More than 300 people gathered for the 4th Annual Public Safety/Re-Entry, “Healing our Communities” conference in Los Angeles. The first three conferences were for USC students in the School of Social Work and people who provide social services in the LA area. This year the conference included youth and parents served by those providers.
The community safety conference highlighted re-entry initiatives and programs in Los Angeles County organized by agencies such as Homeboy Industries, Project Kinship, Visionary Youth Center, and Communities in Schools.
With community engagement the focus of the conference, the Healing Our Communities leadership team invited the agencies to bring 20 youth, adult and family members served by their organization, along with three to five staff members. As a result, 80 percent of the participants were youth and adults from Los Angeles neighborhoods served by these organizations, and 20 percent were from the agencies.
Held at the USC-Radisson Hotel on March 26, 2016, the event was organized by the Tri-County Collaborative (Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego Counties), the Trauma-Informed Task Force of Greater LA, and the University of Southern California School of Social Work.
(left, Susan Hess, Co-Chair of Trauma Informed Care Task Force of Greater LA with Dulce Acosta, Los Angeles County ACEs Connection Community Liaison.)
The panels included discussion of community violence, community leadership and voice, community healing and community transformation. Following every panel, facilitators at each table led discussions intended to include everyone at the table — youth, family members, students, and social service providers.
The facilitators asked questions such as: "How do you see our community? What does it mean to have a healthy community? What stood out from the panel?” Scribes took notes on the recommendations for community change. One community member told me that this was her first experience participating in a conference like this where she felt validated and heard. We will keep you posted on what comes out of the conference.
Members of the TIC Task Force of Greater LA (in photo, below) attended the conference. The task force connects advocates, leaders, agencies and Los Angeles residents through community-centered resources, education, advocacy and partnerships grounded in trauma-informed and resilience-building principles based on ACEs science.
(left to right) Trauma Informed Care Task Force of Greater Los Angeles, Katie Tyler; Dulce Acosta, ACEs Connection LA County Group's Community Liaison; Susie Hess:,Co-Chair TIC Task Force of Greater LA; K-Rahn Vallatine; Dana Brown, ACEs Connection Southern CA Regional Community Facilitator; Devika Shankar, Co-Chair TIC Task Force of Greater LA
Stay tuned for the next Public Safety/Re-Entry event which will be held in Orange County on June 3rd and the launch the ACEs Connection Orange County Group!
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