UofL Trauma Resilient Community project receives national recognition

Helping the helpers

The late, beloved children’s television host Fred Rogers famously advised that in times of crisis, we should always “look for the helpers.” But in high-stress, frontline environments like healthcare, child welfare and violence prevention, a critical question remains: Who helps the helpers?

Jennifer Middleton, professor in UofL’s Raymond A. Kent School of Social Work and Family Science, and Beatriz Vides, co-founder of the Center for Trauma Resilient Communities and founder and director of Be the Change, LLC have dedicated the past ten years to answering that exact question through the Trauma Resilient Communities (TRC) Project. 

A perfect track record 

This vital work has now earned national accolades for University of Louisville, selected as a 2026 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award winner. Administered by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), the regional award recognizes universities that build deep, enduring and mutually beneficial partnerships with their local communities.

The win keeps an unprecedented university streak alive. Henry Cunningham, assistant vice president for community-engaged scholarship, said UofL holds a 100% success rate for the award, securing wins for all six projects it has nominated historically. Past winners include the Trager Institute in 2023 and the School of Nursing’s Kentucky Racing Health Services Center – twice.

“Awards such as this bring recognition to the faculty and their community partners for the contribution to addressing critical community issues,” said Cunningham, whose office gave support for the nomination. “It is important that as a university we continue to support faculty for their work in creating societal change.”

The recognition showcases how the university is meeting strategic plan goals to deepen community engagement by addressing community needs and cultivating strong university-community partnerships.

“At the University of Louisville, we don't just serve our community. We are deeply rooted within it,” said UofL President Gerry Bradley. “This is how we redefine community-engaged scholarship and create meaningful, real-world impact.”

Transforming trauma knowledge to practice 

To help improve outcomes for vulnerable people in Louisville, UofL and community partners co-created the Trauma Resilient Communities (TRC) Project. It helps social service organizations by addressing staff secondary traumatic stress, which frequently sparks burnout, high turnover and reduced effectiveness. 

The project increases trauma-informed knowledge and trauma-responsive skills for youth and family service providers while delivering clinical services to children and families impacted by violence. Community partners set priorities, co-develop implementation strategies, interpret findings and adapt the model to local culture and needs.

More than $13.5 million has been secured for the Louisville-rooted TRC project, with 56 community partner organizations building shared knowledge, values and practices that promote change and healing from the individual to the systemic level. 

Marleeta Harris, founder and CEO of Skillz 4 Life, said small nonprofits like hers have greatly benefited. Her center serves families enduring extreme poverty, substance exposure, domestic violence and housing instability.

“Within this trauma resilient community, it has really taught us to transform trauma-informed knowledge into everyday practice,” Harris said.

The community ripple effect 

The "ripple effect" of the project has dramatically reshaped the wider Louisville safety net, leading to the creation of a permanent, dedicated TRC department within Louisville Metro Government. The program proved especially critical when providing a trauma-informed framework during the COVID-19 pandemic and the community grief following the 2020 police killing of Louisville EMT staffer Breonna Taylor.

The TRC project has generated a powerful, multi-tiered win for the university, its students and local partners by connecting academia to real-world practice. More than 100 UofL students have participated through research roles and practicums. Local agencies gain valuable workforce wellness strategies and clinical tools. 

UofL faculty, led by Middleton and Shantel Crosby, have used TRC data to produce more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, often with community partners as co-authors. Community-generated knowledge now teaches UofL students about trauma-informed practice, structural violence, organizational change and workforce well-being.
 

Prescribing community 

The statistical impact across the Louisville community is clear. To date, more than 3,120 individuals have been trained in the TRC model, 237 clinicians have received specialized training, and 2,864 clients have been screened for trauma, with 424 receiving direct trauma-focused clinical services.

Local pediatricians like Amber Pendleton have fully integrated these practices into their care. “Every day, I see kids go through traumatic stress that is so heavy for them to carry,” Pendleton said, explaining she uses the training to teach medical students and primary care teams how to meet families where they are. “We talk now about prescribing community because sometimes medicine is not what we need. Giving them that village of support is what helps them thrive.”

From Louisville to the world

Though developed through grassroots local efforts, the TRC model is scalable and has expanded beyond Kentucky through implementation, training and dissemination efforts in North Carolina and Florida and internationally in Chile, demonstrating its adaptability across diverse communities and systems.  

“Trauma and adversity and stress are universal,” said Vides. “Our model addresses that. We now know that no matter where we take it and what language we speak, it actually fits. That kind of sustainability is magical.”

By winning the regional Kellogg Award, UofL automatically qualifies to compete for the national C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award, which includes a $20,000 grand prize to further extend the project's reach.