Safer Communities Start with Connection & Healing

Community safety

City of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a citywide benefit)

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

A staggering number of LA’s youth are navigating the devastating effects of trauma.

To understand why this matters so deeply, we must look at how trauma changes the brain itself.

Unaddressed trauma physically changes how the brain works—specifically how it responds to stress. The brain’s stress response becomes overactive, meaning it treats everyday challenges as life-threatening dangers. Simply being called on in class can activate the stress response, shutting down the areas of the brain responsible for reasoning and critical thinking and firing up the areas that focus on survival. As a result, youth struggle to concentrate, manage impulses, and stay engaged in the very programs designed to support them.

Ultimately, unaddressed trauma becomes a barrier to achieving nearly every outcome we hope for young people. Without opportunities for healing, academic success, improved health, economic advancement, and more will stay out of reach for these vulnerable young people.

The good news is that the brain can heal—but only under the right conditions.

And few conditions are more powerful for healing than a sense of belonging.

When we experience inclusion and connection, our brain interprets it as a signal of safety. For young people who have experienced trauma, each moment of belonging helps retrain their overactive stress response, moving it toward a healthier, regulated baseline. Now the brain can access the areas needed to do things like focus in class, manage frustration, and try new things. In other words, a sense of belonging is the antidote to the negative effects of trauma on our brain.

And that’s why we believe in the power of sport.

Sport has inherent properties that naturally build belonging and regulate the nervous system:
Movement
Relationships
Manageable Stress

When coaches understand how these properties of sport align with the brain’s needs, it’s like flipping a switch—sport becomes a powerful and accessible tool for healing.

At CHJS we call this healing-centered sport, and we are going to redefine community safety by spreading it everywhere.

We’re launching a 3-year plan with the City of LA Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP) to embed healing-centered sport at every field, pool, and rec center—bringing connection and healing to 90,000 youth. To ensure alignment and sustainability throughout the department, the effort includes training for 5,000 coaches, training for 150 program leaders, and a train-the-trainer program.

The moment a coach recognizes the connection between sport, the brain, and healing, everything shifts.

Multiply that moment by 5,000 coaches in LA, and healing-centered sport is the foundation for change:
Mental health improves because kids feel belonging
Community safety improves because stress is addressed early through trusted adult relationships
Equity improves because sport starts to support the youth we most often fail

This transformation doesn’t require new facilities or more providers—just new understanding, delivered to coaches at scale.

In Year 1, the Coach LA Ambassador Program, will prepare 20 RAP staff to co-deliver 12 healing-centered sport trainings to 1,300 coaches. By Year 4, this train-the-trainer model will have increased RAP's internal capacity and Ambassadors will independently train all 5,000 coaches. CHJS will also train 150 RAP program leaders to ensure the entire department—from policy to practice—is aligned around a shared framework to support 90,000 youth.