FOCUS Pittsburgh knew it was onto something when it piloted its model for strengthening communities — starting with the knowledge that social service help will not stick unless trauma is confronted.

In 2015, FOCUS chose the 2900 block of Webster Avenue in the Hill District to start a block-by-block approach of bringing people together toward healing. The group is only into its second area — the 900 block of Bryn Mawr — but people around the country are validating that it is onto something.

A FOCUS training sessions last week at Duquesne University drew more than 30 people from organizations in Indianapolis, Kansas City, Petersburg, Va., and the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, among others.

[For more on this story by DIANA NELSON JONES, go to http://www.post-gazette.com/op...stories/201806170065]