The Zelma Watson George Community Center sits in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Cleveland. After school, a group of teenagers plays a game of three on three in the indoor basketball court as the recreation center鈥檚 manager, Ieshia Harrison, looks on.
鈥淭his is one of the most popular things that we have,鈥� Harrison said. 鈥淎 majority of our kids do come to [play] basketball.鈥�
The facility also offers evening meals for kids, weekend activities like tee ball and free roller skating for families on Thursday nights, programs that keep kids busy, Harrison explained.
The rec centers are the focus of a new initiative that could bring more aid to the kids and teens who use them on a weekly basis.
Members of the Cleveland City Council recently approved the $1 million, one-year program that will train rec center workers, like Harrison, and other city employees to recognize the symptoms of trauma in children with the hope that it will decrease future rates of violent crime in the city by offering them additional support.
鈥淎 young person cannot choose where they live and if that community is one that is plagued by violence, then they will be exposed to trauma in such a way that could be detrimental for them later on in life,鈥� said Monica Bhatt, director of research at the University of Chicago鈥檚 Crime and Education Lab.
That鈥檚 because trauma, or the chronic stress that comes from trauma, can actually impact the way a child鈥檚 brain develops, said Geoffrey Nagel, CEO of the Erikson Institute, a Chicago graduate school that focuses on early childhood education.
鈥淪o, we鈥檙e talking about things like abuse, growing up in a home where there鈥檚 mental illness, substance abuse, or a family member has been incarcerated,鈥� explained Nagel.
Consistently high levels of the stress hormone cortisol leave children in a perpetual state of fight or flight that can lead to violent outbursts, Nagel said, but can also cause children to develop learning disabilities and affect health outcomes.
Children who experience trauma can be anywhere from one and a half to eight times more likely to develop a chronic health condition like diabetes, cancer or heart disease as an adult, Nagel said, and it all comes at a cost.
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University put a dollar amount on the long term financial implications of childhood trauma in a recent study that focused on exposure to domestic violence.
鈥淲hat we found was that by the time a child that is exposed to domestic violence reaches the age of 64, that child鈥檚 average cost to the nation鈥檚 economy over their lifetime will reach over $50,000,鈥� Director of the university鈥檚 Center on Trauma and Adversity and one of the study鈥檚 authors Megan Holmes said.
The $50,000 is in increased court costs associated with violent crimes, medical expenses and lost productivity.
Based on past research, the CWRU study assumes a quarter of children will be exposed to domestic violence, and Holmes calculated the economic cost for the city of Cleveland is $45 million a year.
But the study looked at exposure to only one type of trauma鈥攄omestic violence鈥攁nd Jennifer King, assistant director for CWRU鈥檚 Center on Trauma and Adversity, said children living in an urban environment face so much more.
鈥淲e know that trauma doesn鈥檛 occur in a vacuum, right?鈥� King said. 鈥淚f you鈥檝e been exposed to one of these events, it鈥檚 highly likely you鈥檝e been exposed to more than one and the more that you鈥檝e experienced, the more severe the symptoms or the impairment.鈥�
But all of the researchers, Bhatt, Nagel, Holmes, and King, say there are ways to prevent those costs and reverse the impact of trauma.
That is with programs that use something called trauma informed care. King explained trauma informed care is about looking for the root causes of bad behavior in a kid.
鈥淚f a child is acting up, rather than immediately punishing that behavior, taking a step back and thinking what might be going on that I鈥檓 not seeing and how can we address that differently?鈥� she said.
The University of Chicago鈥檚 Crime Lab research shows trauma informed programs that include therapy or counseling can reduce youth crime involvement by as much as 50 percent and increase graduation rates by as much as 20 percent.
For the city of Cleveland, the $1 million trauma informed training could mean lower crime rates, and also increased academic achievement, reduced rates of chronic disease, and improved productivity, but the experts say one year won鈥檛 be enough.
They鈥檙e encouraging more time and more money be invested in the program if city leaders want to see a better Cleveland.
