Press release
Columbus City Council announces funding for
the Columbus Community, Action, Resilience and Empowerment (CARE) Coalition
[COLUMBUS-OH] Days before Thanksgiving in 2015, a City of Columbus, 9-1-1
dispatcher received a call from a Hilltop resident screaming her neighbor had
just shot her husband. It was a cry that reverberated throughout the community
as shocked residents took to the street to console one another.
This
tragic event gave birth to the CARE (Community, Action, Resilience and
Empowerment) Coalition, a multifaceted, neighborhood response unit led by
Columbus Public Health.
On
Thursday, May 25, 2017, Columbus City Council President Zach Klein will allocate $175,000 to
expand the initiative. The program serves all of Columbus, but the expansion
highlights the Hilltop and Linden areas.
"Violence
is not just a criminal issue. It's also a public health issue, and we need to
be proactive and reactive in addressing its traumatic effects," said
Council President Klein. "Trauma left untreated can have significant
mental and behavioral impacts on residents that can devastate communities from
within and potentially perpetuate more violence."
The
CARE Coalition plans to use the funding to expand the trauma unit program which
is a combination of social service providers and social workers supporting
communities that have experienced traumatic events.
"The
goal is to provide wrap-around services that assist residents coping with
emotional as well as physical trauma," Klein continued. "The impact
of violence does not remain isolated to the residence where it occurred. It
impacts us all."
The
point of impact is where the CARE teams begin their work. In the days
following, CARE teams will engage residents where the incident occurred.
“Through
this initiative, we have the opportunity to lift neighborhoods,” said Health
Commissioner Teresa Long, MD. “Helping them build their resiliency skills will
pay dividends into the future.”
The
mission of the coalition, as defined by its members, is to engage, support and
educate Columbus residents who experience trauma as well as the community organizations
who serve those residents. These organizations include mental health providers,
community organizations and city government.
The
pilot expansion is expected to run July 1, 2017, through December 31, 2018. The
initial funding includes personnel cost training electronic social media and
printing costs.
- The overarching community outcomes of the work are:
- Increased community engagement for collective impact in
addressing adverse childhood events (ACE) and trauma
- Increased community capacity for resiliency
- Strengthening a community culture of care and support
for those actively experiencing trauma
The
Coalition’s work is action-oriented and includes systematically increasing
education among Columbus residents about psychological trauma and trauma-informed
care approaches, building an infrastructure for rapid response to traumatic
events that affect a whole community and directly engaging with
residents from neighborhoods experiencing trauma in order to increase
resiliency in Columbus communities.
Currently,
the Coalition has over 90 community organizations and individuals that
participate on a regular basis and benefit from the program.
###