On August 9th, 2018, led by New Orleans City Council members Jason Williams, Helena Moreno and Jay H. Banks, it was resolved that based upon data (furnished by IWES) showing the wide prevalence of trauma, the evidence of the toxic effects on the brain which can result in problematic behaviors in children, and the availability of evidence-based treatments, New Orleans would seek to become a more compassionate and trauma-informed city. The New Orleans Children and Youth Planning Board (CYPB) was tasked with creating a year-long Task Force that would examine the issues surrounding Childhood Trauma and provide the City with recommendations to address them.

The task force was comprised of representatives and experts from a broad cross section of fields and backgrounds, such as systems leaders, youth and caregivers with lived experience. IWES’ CEO, Dr. Denese Shervington and the Reverend Dr. Torin Sanders served as the co-chairs. Through regular meetings and convenings, the Task Force met throughout the course of the year to delve deeper into the issue and determine the most relevant and salient issues to focus on. On June 2019, the Task Force also engaged over 140 community members at a day-long summit on compassion and resilience, during which attendees participated in co-creating recommendations and vision-building on how New Orleans could become a more compassionate, trauma-informed city.

On October 17th, 2019, CYPB Executive Director Karen Evans, Dr. Sanders and Dr. Shervington made a brief presentation to the City Council before handing over the 200+ page report. Key issues that were highlighted during the presentation were: the membership, structure and processes of the task force governance; IWES’ data that illuminated the problem; highlights of the 10 task-force recommendations and the proposed implementation plan; and the need to make the moral decision to invest resources in the healing of our children and communities.

To see the full report, follow this link, and for more information about the Task Force and its findings, please contact info@nolacypb.org.