TIMELINE

In 2017, building upon AEN’s success in ensuring that the arts and arts education were part of collective impact improvement initiatives in Newark, new funds were received from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to expand the adoption of arts-based traumainformed approaches to healthcare and education. A core planning team started the initiative by focusing on understanding the science and research around trauma and finding the alignment and intersection of the practices of arts educators and healthcare providers.

at improving the structural, governmental, and social conditions necessary for improving the health status of the communities they serve. Another early partner was My Brother’s Keeper Newark (MBKN), an alliance that is focused on breaking down silos, challenging longheld practices of the educational, criminal justice, and health systems that have contributed to racial and gender disparities in Newark, and forging collaborations that will drive improved outcomes for boys and young men of color.

In 2018 AEN established a new collective impact initiative with healthcare and social service providers. Relationships were forged with The Greater Newark Health Care Coalition (GNHCC), a non-profit collaborative dedicated to improving healthcare delivery and health outcomes, with highlevel representatives of hospitals, primary healthcare, educational and higher ed institutions, advocacy organizations, behavioral health organizations, visiting nurse services, and others. GNHCC drives health planning efforts directed

With renewed support from the NEA, AEN and its partners organized working sessions to determine areas for focus and impact based on collective concerns. In addition to administrators, there were teaching artists, GNHCC trainers on trauma awareness, MBKN staff who shared mentoring techniques, an art therapist, and a licensed clinical social worker who came together to engage in a process of collective learning. The goal was to incorporate the arts into trauma workshops and to create a model that developed and fortified quality in both fields when it came to youth impacted by trauma.

In January 2020, after 18 months of learning and planning, the group created a three-part Arts and TraumaInformed Care training series for those working in youth-focused spaces. With great fanfare and substantial acclaim, the first series was offered in person for Newark teachers, providing effective arts education tools and strategies for safer spaces, specifically in support of trauma-impacted students. With the sudden advent of Covid, everything changed. The curriculum was revised and adapted, and all subsequent sessions of the Arts and Trauma-Informed Care series were offered online. From 2020 –2022, approximately 300 art teachers, school administrators, support services personnel, teaching artists, youth development leaders, and community service providers participated. The online platform, partnerships with other organizations, and additional support from funders, including Save The Music Foundation, extended the reach to participants outside of Newark, including other areas of New Jersey, Miami FL, and Anaheim CA.

Newark educators who had attended the three-part training series and were interested in continuing to improve their practice by discussing challenges and successes in bringing the work to their constituents. In addition, AEN has shared information about this work at regional and national conferences. AEN has incorporated arts-based trauma-informed care into their Arts Ambassadors training program for parents, caregivers, and community activists, and a new site-based model with a school in Newark has begun.

From 2021 – 2022, AEN created two Peer Learning Communities for 25