Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services

August 10, 2021

A message from DBHIDS Commissioner Jill Bowen, Ph.D.

I’m pleased to announce that the City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS) recently won the 2021 ReCAST grant, a competitive award allocated through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

The grant will help us further our efforts to address trauma, achieve equity, and engage community in Philadelphia, especially during the prolonged period of trauma the city is currently experiencing.

ReCAST — which stands for Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma — works to assist high-risk youth and families and promote resilience and equity in communities that recently faced civil unrest by developing evidence-based violence prevention and community youth-engagement programs, as well as offering linkages to trauma-informed behavioral health services.

The Philadelphia ReCAST program will target neighborhoods in West Philadelphia (Cobbs Creek, Mill Creek-Parkside, and Paschall-Kingsessing) and North Philadelphia (Nicetown-Tioga, Sharswood-Stanton, and Strawberry Mansion).

Over the next five years, the grant will provide up to $1 million per year to help these communities work together to promote resilience and equity, improve behavioral health connections, and reduce trauma through a sustained community-change process. Specifically, the program will:

• Reduce trauma among high-risk youth and families in the six targeted neighborhoods through implementation of evidence-based violence prevention programs, community- and youth-development programs, and linkages to trauma-informed behavioral health services.
• Create opportunities for faith leaders and treatment providers of color to infuse the treatment system with practice-based culturally competent evidence.
• Expand culturally competent trauma-informed behavioral health practices in schools and community youth programs through training in evidence-based practices designed for communities of color, such as PLAAY (Preventing Long Term Anger and Aggression in Youth).
• Create youth support and leadership development. The Youth Advocacy Institute will create a mechanism for Philadelphia ReCAST to build an Emerging Leaders Community that can be sustained beyond the funding window.
• Ensure that community leaders and young adults have the tools they need to conduct evaluations without researchers driving the process.

This grant and program are one more step toward DBHIDS fulfilling our mission to educate, strengthen, and serve individuals and communities so all Philadelphians can thrive. I look forward to sharing the progress and success of this program with you in coming years. 

Thank you,

Jill Bowen, Ph.D.
DBHIDS Commissioner