The National Trauma Campaign network is actively and collectively advocating for the next federal COVID package to include provisions that address the trauma caused by the pandemic. At this writing, we do not yet know what will make it into the final version. However, we urge you to respond to upcoming Calls to Action from Campaign, which will be issued according to movement of the bill through Congress.
You may also be asked to engage more deeply if you have a Senator or Representative who holds a key position relative to the inclusion of trauma provisions. Looking ahead, we encourage you to prepare to advocate to state-level decision-makers that flexible federal funding needs to be directed, in part, toward trauma-informed and resilience-building approaches in your state. You can look to the Campaign for information and support of state-level advocacy in August and September.
Your National Trauma Campaign Team is working to more deeply embed a race equity lens into the Campaign. This has always been important to us, though was not previously explicitly called out. Recent events have directed our attention toward our own position in the racial justice movement, and the traumatogenesis of structural and systemic racism. It is clear to us that if we do not call out these forces we are not fulfilling our work. We will continue to bring these issues to light and clarify our path forward as we support BIPOC communities and individuals, and develop a more diverse National Campaign leadership team and network membership.
As we continue this journey of learning and unlearning, your input is important to us. Please reach out to us with any questions or thoughts you’d like to share regarding more intionally and explicitly integrating an equity lens into the Campaign’s work.