H79SM084931

Community Thriving: Enhancing Resiliency of Communities After Stress and Trauma builds on a county-wide health initiative to support child and youth thriving through deep partnerships across multiple communities that have been historically marginalized and racially segregated in Allegheny County, PA. This second most populous county in the state includes the city of Pittsburgh and has about 1.2 million residents, 79% identify as white, 13% black, 4% Asian, 2% Hispanic/Latino; 19% are under age 18.

We propose three overarching goals attuned to the unique strengths and challenges of youth and communities in Allegheny County.

Goal 1: Improving care coordination and mentoring for youth injured or impacted by violence, trauma, and civil unrest to promote recovery and reduce future violence involvement. Through the Empowering Teens to Thrive (ET3) intensive case management and mentoring programs, we will provide 20-40 assault-injured youth per year with safety planning, psychological support, systems navigation, and linkage to mental health and social services. We will also provide 20-40 violence exposed and involved youth with individualized trauma-sensitive mentorship each year. Additionally, we will expand implementation of an evidence-based program (Cure Violence) to directly serve 30 youths per year in prioritized geographic areas. Furthermore, we will create and disseminate a community engagement toolkit designed to increase participation in violence prevention programming and to increase awareness and linkage to community-based mental health and social services.

Goal 2: Connecting youth to racial and gender justice-informed violence prevention programs to address trauma, violence, and civil unrest. Research-informed programming shown to demonstrate reductions in interpersonal violence will be delivered to 60 youth in two neighborhoods per year by trained community facilitators at community-based youth-serving agencies. We will lead trainings in trauma-sensitive practices, mental health literacy, cultural humility, racial and gender equity, and anti-racism for 100 youth, parents, and adult allies across multiple sectors (social service, educational, healthcare, juvenile court, law enforcement, child welfare) each year.

Goal 3: Promoting community change through a community-based participatory intervention that engages youth and adults to foster collective efficacy and community resilience. This intervention aims to increase community capacity and leadership to prevent youth and community violence and improve community mental health. We will implement the 3-phase collective efficacy intervention to train 30 youth and adults in two neighborhoods per year in restorative intervention approaches to prevent violence and improve mental health outcomes. Additionally, we will develop and disseminate a replication toolkit. Across all 5 years, we will serve 1,750 individuals (334 in year 1, 344 in year 2, 354 in year 3, 359 in year 4, and 359 in year 5).

Offering opportunity to co-create thriving environments for children and youth will provide a concrete, action-focused strategy for increasing resiliency in neighborhoods most impacted by COVID-19 and civil unrest. This initiative aims to promote emotional well-being, reduce mental health symptoms, and reduce youth violence.

County Of Allegheny

NOT APPLICABLE

93.243 - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance

Division of Grants Management [HHS - SAMHSA]

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 152222221 United States

Single Zip Code

Resiliency In Communities After Stress and Trauma (SM-21-012)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 300% from $999,999 to $3,999,996.