Minimize exposure to 10 Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) — the traumas and stressors that damage long-term health and stability.
The Pyramid We DON’T
Want Our Kids To Climb:
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The following action steps are written in SMART Goal format. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Community members are encouraged to utilize this page to determine if their local community could benefit from implementing these action steps. Consider these as guidelines for further discussion in the direction of tax dollars to provide ideal environments for children and citizens. Take your community’s resources, economic and social strengths, and crime rates over the last 25-50 years into consideration.
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Action Steps at the Town Hall Level:
Increase Awareness of ACEs 📽️
- Specific: Whether separately or as part of parenting workshops implemented as part of the maximization of PCEs, launch a community-wide education campaign to raise awareness about ACEs, their effects, and prevention strategies. If possible, utilize this presentation.
- Measurable: Reach 1,000 residents through workshops, social media, and printed materials within 6 months.
- Achievable: Partner with local schools, healthcare providers, CPS, and relevant nonprofits to disseminate information.
- Relevant: Increased awareness is the first step to reducing the occurrence of ACEs and can also open the path for individuals to seek support for the impacts ACEs have had on their lives.
- Time-Bound: Complete the campaign rollout within 3 months and evaluate reach after 6 months.
Train Professionals to Identify and Respond to ACEs
- Specific: Train teachers, healthcare providers, social workers, and relevant volunteers to recognize signs of ACEs and intervene appropriately.
- Measurable: Train 100 professionals within 1 year.
- Achievable: Use existing training programs, the free 30 min People Be Peoplin’ Intro To Childhood Experiences Professional Development Session Resource Bank, and/or partner with local organization to deliver workshops.
- Relevant: Early identification and intervention can mitigate the effects of ACEs.
- Time-Bound: Complete the first training session within 3 months and all sessions within 12 months.
Improve Access to Family Counseling 📽️
- Specific: Increase the availability of affordable mental health services for parents and children.
- Measurable: Provide counseling services to 100 families within 1 year OR Hold one “meet and greet” session with 100% of families that have children enrolled in community elementary schools. School/family counselors can meet families and provide information to continue sessions.
- Achievable: Partner with local mental health providers, colleges providing quality programs for counseling, and secure funding through grants or community donations.
- Relevant: Addressing mental health issues reduces the risk of ACEs by providing families with mechanisms to deal with stress in a healthy manner.
- Time-Bound: Begin offering services within 4 months and evaluate usage after 12 months.
Create a Free or Low-Cost Short-Term Babysitting Service 📽️
- Specific: Increase time for 1-3 hours of self-care per week day for parents/guardians by creating a schedule of babysitters available to families with children 1-7 years old.
- Measurable: Provide Red Cross training and certification for local high school students who are looking for volunteer hours and/or are of working age. Serve 300 children in these programs within 1 year.
- Achievable: Create shifts for babysitters between the hours of 4pm – 10pm. The hour(s) of relief provided will vary by day of the week per household. Families can choose up to two days of the week to receive more than one hour of relief – up to 3 hours in a single day – and services will not be provided on the weekend.
- Relevant: Caretakers, particularly in single-parent households, often find time for themselves and their household after their children go to sleep, which feeds into a destructive cycle of sleep deprivation. Increase of stress increases likelihood for abusive situations to arise. By providing a break for parents to manage their household and care for themselves during waking hours, families can have appropriate stress loads until their child reaches their concrete operational stage (8+ years old) and is capable of short-term independence.
- Time-Bound: Create availability of 50 babysitting volunteers/employees within 6 months and expand to 100 within 12 months.
Address Substance Abuse Amongst Parents & Guardians
- Specific: Launch a substance abuse prevention and treatment program for parents and caregivers.
- Measurable: Enroll 50 individuals in the program within 1 year and monitor police and CPS reports to achieve a 20% reduction in substance abuse-related incidence.
- Achievable: Partner with healthcare providers, nonprofits and recovery organizations to provide services.
- Relevant: Parental substance abuse induces adversity #9 and increases the likelihood of experiencing several other ACEs. Substance abuse shortens emotional cycles, decreases tolerance for stress, and increases erratic behavior.
- Time-Bound: Begin the program within 6 months and evaluate outcomes after 12 months.
Normalize Workplace Assessment of Violence Risk
- Specific: Adopt and promote the WAVR-21 (Workplace Assessment of Violence Risk) as a standard tool for all municipal departments and local partner agencies (e.g., schools, public health, social services) to assess and manage workplace violence risk.
- Measurable: Within one year, 80% of identified departments will have at least one trained staff member in the WAVR-21. The town will also track a 20% reduction in reported workplace violence incidents and stress-related grievances among caretakers.
- Achievable: Partner with the WAVR-21 team to provide initial training for a core group of 10-15 assessors (e.g., from HR, Security, Public Health). Use existing safety budgets and allocate time for a phased rollout, starting with high-risk departments.
- Relevant: This goal directly protects caretakers (e.g., social workers, teachers) from workplace violence. By reducing their stress and fear, it helps prevent the spillover of stress-induced abuse or neglect, thereby safeguarding children in the community.
