 258 first responders and clinicians in order to develop a common language, mitigate the impact of secondary trauma, and strengthen youth violence prevention and intervention efforts across the system of care in Louisville. Project-related activities, services, and outreach efforts will target communities in Metro Louisville, where high-risk youth and families most affected by trauma, violence, and civil unrest reside.

The proposed MRCS Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma (ReCAST) project will promote resilience, trauma-informed approaches and equity in the Counties of Smyth, Wythe, Bland, Carroll, Grayson, and the City of Galax. Implementing guidance and leadership strategies outlined within the Strategic Prevention Framework, the project team will engage a diverse coalition of community stakeholders in the development of a community needs and resources assessment and strategic plan that address the specific needs of rural communities recovering from collective trauma in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the project will build partnerships and awareness around issues facing high-risk youth and families, geriatric populations, and marginalized communities, and expand trauma-informed behavioral health services that support youth and their families. The program will expand the Peer Family Support program to include an additional Family Support Partner; increase the number of consumers, community members, and MRCS staff receiving training and resources around mental health, trauma, resiliency, and wellness. Specific training will be provided to staff in cultural and linguistic competency, to engage and retain clients from diverse populations. We will also increase services and support around the geriatric population, individuals in our communities who have been most isolated during the pandemic. This project will expand our agency’s availability and responsiveness to the growing behavioral healthcare needs and challenges facing our service area. The proposed project will serve 500 individuals in year 1, and a total of 2,157 over the life of the project.

The NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH) ReCAST Buffalo program's population of focus is Black African Americans residing in or attending school in five Buffalo East Side neighborhoods, with a special focus on high-risk youth and their families. These neighborhoods are highly impacted by the racially motivated mass shooting that occurred on May 14, 2022. Black/African American youth in these neighborhoods experience multiple risk factors including the impacts of structural racism, the COVID pandemic and school disruption, and the trauma of the Buffalo and Uvalde shootings with in 10 days. In these neighborhoods, youth and families experience powerlessness and significant barriers to accessing high-quality education and housing, adequate health and mental health care, and good jobs with fair pay. Current resources needs and gaps and challenges associated with access to or quality of services in these communities are long-term and compounded by the mass shooting. The NYS OMH SERG program for Buffalo has catalyzed a one-year process of community planning and healing, which will be sustained by ReCAST. NYS OMH's ReCAST program will include a coalition of diverse community stakeholders to ensure that community voice and partnership is involved in all aspects of the grant project, which will support recovery-oriented, trauma-informed, and equity-based behavioral health and wellness. The proposed program includes three ReCAST funded trauma-informed behavioral health services:1) a Black Mental Health Response Team led by BestSelf Behavioral Health will continue outreach and enhancement with youth and families in the East Side; 2) University Psychiatric Practice, in collaboration with SayYes Buffalo and the Buffalo Public Schools, will provide clinical supports for students struggling with community trauma and training for educators; and 3) Buffalo Community Non-Traditional Mental Wellness Programs will continue a focus on respecting and integrating Black/African American traditions and culture to include arts-based therapies, coordination with local houses of worship and spiritual-based healing. In addition, after Project Hope Crisis Counseling Services (FEMA-4480-DR-NY) end on December 12, 2022, the Buffalo Urban League and Spectrum Health will participate in ReCAST to continue delivering NYS OMH in-kind crisis counseling outreach and engagement services to Black/African American families and youth residing in or attending schools in the East Side. Training in trauma-informed care and approaches will be provided in -kind through the NYS Trauma-Informed Network and via individuals in the community trained by the NYS OMH SERG Psychological First Aid Train-the-Trainer. ReCAST funding is requested for youth and family peer services that will be integrated into this work. Given the shortage of Black/African American youth and family peer advocates in Buffalo, NYS OMH will partner with peer-run organizations to build workforce pipelines for Black/African American families and youth to become credentialed. The proposed ReCAST project goals are: Goal 1: Build a community coalition representing Buffalo's Black/African American community that is empowered to assess and plan for high-risk youth and families impacted by the mass shooting. Goal 2: Increase local MH capacity for trauma-informed and culturally competent behavioral health services, including youth and family peer services, in Buffalo's East Side through traditional wellness approaches in schools and the community. Goal 3: Increase access to trauma-informed training to empower local community to respond to needs of Black/African American youth families, and community members in a trauma-informed and culturally competent manner. Each ReCAST goal has a set of measurable objectives identified by timeframes. We estimate that approximately 3,806 unduplicated individuals will be served during the four years of the project. Y1-370; Y2-967; Y3-1,242; Y4-1,227; TOTAL 3,806

