Fostering Resilience and Hope: Bridging the Gap Between Law Enforcement and Community Using an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Implementation Science Approach

Project Abstract

Fostering Resilience and Hope:

Bridging the Gap Between Law Enforcement and the Community 

Background: The very nature of public safety and law enforcement (LE) requires LE officers to respond to acts of violence and high-risk situations. This exposure to trauma can lead to burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Research suggests that increasing hope in the workplace may mitigate the adverse effects of burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Hope describes an outlook or mindset of positive expectations for the future and is positively correlated with well-being. A hope-centered framework developed collaboratively by LE and the community can help to build trust between officers and the people they serve.

Approach: The training and technical assistance (TTA) is focused on supporting the development, implementation, and dissemination of a train-the-trainer trauma-informed, hope-centered framework to assist law enforcement officers with addressing trauma and adversity to repair relationships within the community. Building hope is about honoring, trusting, respecting, valuing, and amplifying opportunities within communities. For pathways and opportunities to be available to all people, including People of Color, it is a requirement that racism, sexism, and others forms of oppression are dismantled at all levels. The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities and Council on Accreditation (Alliance-COA) approach is to support the demonstrations sites through expert-to-peer and peer-to-peer learning, particularly in the areas of implementation science and equity, diversity, inclusion, and racial justice. Our TA team will address equity, diversity, inclusion (EDI), and racial justice as a deep set of skills rather than as a technical application. 

Major Objectives:

Establish formal partnerships with national stakeholders to ensure the TA portion of the project is reflective of diverse perspectives and expertise
Establish learning exchange teams with the demonstration sites to learn from one another and provide active TA, with a focus on EDI and implementation science, to the sites as they develop and sustain effective local partnerships
Develop, pilot, and implement a train-the-trainer curriculum. This curriculum should include a facilitator guide and will be published by OVC
Provide robust TA that supports the demonstration sites in creating and implementing all deliverables, including a toolkit for establishing a hope-centered framework within LE and the community, a sustainability plan to be added to the facilitator’s guide, and a strategic plan
Create and implement a marketing dissemination plan
Conduct a national evaluation and integrate lessons learned to adjust strategies and build upon what is working