In That Number
The Collective for Healthy Communities (CHC) is a W.K. Kellogg Foundation funded program of the Institute of Women & Ethnic Studies that seeks to provide community-level approaches to individual and collective recovery, resiliency, and healing of vulnerable youth and their families. In partnership with our Believe in Youth - Louisiana (BY-LA) program, in 2012 we designed and began implementing an Emotional Wellness Survey (EWS) with BY-LA program participants in the Greater New Orleans area (see below). The high levels of reported mental health symptoms and exposure to violence among youth was so disturbing it prompted us to think about a way to improve these statistics.
In 2014 we decided to create a city-wide public awareness campaign about emotional wellness and opportunities for New Orleans youth, the result is
In That Number.
The campaign strives to change negative perceptions of youth and advocate for the need for trauma-informed care (TIC) services for them. Instead of viewing youth with behavioral issues as "bad," this campaign challenges adults throughout the city to see them as possibly "sad" and in need of emotional health services. Similarly, In That Number supports efforts to undo the school-to-prison pipeline and excessive school suspensions. Instead, ITN promotes restorative and transformative justice.
During the Winter & Fall of 2015, we interviewed youth from various backgrounds throughout the city of New Orleans. The youths' stories were transcribed and compiled into the narratives in our "Who's In That Number" section.
Names have been changed.
Faces are not shown.
We worked hard to stick to their words as closely as possible. We've also provided statistics from our EWS and outside sources that pair with each story.
The goal of sharing these stories and information is for you to be placed in the experiences many youth endure. Imagine what it was like just to be present. Ultimately,
WE WANT TO CHANGE ATTITUDES.
If you want to do more than just adjust attitudes, we've provided some resources from outside entities and partners so that you can get involved in the work to
see ALL YOUTH through a compassionate lens.
new phases
Following the launch in 2016, In That Number has grown and expanded to champion new issues and share narratives from new individuals. In 2017 we launched the We the 504! component of our campaign as a part of the Open Society Foundation’s Communities Against Hate initiative to respond to youth trauma in the post-election aftermath.
Through funding by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through their Culture of Health Leaders program, in 2020 we relaunched the campaign as a social marketing campaign to advocate for change in three key sectors; education, criminal justice and healthcare/hospitals. Following research with community members to determine the direction of the social marketing campaign, we partnered with Black Education for New Orleans and The Welcoming Project to learn from their constituents about how to make the education and criminal justice sectors more trauma-informed. To read the narratives from local Black educators and youth Fellows that are striving to achieve their goals and move forward post-incarceration, read our Educate and (Just)ice sections. Finally, we would love for you to join us in our Call-To-Action to improve outcomes for youth in New Orleans. If you have questions or want to help us share the word, please feel free to contact inthatnumber@iwesnola.org, otherwise joining us in ensuring that
