Cleveland Play House (CPH) in partnership with Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD)- OH; Cheektowaga-Sloan UFSD- NY; Cleveland Hill Union Free Schools NY; Maryvale School District- NY; and Clark County School District-NV, will develop a web of interlocking program components designed to wrap communities with creative-based support systems. CARE-ing Communities, Theatre and Resilience will strengthen and expand community and national outreach; support comprehensive professional development; infuse art therapy practices into the development and dissemination of all curricula, family events, professional development, and art works; and reduce and mitigate the lasting, detrimental effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences prevalent in communities across the country through an empower action model that can be sustained and replicated. 

CPH, Baldwin Wallace University, MetroHealth Institute of H.O.P.E., and five school districts will work in collaboration to create materials that utilize Universal Design for Learning principles, provide English to Spanish Translation, and can be accessed remotely, in-person, or streamed. Expected outcomes include building student resilience; creating positive environments for student well-being; teaching skills that help families handle stress, manage emotions, and tackle everyday challenges; connecting youth to caring adults and mentors; promote social norms that protect against violence and adversity; and reduce the stigma of trauma. The evaluation will take a developmental approach and will build a comparative case study of systems change in five communities over the course of the funding. 

Goals include:

(1) creating automated systems for sharing rapid feedback; 

(2) facilitating timely conversations about progress toward goals and objectives;

(3) capturing progress in implementation and outcomes for dissemination within local communities and the field of arts education; 

(4) produce more generalizable knowledge about how and why particular aspects of the program work or fail to work.