Teen HYPE (Helping Youth by Providing Education) is a youth development agency founded in 2004. Teen HYPE’s mission is to “Celebrate youth. Confront barriers. Build bridges”. The population of focus is at-risk Black youth ages 14-19 living in Detroit. Teen HYPE will implement the Promise Initiative to strengthen the resiliency of youth, youth serving providers and caring adults through the application of Healing Centered Engagement (HCE). With extremely high rates of poverty, deep rooted structural racism, underperforming schools, and environmental contamination, Detroit, a city whose residents are nearly 85% Black, has a long history of surviving trauma. In March 2020, the trauma on top of trauma, COVID-19, hit Detroit early and hard. Fast forward to today, in the Detroit tri-county area, over 40 percent of Black and residents report having a family member who has died from COVID-19, less than 10 percent of white residents say the same. In response, Teen HYPE proposes to move beyond trauma informed work with youth, to Healing Centered Engagement of a community. To do so we will be applying the Flourish Agenda led by Shawn Ginwright. HCE is a strength-based approach that advances a holistic view of healing and re-centers culture and identity as central features in wellbeing. Components of the Promise Initiative will include: 1. The Promise Initiative Advisory Coalition 2. Permission to Heal Summit 3. Healing Centered Engagement Certification for 100 youth serving adults annually 4. Learning collaborative of five (+ HYPE) youth serving organizations, selected by the community, who will apply HCE to all levels of their lives and work 5. Replication of the evidence-based intervention “Youth Empowerment Solutions” (YES); an evidence-based curriculum proven to reduce youth violence and create community change, 6. Wellness sessions for youth, parents, caring adults and youth program staff, facilitated by mental health professionals and wellness coaches, and 7. Linkages and referrals to services by a licensed social worker. In year one, 200 adults and 200 teens will be directly served, and 700 adults and 2000 youth will participate over the life of the award. Because training of youth serving providers is at the center of the Promise Initiative, hundreds of more Detroit youth will be positively impacted. HCE founder Shawn Ginwright states, “We can’t expect for the young people to be well if the adults are wounded”. All of Detroit has been affected by the weight of COVID-19. The Promise Initiative will work to heal the adults so we can support our youth and achieve wellness together.

The Butler County Educational Service Center, Family & Children First Council and partners will collaborate on the Resiliency After Stress and Trauma (ReCast) grant to promote wellbeing, resilience, and healing from collective trauma and community violence. Efforts will focus on building a better system of care for youth who experienced stress, loss and trauma from the pandemic at its symptoms which include spikes in civil unrest, crime, domestic violence, overdose & suicide deaths. Community residents and systems partners will explore behavioral health disparities and the syndemic’s impact to address gaps in services and discuss emerging trends and evidence-based, trauma informed responses to prevent future crisis and violence. This includes identifying youth in-need sooner so they do not fall through the cracks through assessment and aligning resources and services that address social determinants of health. We anticipate that 14,618 youth, their caretakers, and helping professionals who reside in Butler County will be impacted throughout the life of the project resulting in healthier and more resilient youth, families, systems, and communities. The primary goals and measurable outcomes of the project are 1) Improve youth resiliency among youth and families in Butler County, 2) Increase system capacity to meet the expanding needs of youth and families in Butler County, and 3) Mobilize residents to lead in making decisions that affect the health & resiliency of their community. The catchment area for the proposed project is Butler County, Ohio. Butler County is located in the Southwest corner of the state, (25 miles North of Cincinnati and 25 miles South of Dayton). According to the 2022 U.S. Census, there are 390,267 residents. The population is 84% White, 9.2% African American, 5% Hispanic/Latino, 3.9% Asian, 2.5% other (bi-racial/multiracial), 0.3% Native American, and 0.1% Pacific Islander. Five percent of the population identify as Hispanic/Latino, of any race and there is a substantial Appalachian culture. The county has a total of 470 square miles which contains urban, suburban, and rural communities. Unduplicated Youth and Families Served Number of Unduplicated Individuals to be Served with Funds Year 1: 3,563 Year 2: 3,630 Year 3: 3,685 Year 4: 3,740 Total: 14,618

