ReCAST Robeson County, NC: Promoting Resilience and Addressing Community Violence, Collective Trauma, and Civil Unrest in an Impoverished, Rural, Underserved, Ethnically-Diverse Community - The purpose of this project, ReCAST Robeson, is to promote resilience, trauma-informed approaches, and equity in an impoverished, rural, underserved, and ethnically diverse community that has recently faced civil unrest, community violence, and collective trauma within the past 24 months. We will assist high-risk youth and families through the implementation of evidence-based violence prevention, and community youth engagement programs. ReCAST Robeson will be guided by a community-based coalition of residents, non-profit organizations, and other entities. In recent years, Robeson County has been challenged by high rates of community violence, poverty, and collective trauma caused by repeated flooding from Hurricanes Matthew (2016), Florence (2018), Dorian (2019), Isaias (2020), and Tropical Storm Fred (2021). COVID-19 hit Robeson County particularly hard in 2020-21, overwhelming the local hospital and keeping vulnerable children out of school for more than a year. In 2020, Robeson County led NC in violent crime and had the third highest overall crime rate in the state (4,779 per 100,000, a 25% increase from the previous year; FBI, 2020a; NC SBI, 2020). The child poverty rate is 39%, the third highest rate of all 100 counties in NC and the median income is $33,679, which is just over half the national median income of $62,843 (U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.). Robeson is the most diverse county in NC (Diversity Index [DI]=73.5% out of 100) and one of the most diverse in the U.S.; only 14 U.S. counties had higher DI scores in 2020. County demographics are: White (31%), 42% American Indian (AI), 24% is Black, and 9% is Latinx. Poverty rates by race are: AI 28%; Black 33%, Latinx 42%; Other 43%; and White 17%, showing significant inequalities. Despite these challenges, Robeson County is a resilient community with a deep cultural heritage and strong network of relationships. This initiative would promote resilience, trauma-informed approaches, and equity in Robeson County by: • Enhancing and expanding the Community Coalition called Robeson Overcoming Adversity through Resilience (ROAR) that is currently facilitated by Robeson Partnership for Children; • Training a diverse array of community stakeholders in Community Resiliency and Mental Health Literacy - 200/ year = 800 total; • Establishing two Creative Coping Centers, one in Lumberton and one in Pembroke, that would sponsor positive youth engagement activities through expressive arts (art, drama) and youth enrichment (mentoring, conflict resolution, career coaching, restorative justice teen court) 250/year = 1,000 total; • Sponsoring training fellowships for behavioral health providers to learn advanced techniques in trauma-informed programs and practices and telehealth - 20/year = 40 total; • Expanding access to behavioral health therapy through the NC-YVPC Victim Empowerment and Education Program (VEEP) for youth and families who have experienced trauma - 150 youth and families receiving trauma-focused therapy per year = 600 total. The North Carolina Youth Violence Prevention Center (NC-YVPC: www.nc-yvpc.org) will facilitate ReCAST Robeson with major contributions from Robeson Partnership for Children, the Lumbee Tribe, UNC-Pembroke, law enforcement, community leaders, and a diverse array of residents. NC-YVPC has worked in Robeson County for the past 12 years with major grants from CDC, NIJ, BJA, state agencies, and foundations. NC-YVPC will collect all mandatory Infrastructure, Prevention, and Promotion (IPP) performance measures and enter them into SPARS. Each level of the ReCAST Robeson multi-tiered initiative will have its own quality improvement and performance measures, such as satisfaction surveys, and pretest-posttest measures to assess change for clients in trauma-focused therapy. The project will ultimately increase community resilience, enhance equity and access to trauma-focused services, and reduce community violence, collective trauma, and civil unrest.
