Effects of Trauma

Part 1

Executive Summary

The Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) seeks to change the lives of children facing adversity for the better. They serve youths from age 5 to young adults across the 50 states facing adversity, and BBBSA aims to stem juvenile delinquency in America. The organization serves youths by offering mentorship matches of Littles and Bigs. Through mentorship, the organization aims to offer the youth an opportunity to rise above their current situations and become productive community members. BBBSA is also involved in policy advocacy, where the organization focuses on eliminating racial discrimination in its workplace and society.

Discrimination is rampant in the United States, and the organization tries to overcome it by using a diversity and inclusion policy implemented across all its agencies. The policy ensures that employees are treated with the utmost respect. They also treat clients and donors with the same respect regardless of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or gender. The other problem is education inequity experienced in the United States. The education system is skewed and favors those from affluent areas. Children and youths from low-income areas have dilapidated classrooms, and they lack educational resources to assist them in their study journey.

It was established that there is a discrepancy in the funding of schools. The results indicate some schools struggle to offer services to students due to a lack of funds. Schools in low-income areas receive less funding, making it hard to meet their operational needs. Recommendations are made to push for changes in the funding of schools to eliminate the reliance on property tax. The use of property tax means schools in low-income areas will receive less funding since the tax collected is low. Therefore, there is a need to substitute the funds through federal government contributions or create an education pool that equally funds all schools in the United States. Eliminating discrimination should begin at the school level by ensuring that all schools receive similar funding regardless of where the school is located.

Introduction

The Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) seeks to change the lives of children facing adversity for the better. They serve youths from age 5 to young adults across the 50 states facing adversity, and BBBSA aims to stem juvenile delinquency in America. The organization serves youths by offering mentorship matches of Littles and Bigs. Through mentorship, the organization aims to offer the youth an opportunity to rise above their current situations and become productive community members. BBBSA is also involved in policy advocacy, where the organization focuses on eliminating racial discrimination in its workplace and society. The organization has connected over 2 million Littles with Bigs in the past decade. The organization receives funding from the government and needs to increase its funding sources to ensure it manages to serve most of the youth who need its services.

The organization is committed to inclusivity and diversity and makes the same promise to its employees, the community, and the clients it serves. The diversity and inclusivity policy demonstrates the organizations belief that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their differences. The policy attempts to address the problem of differences in race, gender, ethnicity, or other things that make people different. Inclusion ensures that people feel a sense of belonging in the organization (Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, 2022a). The Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Council is responsible for implementing the diversity and inclusion policy in the organization (Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, 2022b). The council was formed in 2021, and its purpose is to support the organizations long-standing commitment to empowering the youth.

BBBSA recognizes the challenges youth face and attempts to create better opportunities for the youth of color by offering mentors who guide and direct the youth to better opportunities. To combat systemic racism, the best strategy would be to fight education inequalities. Eliminating education inequality begins with increasing funding for schools located in black communities (Bloome et al., 2018). Removing the property tax as the source of school funding will ensure schools in low-income areas receive the same funding as those in high-income areas. The federal and state governments should develop more major resources that ensure every child gets a fair share of the pie.

Recommendation

Recommendation 1: The organization needs to increase its funding sources and reduces its weaknesses. The over-reliance on government and donor funding is a challenge for the organization since its programs can be negatively impacted if it does not meet its funding requirements. Therefore, the organization should work towards increasing its revenue sources to reduce its reliance on government and donor funds. Being an autonomous organization will assist the organization in advocating for its clients.

Recommendation 2: To reduce the competition from other similar organizations, BBBSA should look at diversifying its clients offerings. With a focus on majority Black youth, the organization limits its services and makes it look like it works mainly with the racial minority.

Recommendation 3: The organization should implement an evaluation that uses metrics to measure the performance of the poicy. All policies should be measured to assess their effectiveness. Therefore, using a performance measurement with set targets, the organization can conduct annual analysis and measurements to see if the policy is bringing the results expected (Worth, 2020). Performance measurement should include aspects that focus on clients (youths) and other stakeholders.