The purpose of this project, ReCAST Robeson, is to promote resilience, trauma-informed approaches, and equity in an impoverished, rural, underserved, and ethnically diverse community that has recently faced civil unrest, community violence, and collective trauma within the past 24 months. We will assist high-risk youth and families through the implementation of evidence-based violence prevention, and community youth engagement programs. ReCAST Robeson will be guided by a community-based coalition of residents, non-profit organizations, and other entities. In recent years, Robeson County has been challenged by high rates of community violence, poverty, and collective trauma caused by repeated flooding from Hurricanes Matthew (2016), Florence (2018), Dorian (2019), Isaias (2020), and Tropical Storm Fred (2021). COVID-19 hit Robeson County particularly hard in 2020-21, overwhelming the local hospital and keeping vulnerable children out of school for more than a year. In 2020, Robeson County led NC in violent crime and had the third highest overall crime rate in the state (4,779 per 100,000, a 25% increase from the previous year; FBI, 2020a; NC SBI, 2020). The child poverty rate is 39%, the third highest rate of all 100 counties in NC and the median income is $33,679, which is just over half the national median income of $62,843 (U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.). Robeson is the most diverse county in NC (Diversity Index [DI]=73.5% out of 100) and one of the most diverse in the U.S.; only 14 U.S. counties had higher DI scores in 2020. County demographics are: White (31%), 42% American Indian (AI), 24% is Black, and 9% is Latinx. Poverty rates by race are: AI 28%; Black 33%, Latinx 42%; Other 43%; and White 17%, showing significant inequalities. Despite these challenges, Robeson County is a resilient community with a deep cultural heritage and strong network of relationships. This initiative would promote resilience, trauma-informed approaches, and equity in Robeson County by: • Enhancing and expanding the Community Coalition called Robeson Overcoming Adversity through Resilience (ROAR) that is currently facilitated by Robeson Partnership for Children; • Training a diverse array of community stakeholders in Community Resiliency and Mental Health Literacy - 200/ year = 800 total; • Establishing two Creative Coping Centers, one in Lumberton and one in Pembroke, that would sponsor positive youth engagement activities through expressive arts (art, drama) and youth enrichment (mentoring, conflict resolution, career coaching, restorative justice teen court) 250/year = 1,000 total; • Sponsoring training fellowships for behavioral health providers to learn advanced techniques in trauma-informed programs and practices and telehealth - 20/year = 40 total; • Expanding access to behavioral health therapy through the NC-YVPC Victim Empowerment and Education Program (VEEP) for youth and families who have experienced trauma - 150 youth and families receiving trauma-focused therapy per year = 600 total. The North Carolina Youth Violence Prevention Center (NC-YVPC: www.nc-yvpc.org) will facilitate ReCAST Robeson with major contributions from Robeson Partnership for Children, the Lumbee Tribe, UNC-Pembroke, law enforcement, community leaders, and a diverse array of residents. NC-YVPC has worked in Robeson County for the past 12 years with major grants from CDC, NIJ, BJA, state agencies, and foundations. NC-YVPC will collect all mandatory Infrastructure, Prevention, and Promotion (IPP) performance measures and enter them into SPARS. Each level of the ReCAST Robeson multi-tiered initiative will have its own quality improvement and performance measures, such as satisfaction surveys, and pretest-posttest measures to assess change for clients in trauma-focused therapy. The project will ultimately increase community resilience, enhance equity and access to trauma-focused services, and reduce community violence, collective trauma, and civil unrest.

