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Responding to Trauma Among Young Men of Color: Adapting the Crown Heights Approach For Your Community

NCJ Number
250389
Author(s)
Katie Crank; Kenton Kirby
Date Published
July 2016
Length
15 pages
Annotation

This is a toolkit for the replication of the "Make It Happen" program in the Crown Heights community of Brooklyn, NY, which focuses on young men of color who have been impacted by community and/or interpersonal violence, providing them mentorship, clinical interventions, supportive workshops, advocacy, and intensive case management that includes services of traditional victim service providers in the community.

Abstract

The practices shared in this toolkit are based on the Center for Court Innovation's work with violence interrupter programs, victim service agencies, trauma, and gender-based violence. Ten steps are outlined for planning a response to trauma among young men of color victimized by or exposed to violence. The 10 steps are divided into four phases of program implementation: 1) creating a strong foundation when starting the project, which involves setting goals and objectives (Step 1) and creating a planning team or advisory board (Step 2); 2) building on current practice and identifying areas for change, which involves a baseline evaluation (Step 3) , mapping resources (Step 4), conducting an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (Step 5), and documenting the plan (Step 6); 3) methods for implementing or improving the project, which involves program evaluation (Step 7) and implementing or improving trauma-informed programming (Step 8); and 4) evaluation and communication regarding keeping the project on track, which involves evaluating and measuring success (Step 9) and sustaining collaboration (Step 10).