TRAIN WITH US

This program will follow an African family from a refugee settlement to life in the U.S. In the process they will encounter refugees from around the world and members of their new community, and address the challenges that comes with school, culture, and family.

Close to 400,000 children in the United States are currently in foster care. Up to 80% of these children have significant mental health challenges. Because of their complex traumas, adults who were in the foster care system experience posttraumatic stress disorder at a rate of five times the general population. This program will follow the journey of a sibling group addressing adoption, reunification, permanency.

Globally, millions of children became orphans during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, millions more are annually affected by epidemics such as cholera, malaria, HIV, and Ebola. This program will address hygiene, protection, recovery, and stigma associated with epidemics and illness.

The International Labor Organization estimates that 160 million children were engaged in child labor in 2021 with numbers of child trafficking victims having tripled in 2021. This program raises awareness and strengthens communities to address the factors that lead to child trafficking for labor, war, and sex.

Poverty is the number one cause of child neglect and ultimately abandonment. Through this program, participants will explore evidence-based solutions for improving socio-economic situations so that the risk of child abandonment is decreased.

Gender-based violence is a global pandemic that affects 1 in 3 women in their lifetime. Through this program, the value, worth, and dignity of girls will be explored offering a community-based multi-pronged approach.

Every year 175 million children globally are affected by natural disasters. This program will reduce children’s risk by helping communities better prepare for, respond to, and mitigate the trauma responses to help move from relief, to recovery, to restoration.

Acutely vulnerable and marginalized, more than 100 million street-connected children depend on the streets for survival. These children are exposed to violence and often without food, shelter, and clothing. This program will address the factors that push and pull children to the streets, the stigma they experience, the danger they encounter, and how communities can practically help them.

Children with physical and intellectual disabilities are four times more likely to experience violence than non-disabled children. Through this program, stigma and discrimination will be addressed with the goal being actionable strategies for communities and families to prevent violence and protect these children.

This program provides a picture of what it looks like for a community to be transformed from one where trauma is accepted as a way of life to one where children are treasured, families strengthened, and communities providing a network of support to withstand the shocks of adversity so that vulnerable children become thriving children who become thriving adults who break the cycles of childhood abuse and generational trauma.