Jordan Community Residential Center (JCRC) and Serenity Health and Wellness Corporation (SHWC) have partnered together to launch We Are One Community, a full-service program that that will integrate evidence-based violence prevention, trauma-informed behavioral health services, and community-based approaches to build resilience and mental health literacy in communities impacted by violence and collective trauma. Target Populations: The project will target African American and Hispanic at/high-risk youth aged 13 to 24 and their families that reside in Cleveland, Ohio, with a special focus on these communities: Lee Harvard, Collinwood, Mt Pleasant, and Downtown Cleveland (Euclid corridor), which are considered “hot spots” – street intersections and block segments where most violent crime occurs. The population of focus is low-income – 50% will live 100% below the poverty line and 50% will live 200% below the poverty line; 80% will be low academic achievers, 80% will have one or more substance use disorders, 50% will have co-occurring disorders, 100% will have experienced at least one incident of community violence, and 100% will have experienced trauma. Strategies/Interventions: The project is divided into four parts, which includes 1) Understanding the Community by creating a coalition of community members from different sectors to gather and analyze community needs and resources and develop a strategic plan of targeted violence prevention and trauma-informed strategies. 2) Increasing Access to Trauma-informed Behavioral Health Services by launching an after school art therapy and violence prevention program, training and collaborating with primary care physicians to screen parents using an evidence based SEEK method and linking parents to treatment, creating a service provider sub-committee to coordinate treatment for children and their families, and providing navigation services to ensure participants are directly linked to wraparound services; 3) Training the Community in relevant interventions and approaches; and 4) Conducting Community Outreach by recruiting and training popular opinion leaders to improve mental health literacy and reduce stigma. Goals and Objectives: Goal 1: Increase the capacity of the targeted communities to educate families, youth, and community members about mental health disorders by creating a coalition; Goal 2: Increase violence prevention efforts and build community resiliency by creating a targeted strategic plan; Goal 3: Increase environmental and social protective factors that influence the risk for violence by implementing an after-school program; Goal 4: Decrease stigma regarding mental health treatment by implementing trauma-informed care interventions and trainings; Goal 5: Increase access to behavioral health treatment by helping treatment providers enroll in Medicaid; Goal 6: Increase access to behavioral health treatment by training primary care physicians on the SEEK screening method; Goal 7: Increase mental health literacy among targeted communities by disseminating digital and print mental health messaging. By December 31, 2026: 70% of youth participants will report abstaining from alcohol and other drugs at six-months post intake and 100% of youth participants will not commit new law violations. People Served: With grant funds, the project will serve 700 unduplicated individuals in violence prevention programming over the lifetime of the grant (100 in year 1 and 200 per year in years 2-4).

Gang Alternative, Inc., a community-based organization serving South Florida for over 17 years is proposing Project CAATS (Collective Action for Addressing Trauma and Stress). CAATS is designed to effectively address community violence and collective trauma, using a comprehensive, integrated and multi-sectoral approach to substance use prevention, violence prevention, and trauma-focused community engagement is needed. CAATS is community and data-driven initiative and will be guided by a diverse community coalition with social service providers and youth and adult with lived experiences. CAATS will target several high crime, high violence and high poverty communities predominantly populated by Black immigrants the tri-county area: Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. In The harsh reality is that residents in these communities wake up to trauma every day! Trauma from financial instability, poor quality of health care, criminal and violence victimization, and systemic prejudice and racism. Furthermore, based on research that found a strong link between exposure to traumatic events and substance use disorder (SUD) and mental health (MH), it can extrapolated that these communities also have undocumented cases of SUD and undiagnosed MH. CAATS will be guided by the Strategic Prevention Framework and will community violence interventions and trauma-focused approaches to provide services and programming to promote resilience, and advance equity in high-risk communities that have experienced exponential trauma from community violence over the past 2 years. CAATS will provide direct services to 1425 individual annually with an estimated 9500 as indirect beneficiaries per year. The projected total for lifespan of the project is 5700 unduplicated individuals served directly and 38,000 receiving indirect services through environmental strategies.

