Summary: The grant focuses on a peer mentorship intervention for second and third generation Latinx youth living in Palm Beach County, Florida. In addition to the peer mentorship open to youth, parents are able to attend positive parenting classes to better inform themselves of generational trauma and ACEs and how to create a strong and positive foundation at home. Second and third generation Latinx youth are targeted in this grant proposal since US-born Latinx tend to have poorer health outcomes compared to immigrants and US-born Latinx also report a higher number of ACEs (Grest et al., 2021). In addition to a peer mentorship program for youth, occupational activities like art therapies and sports will be supported to allow youth participants to express themselves while also building resilience.
Trauma-Informed Principles: This intervention will uphold principles of peer support, collaboration, trustworthiness and transparency, and safety as guidelines in our program (SAMHSA, 2014). Since our intervention focuses on a peer mentorship relationship with adult mentors and youth mentees, all mentors will be background checked and they will be assigned to multiple youth participants so that mentees can have the opportunities to interact with participants around their age. Collaboration is highlighted in our intervention through our program's relationship with local schools who will assist in the recruitment process. Collaboration is also highlighted because our intervention includes to parents and family member during the mentorship process in order to support a strong foundation at home.
Social-Ecological Model: This intervention is centered around the Social Ecological Model proposed by McLeroy, Bibeau, Stechkler, and Glanz (1998).
- Individual. This level focuses on the child participating in the program. The activities and resources learned and utilized by the child will help build resilience and promote positive coping skills.
- Interpersonal. The peer mentorship program and parenting classes make up the bulk of the interpersonal level and the intervention. The peer mentorship program provides youth mentees with a positive and trusted adult role model, who is also from the Latinx community in Palm Beach County, so that youth participants can mirror these positive behaviors. The family and parenting classes assist parents and guardians in developing positive parenting skills they can bring home with their children to build a strong family foundation built on trust and respect.
- Organizational. This level features the institutions involved at this level. This includes Children's Home Society of Florida in Palm Beach County, local public schools, community organizations partnering with the mentorship program.
- Community. Children's Home Society and schools will partner together to provide transportation for students to the CHS location, so that transportation is not a barrier preventing students from participating in this intervention.
- Public Policy. There will be a focus on the local government. This will ensure that future Community Health Assessments will include ACEs and ensure that there is funding that will support youth resiliency programs.
Public Health Framework: Our program focuses on primary, second, and tertiary interventions. Additionally, there is a focus on 4 stages of trauma-informed philanthropy: trauma-aware, trauma-sensitive, trauma-responsive, and trauma-informed (Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia, n.d.).
Interventions
- Primary: Sharing educational resources for parents and a development of an ACE questionnaire in the Community Health Assessment.
- Secondary: Schools conduct ACE screenings and connecting them to our intervention.
- Tertiary: Mental health professionals are on staff to directly provide treatment, if needed.
Four Stages
- Trauma-aware: trainings to educate staff on trauma and how to best interact with others.
- Trauma-sensitive: trainings and ensure staff morale is protected.
- Trauma-responsive: mentors recruited in the program are Latinx-American community members and will be included in decision making roles.
- Trauma-informed: our stakeholders and staff will be leaders in promoting an ACEs study for the Palm Beach County Health Assessment.
References
Grest, C.V., Finno-Velasquez, M., Cederbaum, J.A., & Unger, J.B. (2021). Adverse childhood experiences among 3 generations of Latinx youth. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 60(10); 20-28.
McLeroy, K.R., Bibeau, D., Steckler, A., & Glanz, K. (1988). An ecological perspective on health promotion programs. Health Education & Behavior, 15(4), 351-377. doi: 10.1177/109019818801500401
Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia. (2014). Trauma-Informed Philanthropy: A Funder’s Resource Guide for Supporting Trauma-Informed Practice in the Delaware Valley.
SAMHSA. (2014). SAMHSA’s concept of trauma and guidance for a trauma-informed approach. US Department of Health & Human Services.
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