- Time-bound: Achieve the training and policy milestones within an 18-month timeline. The first 6 months will be dedicated to planning and securing a training contract. The next 12 months will focus on training the initial cohort and implementing the assessment protocol for all new cases of disruptive behavior.
Provide Orphans with Adult and Peer-Aged Wellness Partners 📽️
- Specific: If/when rolling out mentorship programs, provide local orphans with priority in matches. Additionally, ensure that all orphans over the age of 13 have a school-aged partner they regularly meet with and can confide in.
- Measurable: Establish support groups and engage 100% of local orphans within one year.
- Achievable: Use existing community spaces, mentor training, and honor student programs to recruit and train participants.
- Relevant: Orphans are the most vulnerable population, often going overlooked without having a proper adult to advocate for them. By creating adult and peer-aged partnerships who regularly report on the health and well-being of orphaned children, we can ensure they are being appropriately cared for.
- Time-Bound: Create mentorship pairings for 50% of orphans over the age of 10 within the first 6 months, peer-pairings for 50% of orphans over the age of 13 within the first 6 months and expand to 100% of age-appropriate pairings within 1 year.
Promote Economic Stability for Families
- Specific: Provide stipends for heads of household to attend job training, financial literacy programs, and access to affordable childcare for low-income families.
- Measurable: Assist 100 families in achieving economic stability within 2 years.
- Achievable: Partner with local businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies to offer resources.
- Relevant: Economic stress is a risk factor for ACEs such as neglect and household dysfunction.
- Time-Bound: Launch the first program within 6 months and evaluate progress annually.
Action Steps at the School Level:
Facilitate Childhood Experience Research Projects 📽️
- Specific: Starting in 4th grade, every 3 years during Mental Health Awareness Month (May), students will complete a research project on childhood experiences, culminating in a family presentation day.
- Measurable: 80% of students will complete projects with 3 or more cited sources + 1 creative/reflective component (e.g., art, poem, interview summary). 70% will have a family member or trusted adult attend presentation day.
- Achievable: Teachers receive a project guide + half-day training 3 months prior. Project integrated into existing ELA/Social Studies/Health classes (6–8 total hours). Families notified 1 month in advance; scheduling accommodates work/transportation needs.
- Relevant: Structured reflection on childhood experiences + family-school connection are protective factors for lifelong mental health.
- Time-bound: Teacher training by February 1; student work during May; presentation day on last Saturday of May. Repeats every 3 years.
Implement Trauma Informed Staff Training 📽️
- Specific: Train 100% of staff in trauma-informed practices (TIP) to recognize and react to ACE symptoms.
- Measurable: Aim for 80% of teachers to pass TIP assessments by the end of the academic year. Monitor suspension rates of trauma-affected students over the course of 2 years after staff training is achieved and look for a reduction of 30% or more in frequency of suspension.
- Achievable: Partner with local organizations and established programs such as Trauma Sensitive Schools for workshops.
- Relevant: TIP lowers re-traumatization and improves academic outcomes.
- Time-bound: Train at least half of school staff within one academic year and 100% by the end of the second academic year.
Increase Availability of Tools for Self-Regulation 📽️
- Specific: Give students the opportunity to choose a quiet “fidget” toy of their choice that is minimally disruptive to classes. If possible/applicable, charge the student government with the responsibility of creating and maintaining a “Zen Den” for students who need a space to self-regulate.
- Measurable: Aim for 70% of students who use the space to report improved emotional regulation on surveys. Monitor referrals for a reduction in class-disruptions.
- Achievable: Repurpose a room easily accessible/monitored by school counselors with sensory tools such as weighted blankets, art supplies, noise-canceling headphones, etc.
- Relevant: Hyperactivity, aggression, and attention deficits are common side-effects of ACEs. Zen Dens and fidget toys can support students’ self-regulation.
- Time-bound: Assess Zen Den usage and effectiveness after one semester to determine if more should be created.
Provide a Communication in Intimate Relationships Course 📽️
- Specific: Students in 9-12 grade must complete a course on communication with intimate partners and demonstrate proficiency with identify the warning signs and tactics of abusive relationships, with instigating uncomfortable conversations with their partners, and with responding to outside pressure to endure abuse (from parents, family, friends, etc).
- Measurable: 100% of students will enroll in the course with 70% or more earning a grade of C or higher.
- Achievable: Base course curriculum on existing local domestic violence workshops such as the YWCA’s Domestic Violence 101 Workshop and Couples Communication Courses.
- Relevant: Rates of domestic violence by an intimate partner against men and women during their lifetimes in the United States is between 12% – 48%. Equipping students with the tools to regulate their emotions, have difficult conversations, and recognize when it’s time to leave or ask for help can help to reduce these rates and stop perpetration of domestic abuse by an intimate partner over time.
- Time-bound: Develop the course in partnership with local experts within 6 months. A pilot program will run across one grade of choice during the spring semester an identified academic year, with school-wide rollout across all grades by fall of the next year.