Project Summary: Solano County Office of Education will advance healing and improve social determinants of health among youth and families in communities that have experienced civil unrest, community violence, disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and other significant collective trauma over the past 24 months. SCOE will engage the community to plan and deploy culturally concordant, trauma informed prevention, intervention, and postvention strategies that build school and community capacity, expand service access, and promote healing and healthy development. Population Served: Students of Solano County public schools and their families, with a particular focus on those disproportionately impacted by the collective traumas of the past two years including Black, Latino/a, LGBTQ students and families, all of whom are more likely to experience mental health symptoms and crises. Prevention activities will be targeted to the whole community. Strategies and Interventions: Intervention strategies are designed to address the impacts on students of 1) acute and chronic community gun violence; 2) social and civil unrest in response to police violence; 3) disproportionate impacts of COVID-19; and 4) increases in self-harm, injury, and death by suicide. SCOE will serve a total of 4,200 unduplicated individuals over the duration of the project. The goals of the project are: Goal 1: Decrease incidents of community violence and the impact of collective trauma by cultivating 15 collaborative partnerships amongst community providers to assess, plan, and implement evidence-based and community driven strategies. Goal 2: Increase the knowledge and capacity of schools and other youth-serving entities to employ trauma, grief and attachment informed approaches to at least 800 youth and families impacted by collective trauma, and training at least 75% of staff on Grief, Trauma and Attachment Informed Therapeutic Techniques in an effort to reduce conflicts that rise to the level of community violence by employing restorative practices as a preventive measure. Goal 3: Increase the knowledge and development of mental health interns at both the graduate and paraprofessional level in trauma, grief counseling, and case management strategies to inform competent and culturally relevant services to those impacted by community violence and collective trauma, and to serve annually at least 40 students individually and 500 students through Wellness Centers. Goal 4: Increase the knowledge and capacity of schools and youth-serving entities to develop and implement established protocols to guide postvention responses after traumatic events that ultimately support the healing of those most impacted, and provide immediate debrief, with the aim that 80% of participants in technical assistance training will report an increase in knowledge.

In April of 2022, the tight knit Passamaquoddy community at Pleasant Point (Sipayik) experienced a devastating loss, the brutal murder of a young Passamaquoddy woman. This violent murder not only impacted the Sipayik community but resulted in collective trauma across multiple tribal communities throughout the State, as both the victim and alleged killers were tribal members. Nationally, Native American women make up a disparate and significant portion of missing and murdered cases. Not only is the murder rate for women living on reservations ten times higher than the national average, but murder is the third leading cause of death for Native women. According to the National Congress of American Indians, more than 4 out of 5 native women experience violence in their lifetime. The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) has become a movement to address the high rate of violence against indigenous women. As the official state-designated public health district and a community service provider for the tribes, WPHW is applying for this grant opportunity in response to and support healing and recovery simultaneously, in multiple communities, after such a tragedy as the April 2022 murder. WPHW could do so by expanding and enhancing the structure, services, and staff we already have in place, by organizing and coordinating a Wabanaki Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma Coalition (Wabanaki ReCAST Coalition), representing all five of our communities, that can develop and implement trauma-based behavioral response team(s) that utilizes evidence-based and culturally appropriate services and provides training to appropriate stakeholder groups.

Project Summary: VOALA proposes to promote resilience and equity in South LA through 1) engaging a diverse coalition of stakeholders who will develop a needs assessment and strategic plan; 2) facilitating training for stakeholders on evidence-based practices; and 3) implementation of services to respond to identified needs, including behavioral health services, violence prevention services, and other culturally specific and developmentally appropriate strategies. Project Name: Volunteers of America of Los Angeles South LA ReCAST Populations to be Served: The project will serve residents of South LA (LA Service Planning Area 6), with an emphasis on youth and families. The population in South LA is primarily Hispanic (79%) and 18% Black. 31% of residents in South LA have incomes below the poverty line, and 44% of adults have less than a high school diploma. Strategies/Interventions: Strategies include: 1) Engaging a diverse coalition of stakeholders who will work together to develop a community-needs assessment and strategic plan; 2) facilitating training for community stakeholders on subjects including trauma-informed care, cultural competency and implicit bias reduction; and 3) implementation of services to respond to identified needs, including trauma-informed behavioral health services, evidence-based violence prevention services, positive youth development programming, and other culturally specific and developmentally appropriate strategies that address the needs of high-risk youth and families. Project Goals and Objectives: VOALA proposes to serve 525 individuals in Year 1 (375 through community engagement and 150 through partner trainings), and 600 individuals/year in Years 2-4 (50 through community engagement, 400 through direct client services, and 150 through partner trainings) for a total of 2,325 individuals served. VOALA has established the following goals and measurable objectives: 1) Increase community engagement amongst residents of South Los Angeles by engaging 375 individuals in needs assessment, strategic planning, and/or ongoing program meetings, as measured by the number of unduplicated individuals who participate in community assessment process and ongoing community planning meetings; 2) 80% of community members engaged during the needs assessment and/or strategic planning process will express an increased sense of ability to influence their community, as measured by pre-post-test surveys completed by community members; 3) 60% of youth/families engaged in direct participant services with identified behavioral health challenges will improve behavioral health functioning from program entry to exit, as measured by PHQ-9, GAD-7 and/or other evidenced-based tool at intake and exit; 4) 50% of youth and families engaged in direct participant services will show increased income from entry to exit, as measured by paystubs and/or public benefits award letters; 5) 60% of youth and families engaged in direct participant services with identified SUD issues will reduce substance abuse from program entry to exit, as measured by Addiction Severity Index or DAST-10 at intake and exit; 6) 80% of youth and families engaged in direct participant services will experience increased access to public/healthcare benefits from intake to exit, as measured by benefits award letters; and 7) 80% of participants in partner trainings will increase knowledge of trauma-informed approaches to services, as measured by pre-post tests administered at start and end of trainings.

