Funding for the new outdoor play space was secured with help from Fordham’s Center for Educational Partnerships, a part of the University’s Graduate School of Education. The center partnered with MS 331 beginning in 2015, providing administrative help and assisting with tasks such as funding requests. GSE graduate Serapha Cruz is the principal of MS 331, which shares the complex with an elementary school, PS 306X. 

Anita Batisti, Ph.D. associate dean and director of the Center for Educational Partnerships, said that one of Fordham’s mandates is to improve the wellness and well-being of students and the community. Studies have shown that clean, well-kept playground equipment helps students feel more connected to their community while promoting exercise and play.

“It really was a natural progression for us to do this,” Batisti said. 

“With our skills for raising money and helping to prepare proposals and bids, we were able to move this process along through the various funding sources.” 

Fordham President Tania Tetlow joined Batisti at the Oct. 25 ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 46,0000-square-foot play area. Also in attendance were GSE Acting Dean Ji Seon Lee, U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres; Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson; Councilmember Pierina Ana Sanchez, who helped secure funding for the project; and representatives from the Trust for Public Land and the Department of Environmental Protection, which oversaw the design and construction of the space.

When work on the $2.85 million project began in 2021, the space in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx was a cracked, crumbling stretch of asphalt. It now features a full basketball court, a volleyball court, game tables, an outdoor classroom, a gazebo, and play equipment for younger children. There is also fitness equipment for older students and community members, benches, a running track, and a turf field for soccer and football.

The center was recently awarded a $496,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide mental health awareness training to personnel serving public elementary schools in the Bronx. The goal is to help school staff learn the early signs of mental health disorders. Along with that, they will be able to provide referrals to external organizations that can provide consistent services to families.

“It’s about strengthening the connectivity of resources that are in the Bronx,” said Anita Batisti, Ph.D., associate dean at the GSE and director of the center.

“There are a lot of things going on, but everyone operates in silos, and we are trying to provide referrals to existing programs that the constituents can avail themselves of.”

The grant will last four years and each year serve eight elementary schools in the Bronx, conducting eight training sessions for 12 to 15 members of each school, such as the school’s staff psychologist, social worker, nurse, teachers, and school safety agents.

Dr. Kathleen Walsh, the center’s program coordinator said the sessions will begin in April.

“Say you’re a new guidance counselor in the school in the Bronx. You know your craft as a guidance counselor, but you don’t necessarily know all the resources available in the Bronx,” she said.

“So partnering with places like St. Barnabas Hospital, we’ll be able to say to them at these sessions, ‘If you see this sort of situation, and you need a person to refer to, here’s the place they could go.’ It will really help speed up the services that are given in a mental health situation.”

The center will focus its efforts on Bronx schools whose populations have higher mental health needs. The workshops will be specifically tailored to each school. Walsh noted as an example that one of the schools the center has worked with in the past suffered from the loss of community members to a fire; for them, consultants would emphasize access to trauma care.

This is the second major grant of this kind that the center has received recently. In 2021, the center was awarded a $580,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice—STOP School Violence Program to provide trauma-informed practices support to Bronx middle and high schools.

“It’s exciting that we have a part in it, certainly in a geographical area with a lot of need,” said Walsh.

“Everyone deserves good services. Who else but Fordham can do that?”

On Tuesday, Oct. 5, members of the Fordham community, the Trust for Public Land, the Department of Environmental Protection, elected officials, and staff and students from two Bronx public schools came together to celebrate the groundbreaking of the brand new $2.2 million schoolyard. The Center for Educational Partnerships at Fordham’s Graduate School of Education has for the past six years provided administrative help to MS 331, one of the schools on the site.

“Our schoolyard is used by the whole community, and we wanted to have something here that people could use that is a state-of-the-art facility. Right now, we have a lot missing here, including any sort of green space for kids to sit outside,” said Serapha Cruz, GSE ’05, the principal of MS 331.

The staff at the Center for Educational Partnerships, which began working with the school in 2015, played an invaluable role in the project, she said.

“One of the things Fordham did was keep the momentum going, pushing for us to get the design process done and getting the council members involved who funded the project,” she said.

