Supporting and Healing Individuals from Trauma Program for Children Exposed to Violence

Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital proposes to implement e-SHIFT (Supporting and Healing Individuals from Trauma), an expansion of the current Le Bonheur Trauma Center’s Hospital Violence Intervention Program (HVIP), in collaboration with committed partners to meet the critical needs of children who are victims of violence. The purpose of the project is to expand Le Bonheur’s current community‐based violence prevention and recovery services including HVIP wraparound services to justice‐involved youth to prevent violent injuries, trauma recidivism and further involvement in the juvenile court system. The applicant, Methodist Le Bonheur Community Outreach, is a nonprofit subsidiary of Le Bonheur with 30 years’ experience in administering federal grants.

During the first six months of the grant, project partners will convene a multi‐disciplinary Planning Team to research and develop evidence-based strategies to support children exposed to violence. The Blueprint will outline strategies along the prevention and intervention continuum to address risk and protective factors for children, families and communities disproportionately exposed to violence and trauma. Concurrently, project partners will expand and implement services for 60 or more enrolled e-SHIFT participants annually, including: mental health counseling provided by The BRAIN Center at the University of Memphis (UofM); community violence intervention and mentoring by 901 BLOC Squad (a culturally specific organization and subgrantee for consideration under Priority 1B); gun safety (Be SMART and Stop the Bleed training); participation in violence prevention events; and hosting community violence summits in years two and three of the grant.

The service area for the project is the City of Memphis, with a focus on more than a dozen violence-impacted ZIP codes. Project beneficiaries will be children/youth (ages 8-17) who are enrolled through the HVIP or via the Shelby County Juvenile Court Ceasefire program. Younger at-risk siblings of HVIP and Ceasefire participants will also be eligible for the program.

The multi-disciplinary Planning Team includes representatives from: 901 BLOC Squad, University of Memphis (UofM) Public Safety Institute, City of Memphis Group Violence Intervention Program, Shelby County Juvenile Court Ceasefire program, Shelby County Health Department’s Cure Violence Program, Memphis Allies (Youth Villages), The Urban Child Institute, University of Memphis Le Bonheur Trauma Services, the UTHSC Center for Youth Advocacy and Well‐Being, Memphis Shelby County Schools, Memphis Police Department, Memphis Child Advocacy Center, and UofM Departments of Criminology and Social Work.