A new Prevention Institute report, featured Wednesday in USA Today, offers a groundbreaking framework for understanding the relationship between community trauma and violence. In doing so, the report provides insight into how we can overcome the inequities that contribute to a cycle of inner-city gun violence, poverty, unemployment, and poor health in communities of color. As additional treatment models are developed for individual trauma, there is a growing need for addressing trauma as a public health epidemic, exploring population-level strategies and prevention. Until now, there has been no basis for understanding how community trauma undermines both individual and community resilience, especially in communities highly impacted by violence, and what can be done about it. Adverse Community Experiences and Resilience, written by Prevention Institute (PI) with principal authors Dr. Howard Pinderhughes and Rachel Davis, and funded by Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit in Northern California, outlines specific strategies to address and prevent community trauma using techniques from those living in affected areas. Based on interviews with practitioners in communities with high rates of violence, the report describes symptoms of trauma at the community level. These symptoms include deteriorated environments and public spaces; limited employment; intergenerational poverty; disconnected social relations and networks; and more.
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