![The Zelma Watson George Community Center in Cleveland's Woodland Hills neighborhood. [Ashton Marra/ideastream]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/bfe598a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/980x551+0+0/resize/840x472!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F4%2F09%2FZelmaGeorgeRec.jpg)
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson鈥檚 office says it has hired most of the social workers it needs to help kids at recreation centers who have endured trauma.
Tracy Martin-Thompson, who leads the city鈥檚 efforts to reduce violence among young people, briefed Cleveland City Council Monday morning.
The city has hired 10 social workers for its 22 recreation centers and plans to hire one more, Martin-Thompson said. The social workers, also called coaches, will look out for kids who show signs of trauma and connect them with services.
Martin-Thompson said the city wants to turn rec centers into community resource centers. Last year, the city hired FrontLine Service to train rec center staff on recognizing trauma.
鈥淭hat training is ongoing, and I want to underscore the fact that it is ongoing,鈥� Martin-Thompson said. 鈥淏ecause what we鈥檙e trying to do is to change the culture of our recreation centers. It鈥檚 not about participating in training just for the sake of participating in training.鈥�
As part of that culture change, recreation centers are changing how they deal with young people who act out or cause disturbances.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in the process now of not kicking kids out for misbehavior,鈥� Public Works Director Michael Cox told council. 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e doing now with the social workers that are in there, we鈥檙e talking with them, we鈥檙e trying to see what鈥檚 going on with them.鈥�
Martin-Thompson said the city would offer new programs at rec centers, with a focus on six areas: education, job readiness, health, youth leadership, arts and sports. She said the city aims to work with both children and the adults who take care of them.
鈥淲e want to get not only the child into the recreation, or the future community resources center, but also that family as a whole,鈥� she said, 鈥渟o they can access the support services and the resources that they need to help them to get on the right track.鈥�
Jackson鈥檚 administration to hire consultants to develop and provide summer rec center programs. to work with the nonprofit Neighborhood Leadership Institute to offer evening programs in schools and rec centers.
Council has not yet voted on the proposals.
