The Bounce Coalition is continuing to partner with the C.E. and S. Foundation in work to provide training and technical assistance to three youth serving organizations in Louisville. Over the next year, Bounce will continue its second year working with Sowing Seeds with Faith and launch new projects to work with Lighthouse Academy at Newburg and Smoketown Family Wellness Center.  

Each of the three partner organizations serve historically underserved youth and families in their respective communities in diverse ways. A hallmark of the previous work supported by the C.E. and S. Foundation is that each organization is provided with a number of flexible training and technical assistance hours they can utilize in ways they feel will best support their organizations, staff, and the youth and families they serve. 

Children and families are particularly vulnerable to adversity. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are traumatic or stressful events that occur prior to the age of 18, such as experiencing violence, abuse, or neglect; witnessing violence in the home or community; substance use or mental health problems in the household; instability due to parental separation; or household members being in jail or prison. In the Commonwealth, we know that ACEs are common: 1 in 5 Kentucky children have experienced at least two ACEs.

At few other points in time has the chronic stress and adversity facing children and families been so palpable. We continue to see the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of kids and families. On the national level: between 2019 and 2020, there was a 31% increase in the proportion of mental health–related emergency department (ED) visits occurred among adolescents aged 12–17 years (Leeb, Bitsko, Radhakrishnan, Martinez, Njai, Holland, 2020). In June 2020, 25% of surveyed adults aged 18–24 years reported experiencing suicidal ideation related to the pandemic in the past 30 days (Czeisler, Lane, Petrosky, et al., 2020). 

We know the Louisville community was not immune to these increases, as outlined in an October 2021 article by the KY Center for Investigative Reporting. In many of these reports, one of the primary recommendations – aside from providing clinical services to impacted individuals – is to promote coping and resilience-building strategies among our youth and families. 

Bounce hopes to play a role in addressing and alleviating these continuing mental and behavioral health issues through our family and youth-directed programming that aims to build resilience, raise awareness of the importance of self-care, and promote social emotional learning to our youth. 

Over the next year, Bounce will work with each organization to develop a program plan that fits their needs and goals around trauma-informed care and resilience-building. Some of what we will be doing includes:

  • Training staff on the impact of ACEs and trauma and the principles of trauma-informed care
  • Providing programming directly to youth to build social emotional learning and resilience-building skills
  • Hosting community-wide screenings of Resilience: The Biology of Stress and Science of Hope
  • Providing family engagement opportunities for parents to learn about how to build resilience in themselves and their families
  • Bringing together the three organizations quarterly to share best practices, problem solve, and work collaboratively to serve their communities

We look forward to working with both old and new partner organizations and the youth and families they serve. We would like to thank the C.E. and S. Foundation for the many years of commitment and support they provide to make Louisville youth and families more resilient.