Trauma-Informed Care(TIC)

The Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) Program within Operation Safe Streets exists to recognize and respond to the widespread impact of trauma in youth, families, and communities. Guided by the six core trauma-informed principles, the program ensures:

• Safety – creating safe zones, healing spaces, and crisis response methods that protect both physical and emotional well-being.
   
• Trustworthiness & Transparency – building credibility through open communication, clear processes, and consistent follow-up with participants.
   
• Peer Support – utilizing reformed gang members, mentors, and community advocates whose lived experiences strengthen connections and healing.

• Collaboration & Mutuality – engaging youth, parents, and community leaders as equal partners in shaping solutions, reducing power imbalances, and building shared responsibility for safe streets.
   
• Empowerment, Voice & Choice – offering multiple pathways to healing, encouraging self-determination, and recognizing the strengths and resilience of each participant.
   
• Cultural, Historical, and Gender Responsiveness – honoring cultural identity, acknowledging historical trauma, and designing supports that are inclusive, gender-sensitive, and community-centered.
   

Through these principles, the TIC Program fosters resilience, breaks cycles of violence and instability, and strengthens community trust, making Operation Safe Streets not only a safety initiative but also a pathway to lasting healing and empowerment.

• Observes emotional, physical, or behavioral cues that may indicate past or ongoing trauma.
   
• Understands that withdrawal, anger, mistrust, or hypervigilance may be trauma responses, not "bad behavior."
   

• Ensures spaces feel physically and emotionally safe.
   
• Uses consistent, predictable routines to reduce anxiety.
   
• Explains what will happen in advance to avoid surprises.
   

• Keeps promises and follows through with commitments.
   
• Uses transparent communication.
   
• Avoids power struggles by fostering mutual respect.
   

• Gives choices whenever possible so individuals feel a sense of control.
   
• Encourages self-advocacy and decision-making.
   

• Acknowledges and respects cultural differences in how trauma is experienced and expressed.
   
• Avoids imposing their own values on others.
   

• Manages their own emotions to avoid escalating situations.
   
• Uses de-escalation strategies (calm tone, validating statements, offering space).
   

• Thinks carefully about rules, procedures, and interactions that might trigger painful memories.
   
• Adjusts practices so they don’t mirror past trauma (e.g., avoiding harsh discipline, invasive questioning).
   

• Connects individuals to counseling, peer support, or resources.
   
• Encourages healthy coping strategies (mindfulness, journaling, physical activity, breathing techniques).
   
• Helps build social connections and a support system.
   

• Works with families, schools, community organizations, and health providers.
   
• Shares strategies for supporting individuals without violating confidentiality.
   

• Engages in self-care to prevent burnout or secondary trauma.
   
• Seeks training and feedback to improve practice.

 "Dads on Duty" highlight the importance of consistent engagement, collaboration with the community, and creating long-term partnerships to sustain success. By fostering trust and participation through informal interactions and formal meetings, and by making officers, residents and activist all accountable to their respectful communities, Together, we can create models for effective, sustainable community policing.  

 Is a program created within the scope of "Operation Safe Streets" by involving men from the community in policing their own neighborhoods. This initiative will create a structure where local fathers and male role models can actively participate in crime prevention, neighborhood watch, and community building. Drawing inspiration from successful community policing models, the program  focuses on creating partnerships, building trust, youth empowerment, and fostering collaboration between local residents and law enforcement agencies.