“It’s a lot of stuff that I don’t have the time to do because I’m busy running the day-to-day school operations and the instructional agenda of the school. They are always super helpful with helping us reach out for outside partnerships.”

New Courts and an Outdoor Classroom

The ceremony took place in the 46,342-square-foot play area of MS 331/PS 306X in the Morris Heights neighborhood. As elevated 4 trains rumbled by alongside the school, attendees viewed renderings of the space, which will be transformed from a cracked and crumbling parking lot into an environmentally friendly play destination.

When it opens in the fall of 2024, the space will feature a basketball court, a volleyball court, a turf field for soccer and football, game tables, play equipment, an outdoor classroom, and a gazebo. The Department of Environmental Protection will also help address drainage issues that have caused flooding in the area.

The ceremony included Cruz; Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.; a representative of New York City Council member Fernando Cabrera, whose offices secured the funding; and Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham.

A Proud Partner in Serving Bronx Children

Father McShane said that playgrounds are “magical places,” because they are where we make friends, and because they are where the music of the Bronx—the joyful shouts of children—can be heard.

“We are happily, proudly a Bronx institution, and from the very beginning, we felt we had a special mission to and for the people of the Bronx. All of us at Fordham want to be of service and in partnership with everyone in the Bronx, so this is a great day,” he said.

“Today, I tip my hat to you. Thank you for dreaming of this; now make sure this is filled with fun, friendship, and the music of the next generation of New Yorkers.”

Cruz, who has been at the school for 17 years, said she was thrilled to see so many disparate participants of the project, which began three years ago, together in one place.

Students worked with staff from the Trust for Public Land to design the play area, which will serve a little over 1,000 students, and then staff, students and parents choose from two designs their favorite.

Like Father McShane, Diaz Jr. pegged playgrounds as more than just a place to exercise.

“When we were students, how many of you can recall a memory if not more, of the playground? For me, at PS 5, I remember playing kickball, then at PS 31, I remember playing punchball. I remember starting what I thought in my mind was going to be my basketball career there,” he said.

“It breaks my heart to see the current state of this playground, but I know that good days are ahead.”

Anita Vazquez Batisti, Ph.D., associate dean, and director of the Center for Educational Partnerships, said the project exemplified the center’s focus on providing services and support to all members of the school community.

“Jesuit education is steeped in the notion of cura personalis, or care for the entire person as an individual endowed with particular gifts and insights. So too is our work,” she said.

“The new student-designed schoolyard, where students will exercise their bodies, stimulate their minds, and rejuvenate their spirits, is a perfect embodiment of that ethos.”

“That fact that the New York State Department of Education selected the Community Schools Technical Assistance Centers to coordinate and implement the CARES Act funding is recognition of the work the statewide centers are doing,” said Anita Vazquez Batisti, Ph.D., associate dean for educational partnerships and the executive director of the Graduate School of Education’s Center for Educational Partnerships, which is responsible for CS-TAC. “We welcome the opportunity to distribute this much-needed funding.” 

Fordham CS-TAC is one of three state-funded centers across New York that support community schools in a specific region; Fordham’s center has been responsible for more than 250 community schools across New York City’s five boroughs since the center was founded in 2018. 

Last spring, the federal government passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to provide quick and direct economic assistance for American employees, families, businesses, and industries. A portion of the federal funds allocated to New York were given to two of the state’s CS-TACs, which are now responsible for distributing them to areas that have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.  

There are two phases for this 18-month initiative. In a few weeks, Fordham CS-TAC will invite community-based and faith-based organizations across New York City and on Long Island to apply for state CARES funds—which are separate from the city’s CARES funds—in grants ranging from $10,000 to $25,000; grants will be awarded in May or June. 

“Those organizations will be doing everything from providing mental health support to resolving food insecurity—all the different things that families are struggling with now,” said Kevin Coyne, Fordham’s CS-TAC director. “Ultimately, our goal is to connect schools and districts to organizations that already exist in their community so that this initiative can be sustainable.” 