Mecklenburg County Public Health Department, commonly referred to as Mecklenburg County Public Health (MCPH), is applying for the Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration FY2022 Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma (ReCAST) (SM-22-019) grant opportunity. MCPH is a NC Health Department Accredited with Honors in 2019 by the NCLHDA Board, is managed by Health Director, Raynard Washington, PhD, MPH, and is comprised of 940 employees serving approximately 1.2 million Mecklenburg County residents, including the City of Charlotte with a population of 874,579 (Source: 2020 Census). MCPH is in its fifth year of the 2018 ReCAST grant and experienced in promoting resilience, trauma-informed approaches, and equity within Mecklenburg County, the second most populous county in North Carolina, which includes Charlotte. In the aftermath of the 2016 fatal shooting of Keith Lamont Scott by a Charlotte Mecklenburg police officer and hundreds protesting in Uptown Charlotte regarding police tactics and brutal, unjust treatment of African Americans, the impact of secondary trauma from direct and indirect exposure of traumatic events may be contributing factors to collective trauma. Then, on September 7, 2021, just over a year ago, several suspects fired nearly 150 rounds into a home, mortally wounding 3-year-old Asiah Figueroa and striking his 4-year-old sister. This incident was related to a string of five drive-by shootings involving Charlotte Mecklenburg high school students firing into occupied homes. The community grieved with candlelight vigils and protested that more must be done to prevent this type of escalating violence across Charlotte. Three ReCAST staff members have made large strides in promoting trauma-informed and resiliency trainings to 3,016 community stakeholders, thus far, and worked with community stakeholders who, in turn, worked with County Commissioners to get violence deemed a public health issue in our County. Thus, the Mecklenburg County Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) launched in 2021 within the Mecklenburg County Public Health Department, the first OVP to reside in a public health department within NC. This is because between 2017-2020, there has been a 70% increase in gun-related assaults. In this grant proposal, OVP and ReCAST aim to reduce violence in Mecklenburg County by collaborating with County, City, and community partners to increase opportunity and build healthier, more resilient communities and provide community engagement opportunities for high-risk youth and their families. OVP and ReCAST worked with over 13 community violence prevention advocates to create the FY2023-FY2028 Community Violence Prevention Strategic Plan. ReCAST staff work in tandem with OVP to provide violence prevention advocates the tools needed to build resiliency in their communities, especially those who have faced events of violence and have collective trauma from a history of exposure to violence. ReCAST is the behavioral health link that many violence prevention organizations lack; thus, ReCAST partners with community-based organizations to assist high-risk youth and their families by engaging youth in violence prevention advocacy efforts and provides faith-based communities navigators for linkage to behavioral health and trauma-informed resources and support networks. ReCAST priorities align with the Community Violence Prevention Strategic Plan by providing more equitable access to trauma-informed community behavioral health resources. Community stakeholders are engaged to implement the Community Violence Prevention Strategic Plan. ReCAST is positioned to better support community healing by promoting and orchestrating community and youth engagement opportunities and disseminating culturally and developmentally appropriate information about behavioral health resources for those impacted most by collective trauma.

