Resilient Worcester

Since launching the Worcester Youth Violence Prevention Initiative in 2015, gun and knife incidents involving young people under 25 have declined 31% in the city and arrests of young people have declined 68%. Despite these impressive accomplishments, youth gun and knife incident data that suggest Worcester’s work is not complete. Recognizing that cumulative experiences of trauma in childhood correlate with later risk behavior and poor health outcomes, the Governance Council has implemented three interventions to address the impacts of trauma as early and effectively as possible: Handle with Care, Youth Crisis Response Team, and the Hub. These strategies permit timely, age- and risk-level appropriate responses to violence and other traumatic incidents, the interruption of retaliatory violence, and the reduction in long-term negative impacts of trauma on child development and family wellbeing. However, four sets of reasons the downstream trauma responses are not functioning as intended have been identified. Referred to as ‘pain points’ these challenges indicate the need for an aligned, trust-filled, culturally responsive, coordinated upstream to downstream trauma response system. This project strives to create this system.