This fall, Fordham CS-TAC will begin the second phase: professional development workshops that train teachers and staff on how to incorporate social and emotional learning into their lessons—and in turn, teach those strategies to their students. To create more inclusive workshops, Fordham CS-TAC will collaborate with professionals in special education, bilingual education, and family engagement. 

“There’s an urgent need to provide not only monetary and physical help, but also the ability to process the trauma that they’ve been experiencing,” Coyne said. “If we want our kids to return to school and be successful, we need to make sure that we’ve met their physical and emotional needs.”

Coyne said he hopes the $1.25 million in CARES funds will be put to good use. 

“It seems like a huge grant when you hear the number, but we’re going up against really significant headwinds in terms of hardship,” Coyne said. “The hope is that these CARES funds will help to resolve some of the inequities and negative impacts from the pandemic.” 

“Now with the coronavirus, there’s just so much more pressure on everyone,” said Anita Vazquez Batisti, Ph.D., founding and executive director of the Center for Educational Partnerships, part of Fordham’s Graduate School of Education, which applied for the grant this past summer. “A lot of adolescent children are at their tipping point, and they need even more help.”

New York City schools have historically struggled to prevent in-person and online bullying. This past December, Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a mental health plan that aims to bolster social, emotional, and academic support for students citywide this fall. This $588,233 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, received by Fordham in October, will enhance the mayor’s goal, said Batisti. 

Identifying Triggers

“Our focus is on the psychological and environmental triggers, which often result in at-risk adolescents engaging in antisocial behaviors,” Batisti explained. “We feel that the people working with the kids need to identify these triggers so things can be avoided and deescalated before they reach a very serious situation.” 

The Center for Educational Partnerships plans on training teachers, students, guidance counselors, principals, and safety officers on how to prevent and reduce student violence against others and themselves through school-specific tactics, including anti-bullying training and strategies for mental health crises. The training program will also host workshops aimed to help the school community better understand negative emotions, recognize trauma and grief in students, and involve parents and caregivers in restorative justice practices.

The training program will be conducted by mental health consultants and faculty from Fordham, including social workers and psychologists. They will operate virtually and transition to on-site training when it is safe to do so.  

The center will work closely with Meisha Ross Porter, the executive superintendent for the entire Bronx borough and doctoral student at the Graduate School of Education, to select eight schools each year in the borough that would benefit most from anti-violence training, for a total of 24 schools at the end of the grant-funding period in 2023. 

School-Specific Strategies 

Before training begins, the center plans on conducting an outside assessment with school faculty and staff and examining each school’s unique challenges, past training experiences, and current mental health support systems. In a few weeks, the center’s new project coordinator will form a small advisory group with the schools from the first cohort of eight and begin virtual training.

“The committee will be formed with members from the learning community and the staff who serve the children so that needs are met at a very granular level,” said project coordinator Kathleen Walsh, Ed.D., GSE ’77, who was previously a school superintendent on Long Island and founding principal of a high-needs school in Brooklyn. “The needs are focused on the realities of each school.”

De-Escalation Strategies for the Future

At the end of each training period, the center will evaluate the success of the program by analyzing anecdotal feedback and school incident reports. The center, in collaboration with the Bronx superintendent’s office, will later create a custom list of de-escalation strategies and recommendations for each school. 

Students and staff from eight Bronx schools will be trained by the end of September 2021, and the second cohort of schools will start training in October. 

Walsh said she hopes the program will reduce negative mentalities toward struggling students and provide much-needed support for school personnel, safety officers, and parents.

“There is respect that we have to grow, earn, and work with,” Walsh said. “But when you believe in students and bring good people together, I know it works.” 

As chancellor, Young now leads the 17-member board that oversees all educational activities in the state. He will be tasked with appointing members to working groups and committees, and building consensus on educational policy decisions.

His election, announced at the board’s January 11 meeting, comes as the state’s 700-plus school districts continue to grapple with financial and other challenges associated with teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“[The pandemic has] further exposed long-standing educational inequities, particularly impacting our most vulnerable,” Young said upon accepting his new role. “We must use our leadership opportunity in this moment to … rethink school and schooling in ways that will transform learning opportunities for all students, teachers, and school leaders alike.”