Recommendation 4: Eliminating property tax as the source of school funding will ensure schools in low-income areas receive the same funding as those in high-income areas. There should be a way to ensure all schools receive equal funding. Without equal funding, schools in low-income areas will struggle and not have the necessary resources to achieve their goals.

Recommendation 5: Provision of books for low-income families to expose their children to reading early. Exposing children to books and not television ensures children begin learning early, and they can develop a reading culture early. Exposure to books gives children the best foundation for learning, and they have a head start in their studies.

Recommendation 6: To combat systemic racism, we need to take aggressive action to address policies, structures, and practices that contribute to the wealth gap, health disparities, and educational inequalities. BBBSA needs to push for policies that eradicate systemic racial discrimination. The policies should target changes that address not only the organization but also the country (Johnson et al., 2020). The biggest challenge is the decades or even centuries-long systemic discrimination that has taken place in the United States.

References

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. (2022a). BBSA. https://www.bbbs.org/

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. (2022b). Big Brothers Big Sisters of America New JEDI Council. https://www.bbbs.org/2021/10/big-brothers-big-sisters-of-america-new-jedi-council/

Bloome, D., Dyer, S., & Zhou, X. (2018). Educational inequality, educational expansion, and intergenerational income persistence in the United States. American Sociological Review, 83(6), 1215-1253. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122418809374

Johnson, V., Ellis, R. S., & Hutcherson, V. (2020). Evaluating a strategy for implementation and...

…were younger. However, this is never the case because childrens brains are developing, and during their formative years, they tend to capture and recall more than what people assume. The case of Ibrahim is a clear demonstration of how traumatic events in childhood can be triggered later in life by something unrelated. The sight of the people in uniform was enough to remind Ibrahim about what his mother always told him regarding policemen and soldiers. Her mother was telling the truth based on their life at the camp, but this all changed when they moved to the United States. Therefore, Ibrahim should have been taught that police were helpful and would not take him away from his mother.

Traumatic events will always generate secondary adversities, as demonstrated by Ibrahim (NCTSN Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma Task Force, 2012). The bridge collapse can be assumed to cause his fear of attending school. We realize that the bridge collapse triggered childhood memories that Ibrahim was unaware of on further analysis. The mind had stored these memories, and they came to life when he faced the traumatizing event of seeing the bridge collapsing. By looking at the core concepts, we can see how the symptoms presented by Ibrahim are not related to any condition or disease. Instead, they are caused by his childhood experiences. Different things need to be considered before determining what is causing the current presenting symptoms. Using the core concepts assists the practitioner in uncovering underlying traumatic events that had been forgotten.

5. How might the mothers prior trauma and loss in Somalia and the refugee camp affect her parenting and behavior in the aftermath of the event?

In the aftermath of the event, Ibrahims mother might experience traumatic memories reminding her of her life in the refugee camp and how unsafe it was living there. The memories could make her more fearful of letting her children attend school and allowing them to take a bus. The mother experienced multiple atrocities that she had never been treated for during her childhood. These atrocities could make her more reserved and unwilling to let her children go out of her sight (Miki et al., 2019). When she lived in the refugee camp, she feared the security and kept Ibrahim with her all the time, even when he started walking. The aftermath of the event could make her result to the same, and this would change her parenting style. The same fear she instilled in Ibrahim of policemen, she could instill another of bridges or traveling to the children.

Whatever fear Ibrahims mother develops, it would be instilled in the children. As a result, the loss she suffered in Somalia could be triggered by the event, making her relive the trauma. She lost a nephew who was killed in Somalia, and the memory of this loss could make her change her parenting style. The loss could make her more fearful of her children exploring the world by themselves, and she might never allow them to go on such trips again. She was already reserved about the children attending the summer camp. When presented with the same idea, she is likely to refuse even after being reassured about the childrens safety. Ibrahims mother is likely to become overly protective as she used to be when they lived in the refugee camp. Her willingness to let her children explore and experience different aspects of the world could be changed.…