Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been found to increase the risk for several chronic diseases and poor behavioural outcomes. Traditionally, ACEs included factors such as abuse and household dysfunction, including having a parent who is incarcerated. Black individuals are disproportionality incarcerated in the US, which makes Black children particularly at risk for ACEs and their associated health outcomes (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2021; Wildeman, et al., 2018). Expanded ACEs also consider factors such as racism or food insecurity, which may further compound the risk for ACEs among Black individuals (Cronholm, et al., 2015).
The foundation of this project is building resilience among Black children and the wider community in Central Harlem. Central Harlem is a majority Black neighbourhood in Northern Manhatten (Census Reporter, 2019). It reports one of the highest levels of incarceration in NYC, with 930 per 100,000 people incarcerated (Prison Policy Initiative, n.d). For comparison, the rate for NY state is 443/100,000 people (Prison Policy Initiative, n.d). Central Harlem also reports the highest levels of food insecurity in Manhattan, with 26% of the population reporting food insecurity (Food Bank for New York City, 2020). It also had among the highest rate of food assistance agencies closures during COVID, which further exacerbates the food crisis (Food Bank for New York City, 2020).
Resilience is the process by which an individual develops the skills to cope with and manage traumatic experiences, such as ACEs, in order to reduce the likelihood of trauma and its associated health outcomes (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2015). Experiencing traumatic events or ACEs does not guarantee the onset of trauma, and resilience is a key buffer between ACEs and trauma. Resilience in children is built through caring & stable relationships and positive and empowering opportunities within a community (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2015).
This is a multi-faceted program with 3 principal components that work across the four levels of the CDC’s Social-Ecological model.
1. A Farmer’s Market Club for Black children aged 8-12 that live in a single-parent household in which the other parent is incarcerated. This component will include a bi-weekly farmer’s market workshop that includes lessons on how to navigate and shop at a farmer’s market, how to prepare easy healthy meals with fruits and vegetables, and a group discussion on trauma and resilience led by a qualified social worker.
2. The second aspect is a community garden that will be open to the public and that will offer various gardening classes and activities. Children participating in the farmer’s market club will meet at the garden every other week to help plant and care for the fruits and vegetables and to help any individuals that come to use the garden.
3. The final component involves advocacy efforts aimed at changing policies that disproportionately burden Black people. This will primarily be focused on policies that disproportionally incarcerated Black individuals, but it will also support efforts that aim to mitigate the effects that mass incarceration has on children, families, and the North Harlem community.
The hope for this program is that working at different levels of the community will create a cyclic model for resilience building in which resilience at one level helps support resilience building at other levels and so forth.
References
Census Reporter (2019). Census profile: NYC-Manhattan Community District 10--Central Harlem PUMA, NY. https://censusreporter.org/pro...tral-harlem-puma-ny/
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2015, April 22). InBrief: The Science of Resilience [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r8hj72bfGo
Cronholm, P. F., Forke, C. M., Wade, R., Bair-Merritt, M. H., Davis, M., Harkins-Schwarz, M., Pachter, L. M., & Fein, J. A. (2015). Adverse Childhood Experiences: Expanding the Concept of Adversity. American journal of preventive medicine, 49(3), 354–361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2015.02.001
Federal Bureau of Prisons. (2021). BOP Statistics: Inmate Race. BOP.Gov. https://www.bop.gov/about/stat...tics_inmate_race.jsp
Food Bank for New York City. (2020). Fighting more than COVID-19. https://1giqgs400j4830k22r3m4w...City_6.09.20_web.pdf
Prison Policy Initiative. (n.d.). New York profile. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/NY.html
Wildeman, C., Fitzpatrick, M. D., & Goldman, A. W. (2018). Conditions of Confinement in American Prisons and Jails. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 14(1), 29–47. https://doi.org/10.1146/annure...socsci-101317-031025
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