Young, who earned a doctorate at Fordham’s Graduate School of Education in 1978, is a former New York City educator and administrator who has served on the Board of Regents since 2008. As a board member, he has chaired a working group to improve outcomes for boys and young men of color and was instrumental in getting the My Brother’s Keeper initiative, a mentorship program for young men of color, signed into state law. He also co-chairs the board’s P–12 education committee and its working group for early childhood education.

Young was elected chancellor by a unanimous vote of the board, and his fellow members expressed high hopes for his tenure, which began on January 12 and is expected to go until March 31, 2022.

“Regent Young’s vast experience in education and unwavering commitment to improving the lives of disadvantaged students make him an exceptional choice to be chancellor of the Board of Regents,” Vice Chancellor T. Andrew Brown said.

Among others who celebrated Young’s election were New York City schools chancellor Richard Carranza, who said it marked a “wonderful day for the children” of New York, and Jolene DiBrango, executive vice president of New York State United Teachers. Speaking on behalf of the teachers union, she said, “We believe Chancellor Young is the right choice to lead the board as educators continue to navigate the challenges our schools face related not only to the pandemic but also to inequity in our public education system.”

Tackling inequities in education has been a priority for Young throughout his career. He began teaching in New York City’s public schools in 1969 and went on to serve in roles as a guidance counselor, principal, and supervisor of special education. In 1988, he took a position as an assistant commissioner at the state level, where he oversaw school improvement and bilingual education initiatives, before returning to the city’s education department in 1993 as the superintendent of Brooklyn’s District 13. He later served as senior superintendent for four Brooklyn districts. After retiring from the city in 2004, Young taught at Long Island University’s Graduate School of Education. Over his career, he has also served on the boards of nonprofits including the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, and the Brooklyn Community Foundation.

From 1995 to 2005, Young was an active participant in the Fordham University Superintendents’ Network, a professional support group for participating administrators.

As a doctoral student at the Graduate School of Education (GSE) during the 1970s, Young was “bright and thoughtful,” said Sheldon Marcus, Ed.D., the recently retired professor who at the time was chair of the school’s urban education department—a forerunner of GSE’s Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy Division.

“Dr. Young is an individual Fordham can be proud to call an alum,” Marcus said. “His lifelong service to children has been exemplary.”

Young graduated from Fordham the same year as Anita Vazquez Batisti, Ph.D., GSE ’78, associate dean for educational partnerships at GSE and executive director of its Center for Educational Partnerships. The two have kept in touch since earning their doctorates, and Batisti notes that Young has been a guest speaker in her classes and has visited the center’s community school program at MS 331 in the Bronx.

“The students of New York state will benefit tremendously from his experience, dedication, and leadership,” Batisti said.

Last summer, the New York State Department of Education awarded Fordham GSE a contract to establish a center that will work with existing community schools, K-12, to improve their services and help other New York City public schools transition to community schools. Last November, it officially opened and hit the ground running.  

“We are providing webinars and citywide and borough-wide workshops to build the capacity of the existing schools and work with other public schools that are considering the Community Schools strategy,” said Anita Vazquez Batisti, Ph.D., GSE associate dean and director of the Center for Educational Partnerships.

Fordham was awarded a five-year, $1.6 million state contract to establish the Technical Assistance Center for the New York City region, home to more than a million students. New York City is one of three regions, and Fordham will work collaboratively with the other two centers in New York State.

What distinguishes community schools from other public schools is that they heavily collaborate with their surrounding community in specified ways. They partner with community organizations and secure resources for after-school programs, school-based health clinics that can provide free vision screening, and adult education programs for parents, Batisti said.

“There are some schools, in certain areas, where parents have better access, where parents pay for tutoring, Suzuki violin, or karate lessons. But not all parents can do this,” Batisti explained. “The community schools give access. It’s special funding—and the services are free [to students’ families].”

