Tag: Campaign News

The RISE From Trauma Act is gaining momentum in the Senate and we need your engagement NOW in support of this important legislation!

The RISE From Trauma Act (S. 2086) provides a unique opportunity to help launch a new federal grant program of up to $4.8 billion over eight years ($600 million per year) to support community coalitions who are advancing trauma-informed initiatives. Your advocacy today will go a long way toward moving this legislation closer to the finish line! 

To take quick and easy action, please complete the brief form in this link, then share the link and this call to action with your networks to get many people reaching out to your Senators in support of this important advocacy. We need to demonstrate a groundswell of support, so please send this out far and wide–and encourage others to do the same!

To find out more about the RISE From Trauma Act, please take a look at the Campaign’s one-pager.

This is an exciting opportunity for the trauma-informed movement, and your action will make a huge difference!

If you are looking for additional ways to support this legislation, let us know! We can provide you with sample email language and names/emails in your Senators’ offices to reach out to as well.

Thanks for all you do,
The National Trauma Campaign Core Team

There is incredible opportunity brewing right now in the federal government to support trauma-informed work and your quick response is needed. Action is required no later than tomorrow! Thank you to everyone who took action in the time since the first email was sent on Friday!

As Senators work to finalize a bi-partisan deal for the American Jobs Act, our Senate trauma champions and co-authors of the RISE from Trauma Act (S. 2086) are working to include RISE provisions in this bill. Of particular interest is the inclusion of a new, $600 million annual grant program to support community coalitions to plan and target efforts to address local trauma interventions. The attached summary provides details about other trauma prevention and approaches that will be included in the bill.

Right now, we are asking national and state organizations to sign on to a letter that will go to Senators Schumer and McConnell expressing support for federal funds directed to prevent and address trauma. Add your organization’s/coalition’s name to this sign on letter (text follows form) by tomorrow.

For more information on the RISE from Trauma Act, please take a look at our one-pager.

Your voice and your actions are needed. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) offers tremendous opportunities for ensuring that various public systems are equipped to identify and respond to the predictable effects of trauma caused during this pandemic era. Congress acknowledged the toll that the pandemic has taken on emotional health and well-being. A word search for “mental health” highlighted the term 30 times throughout the lengthy bill. State and local leaders, like you, can advocate for the resources in the ARPA to be used to support systems-level interventions as part of pandemic relief and recovery.

Some examples include (bill section references provided):

• K-12 Education: Present a plan to your state and local education decision makers for training and supporting every adult in school settings on how to recognize signs of trauma in children and each other and respond appropriately (Section 2001, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund).
• Early Childhood: Make sure your state’s child care leaders and providers know the training, technical assistance and supports that work to address the “mental health needs of children and employees,” which is an allowed use of the funds. (Section 2202, Child Care Stabilization Funding).
• Hospitals, Clinics, Treatment Providers, Pediatrician Offices: Convince decision makers to apportion funds to provide training, technical assistance and support that results in health care professionals and personnel in all settings knowing how to identify and respond to trauma in their daily interactions with patients, family members, and one another (Sections 2701, 2702, 2703, 2705, 2707, 2711, 2712, 2713, Subtitle H – Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder).
• Community-Based Mobile Crisis Services: Encourage your state leaders to opt in to the five years of federal financing for Community-Based Mobile Crisis Intervention Services that require a team of health care professionals who “are trained in trauma-informed care, de-escalation strategies and harm reduction.” 
• Family Strengthening: Work with state leaders to ensure that the unprecedented increase in resources to prevent child maltreatment and stabilize families are delivered through trauma-sensitive approaches, programs, and environments (Sections 2205, Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, and 9101 Emergency Assistance to Families Through Home Visiting Programs).

More generally, the flexibility provided in the bill offers the possibility that leaders can coordinate resources toward the shared goal of ensuring all relevant public systems are trauma-sensitive.

The National Trauma Campaign has a bill summary available and will be hosting a webinar to share more details on the ways provisions in the bill can be directed toward addressing trauma and building resilience. The date and time of the webinar will be announced soon.