Baltimore Breakthrough Series Collaborative

Baltimore: A Trauma-Informed Resilient City for Children and Families Breakthrough Series Collaborative

The process of becoming trauma-informed requires a huge commitment on the part of organizations and individuals.

Building upon eight years of collaboration, University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) Schools of Medicine and Social Work, Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress (formerly known as The Family Center at Kennedy Krieger Institute) , and The Zanvyl and Isabelle Krieger Fund are leading a Breakthrough Series Collaborative (BSC) to make Baltimore a more trauma-informed, resilient city. This initiative is not just training. It is focused on helping to facilitate real sustainable change. Nine teams, made up of Baltimore families, community-based organizations, and providers, are participating in this year-long process toward integrating trauma-informed practices. The framework is based on an evidence-based model that incorporates in-person learning sessions, conference calls, and projects.

According to the mission of the Breakthrough Series Collaborative, after participating in this Breakthrough Series Collaborative, Baltimore families, communities, organizations, and providers will:

recognize what resilience and trauma are;
understand how they each affect children, families, and communities;
acknowledge the connections between race, racism, resilience, and trauma;
collaborate, partner, and respond in ways that build resilience, address racial injustices, and incivilities, and reduce incidences of trauma; and
respond actively and sensitively when trauma does occur

to ultimately strengthen the children, families and communities within the city.

Organizations began the application process in the summer of 2015, and the program kicked off in the fall. The nine participating teams are listed below.

The BSC represents one more step forward as we move toward a trauma-informed Baltimore.

Image credit: Eric Prince’s Photo Stream