It takes time for a traditional school to transform into a community school, said Michael Pizzingrillo, director of the new Technical Assistance Center at Fordham. One of the first things that a potential school completes is an asset/needs assessment—an inventory of what they have and what they’ll need on an annual basis.

“Sometimes schools can be challenged in finding help,” he said. “They may need guidance from those who have an understanding of the grand scheme of what resources the five boroughs can provide.”

The University is already partnered with two community schools in the Bronx: MS 331 and PS 85. Some of the issues that community schools face are evident at these schools, where challenges range from high absenteeism to a paucity of parent engagement.

“Fordham can definitely help,” said Bruce Wallach, Fordham’s Community School director at MS 331. “Training parents, helping individuals who want to work, but for various reasons aren’t able to.”

For the next five years, Fordham’s Graduate School of Education will remain at the forefront of assistance for New York City’s community schools through this state-contracted center, he said.

“The community school is at the heart of Fordham’s mission because it recognizes the importance of addressing the whole person,” Pizzingrillo said. “Fordham [now]has this Technical Assistance Center, and can deliver for thousands of New York City public school kids.”

Batisti, associate dean and executive director at the Center for Educational Partnerships, has been spearheading coordination between the GSE and the New York City schools since 2006, when she was tapped by Dean Emeritus James Hennessy to create a center that would be a bridge between academia and working teachers.

For her efforts, Batisti was awarded this past academic year with the Fordham President’s Meritorious Service award. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. issued a proclamation recognizing her work, and also declared Nov. 16 to be “The Center of Educational Partnerships Day.”

Although the New York City educational landscape has changed much in the past 10 years, Batisti said the center’s core goal—to deliver applied research to schools—has never wavered. The center does this by training teachers in literacy, math and science, and social studies; supervising a regional bilingual education resource network; and helping implement educational reforms.

That last charge of educational reform has been very important, she said, as New York City schools experienced a shift when Bill de Blasio succeeded Michael Bloomberg as mayor, and Carmen Farina took over for Dennis Walcott as chancellor. Under Bloomberg, school principals were encouraged to identify with CEOs and contract  to help schools secure individual services, many of which Batisti’s center offered. Under the current system, that Partnership Support Organization model has been replaced by more comprehensive partnerships with low performing schools, focusing on the whole child. The center is currently partnered with three schools in the Bronx.

“The mandate that Dean Emeritus Hennessy gave me was, create a center to go into schools and do more than what we’re doing now,” she said. “We wanted GSE much more involved at all levels of school life in schools throughout the city and throughout the metropolitan area. I think we’ve done that with the initiatives we’ve implemented, and the services we’ve provided.”

The center has brokered agreements with groups like Mentoring in Medicine at Montefiore Hospital, which sends pre-med students into Fordham community schools to conduct science workshops, and Footprintz, which recruits former college basketball players to teach basketball at the schools. Footprintz has been successful in boosting attendance at schools by scheduling “zero period” sessions at 7:30 a.m., before school officially opens.

“I never thought I’d be negotiating a memorandum of understanding with an almost-NBA player. We’ve really broadened our circle, and that’s been quite an undertaking with the community concept, because the focus is on the whole child, which includes mental health,” she said.

“I’m very proud of who we’ve brought into the schools because we all worked as a team, and our goal is the same.”

Closing the gap between schools that are resource rich and those that are not is a big priority for the center. For the last three years, Batisti has recruited Fordham undergraduates to tutor elementary, middle, and high students in STEM subjects on Saturday mornings. The center also alerts schools when opportunities arise; for example, when New York Botanical Garden is giving away 150 tickets to its annual holiday train show. When the center was partnered with schools under the Bloomberg administration, it was instrumental in helping its network of all 35 schools procure white boards, as well as obtain several grants.

The intense focus on nitty-gritty, on-the-ground details is key, as is the ability to obtain outside funding, Batisti said. Over the past 10 years, the center has raised over $91 million in both grants and earned income.