In August 2022, the community of Gallup, New Mexico experienced a collective trauma during which an intoxicated individual drove through a parade at the highly attended 100th Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial Celebration, a celebration of Native American ancestral cultural dances, prayers, and traditions. The crisis, resulted in 15 individuals injured, families separated during crisis, and community level trauma. Gallup is located in McKinley County (MC), the population of which is approximately 80% Native American and largely underserved, with a history of poverty, historical trauma, and heightened behavioral health problems. Despite significant community needs, MC remains chronically underserved with respect to emergency and behavioral health services. Recent years have seen sever local workforce shortages in emergency personnel, law enforcement officers, and behavioral health clinicians, and MC ranks among the worst counties statewide in its proportion of behavioral health clinicians to its population. Given Gallup's recent collective trauma and its citizens' chronic behavioral health needs, NM ReCAST aims to promote resiliency and equity through implementation of evidence-based, trauma-informed interventions and violence prevention programs to Gallup's high risk youth and families. Specifically, project goals include (1) promoting well being, resiliency, and community healing through community-based, participatory approaches; (2) creating more equitable access to trauma-informed behavioral health resources; (3) integrating behavioral health services and community systems to address social determinants of health; and (4) providing culturally responsive and developmentally appropriate program services. NM ReCAST will be guided by the Community Action Resilience Empowerment (CARE) Coalition, an established community-based coalition of residents, state and local government, non-profit organizations, higher education institutions, and other entities, to ensure community voices and partnerships, as well as efficient resource sharing across organizations. Example of project objectives include: (1) conducting a community needs and resource assessment; (2) developing Memorandums of Understanding with multiple community-based organizations; (3) developing and implementing a community strategic plan (example activities include Talking Circles, community engagement activities, reunification team development, conflict de-escalation training, employment and housing supports, services for first responders, and direct mental health treatment for children and families); (4) implementing training related to trauma-informed behavioral health services, violence prevention programs, and community engagement programs; and (5) conducting other relevant trainings ( i.e. in mental health literacy, disaster recovery and crisis response, cultural competency and implicit bias reduction) to relevant stakeholders. 700 citizens will be served through these activities.

Rebuilding and Engaging to Foster Resiliency Among Muslims Experiencing (REFRAME) Violence: A Multilevel Community-Based Approach is a four tiered intervention that attends to the behavioral health and well-being of Muslim and Afghan, African, and Arabic Newcomer (MAAAN) youth and their families in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In the U.S., newcomers often have high rates of psychological distress, limited material resources, lingering physical ailments, and loss of meaningful social roles and support, all of which are compounded by structural racism, discrimination, and marginalization of their cultural practices and language. Thus, attending to the mental health and well-being of MAAAN youth and their parents was a critical area of concern, even before recent community violence that occurred from November 2021 through August 2022, during which time four Muslim men were murdered in Albuquerque. Authorities have reason to believe all four crimes are connected and were committed by the same suspect, a recent refugee from Afghanistan, who has been arrested and charged with two of the murders. In response to these critical resource needs and gaps, the purpose of Rebuilding and Engaging to Foster Resiliency Among Muslims Experiencing Violence (REFRAME) is to bring together long-standing community and government partners (and other organizational partners to be identified by the REFRAME coalition) to implement a multilevel (4-tier) strategy that will lead to improved behavioral health outcomes for MAAAN youth and their families through systemic changes that increase access to and use of behavioral health services by making them more linguistically and culturally appropriate, trauma- and evidence-informed, and equitable. Importantly, these efforts will be led by MAAAN community members who are uniquely qualified because of their linguistic and cultural expertise and lived experiences to facilitate healing from recent community violence and ongoing structural violence and to promote the mental health and well-being of MAAAN youth and their families in Albuquerque.

United Way of Southeast Louisiana (UWSELA) and partners have developed the citywide Resilient, Equitable Systems for Overcoming Loss and Violence Everywhere (RESOLVE) New Orleans initiative. RESOLVE focuses on the predominantly Black youth and families living in communities of chronic poverty that have been most impacted by collective trauma and community violence in New Orleans. As a result of a combination of traumatic events, most Black youth living in New Orleans communities of chronic poverty have lost a family member or peer in the past 24 months. RESOLVE New Orleans seeks to: (1) Expand and create more equitable access to trauma-informed community behavioral health resources and services for young people; and (2) Establish a more coordinated system of trauma-informed community-based services that mitigate the impacts of collective trauma and community violence on New Orleans youth of color from communities of chronic poverty. RESOLVE will serve 466 people in year one and 1,375 annually in years two, three and four for a total of 4,591 people served between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2026. The goals and key objectives are detailed below. 1. Develop and implement a strategic plan for a comprehensive and coordinated trauma-informed behavioral health system led by community stakeholders. 1A. By March 31, 2023, hire a Project Coordinator to support all program activities. 1B. By March 31, 2023, convene at least 10 community representatives to launch the RESOLVE New Orleans Community Advisory Board. 1C. By June 30, 2023, execute agreements with all RESOLVE partners. 1D. By June 30, 2023, complete a comprehensive needs and resources assessment. 1E. By September 30, 2023, complete and begin implementing a strategic plan. 1F. On a quarterly basis, review progress on strategic plan implementation to ensure all benchmarks are being met. 1G. By September 30, 2023, the Community Advisory Board decides the recipients of the RESOLVE subaward fund’s first round of competitive grants. 2. Expand trauma- informed behavioral health service capacity to serve high-risk youth and families. 2A. By March 31, 2023, provide funding to the Children’s Bureau of New Orleans to add clinical staff to expand community and school-based mental health services. 2B. By June 30, 2023, begin community and school-based trauma-informed behavioral health service provision that serves at least 540 individuals over the course of the grant period. 2C. On a quarterly basis, review data to ensure at least 75% of individuals receiving trauma-informed behavioral health services show improved mental health on surveys. 3. Increase the number of people who work with young people and receive training in trauma-informed care interventions and approaches. 3A. By March 31, 2023, provide funding to expand trauma-informed training through the Mental Health First Aid Collective and the Coalition for Compassionate Schools (CCS). 3B. By June 30, 2023, begin expanded trauma-informed training in schools to train 2,000 people, including 100 mental health professionals, by the end of the grant period. 3C. By June 30, 2023, begin providing Mental Health First Aid training to reach 825 people who interact with youth exposed to community violence, including 250 health professionals. 3D. On a quarterly basis, review data to ensure a minimum of 250 training recipients train an additional 500 community members in mental health awareness and related messages. 4. Expand trained peer supports for youth dealing with community violence and trauma. 4A. By June 30, 2023, fund partners to create a RESOLVE Peer Support Program. 4B. By September 30, 2023, begin implementing the RESOLVE Peer Support Program that will serve a minimum of 725 young people over the course of the grant period. 4C. On a quarterly basis, review data to ensure at least 75% of peer support participants indicate an increased sense of well-being and coping skills in bi-monthly surveys.

Jacksonville has a has a long history of segregation, oppression, racism, and police brutality—leading to the demonstrations involving more than 3,000 people in May 2021 and Quench the Violence protest marches in May 2022. Cultivating Action, Resilience and Empowerment (CARE): Expanding the Resilient Jacksonville System of Care will utilize a rights-based framework to create an ecosystem of care to solidify, sustain and build upon community-based participatory efforts; meet the needs of high-risk youth and their families; and promote well-being, resiliency, and community healing. CARE will serve more than 15,000 unduplicated individuals in Jacksonville’s Health Zone 4, an area that has been plagued with a string of violence stemming from multiple murders of young men, in addition to having the highest rate of drug overdoses, infant mortality and domestic violence homicides of the six Duval County Health Zones. By building on the City of Jacksonville’s existing SAMHSA System of Care (SOC), we will integrate, restructure and expand the foundational components of the SOC (e.g. cultural and linguistic competency, family-driven, youth-guided, and evidence based) and ReCast (e.g., trauma-responsive training, evidence-based interventions, violence prevention strategies and community engagement strategies) that have been successfully implemented through our prior and current SAMHSA grants to establish a trauma informed Jacksonville that will focus on training first responders, community stakeholders, providers, educators, law-enforcement, clergy and parents in trauma-informed care and practices and serving more than 15,000 community stakeholders, providers, high-risk children, youth, their families and community residents residing in Jacksonville’s west side corridor, an area with violence prone communities that experience high-rates of stress and trauma. CARE will be under the leadership and guidance of the SOC Community Advisory Board, a diverse leadership consortium of community stakeholders, providers, and families and youth in the community that will ensure transparency in systemic and programmatic intervention implementation. Project goals include: (1) Building a foundation to promote well-being, resiliency, and community healing and change through community-based, participatory approaches that promote community and youth engagement, leadership development, improved governance, and capacity building; (2) Creating more equitable access to trauma-informed community behavioral health resources; (3) Strengthening the integration of behavioral health services and other community systems to address the social determinants of health, recognizing that factors, such as law enforcement practices, transportation, employment, and housing policies, can contribute to health outcomes; and (4) Ensuring that program services are culturally responsive and developmentally appropriate.