Batisti, a native New Yorker who still at the elementary school she attended (PS 183 on Manhattan’s Upper East Side), would like to expand the center’s efforts nationally and internationally.  In July, she will travel to Soria, Spain for the III International Colloquium on Languages, Cultures, Identity in School and Society. There, she and Center for Educational Partnership Assistant Director Nancy Rosario Rodriguez will present “Developing Leadership for the Changing Demographics: The Multicultural Education Teacher Leadership Academy Model (METLA).”

As schools in the United States and Europe cope with increases in student populations that have different language needs, and different socioeconomic statuses, Batisti said that working in New York City has taught the center’s staff how to thrive in a fast-paced environment where resources are scarce.

“It’s not impossible but it’s become even more challenging, and you have to keep thinking  differently,” she said. “You can’t just keep doing the same thing if it doesn’t work.”

As a child, Wills looked up to her father and, although she didn’t know much about him, enjoyed her life with her family growing up in Rockaway Beach. When her father was killed in a motorcycle accident when she was thirteen, Wills began to wonder about the man she never knew and kept her curiosities with her until her adulthood, when she finally had the resources to learn about her family.

“My father was always a mystery to me, even though he was such a strong force in my youth,” said Wills. “I wanted to find out where he came from— and by learning about him, I wanted to learn more about myself.”

By using Ancestry.com and other resources, Wills found out that her great-great-great grandfather Sandy Wills was born a slave and fought for his freedom during the Civil War in the U.S Colored Troops. Discovering this connection, said Wills, was the validation she had been looking for as a child.

“To me, as a journalist, this was breaking news!” she said. “I had to find out more.”

After requesting more than 1,000 government records, she was able to piece together the life of her Grandpa Sandy and used it as an inspiration to write two books, Die Free: A Heroic Family Tale (Bascom Hill Publishing Group, 2011) and The Emancipation of Grandpa Sandy Wills (Lightswitch Learning, 2015), a children’s book.

“He did not let the world define him. He stood up and fought for what he wanted,” said Wills. “I want children to know that they can do the same in their own lives.”

Wills now travels to schools across the country speaking about her family’s history. She wants children to understand the fight that led to civil rights and free education for all people. She also wants to empower them to learn about their ancestors and become part of their own family narrative.

“Tracing your history and knowing who you are brings your life full circle. It completes you in a way that is hard to express,” said Wills. “It’s worth it.”

The evening was also a celebration of the 10th anniversary of GSE’s Center for Educational Partnerships and its director Anita Vazquez Batisti, Ph.D.

Batisti was given the President’s Meritory Service Award for her dedication to improving the educational environment to over 100,000 children in New York. She has raised over $200 million for New York City schools.

The Center for Educational Partnerships is a “research-based, outcome-oriented” initiative that works to enable all children to achieve and succeed academically.

—Mary Awad

Among these participants are more than 80 members of a U.S. delegation led by Fordham’s Gerald Cattaro, EdD, executive director for the Center for Catholic School Leadership and Faith-Based Education within the Graduate School of Education (GSE).

The celebration also commemorates the 25th anniversary of Ex Corde Ecclesia, Pope John Paul II’s apostolic constitution on Catholic colleges and universities.

“I am pleased to learn that the [Congregation for Catholic Education] wishes to constitute on this occasion a foundation entitled Gravissimum Educationis, with the aim of pursuing ‘scientific and cultural ends, intended to promote Catholic education in the world,’” Pope Francis wrote in a chirograph issued Oct. 28, the anniversary of Gravissimum Educationis.

“The Church recognizes the ‘extreme importance of education in the life of man and how its influence ever grows in the social progress of this age.”

Convened by the Congregation for Catholic Education, the Congress is meant to revitalize the church’s commitment to Catholic education. The Congress will explore the future of Catholic schools and universities, focusing especially on issues that relate to identity, mission, communities, and challenges ahead.

The U.S. delegation led by Cattaro comprises Catholic school leaders from across the country, including superintendents and directors of education from dioceses and archdioceses and professors, deans, and administrators from Catholic colleges and universities.

Fordham’s other participants are Virginia Roach, EdD, dean of GSE, and Anita Batisti, PhD, associate dean and director of the Center for Educational Partnerships.

The Congress concludes on Nov. 21 with an audience with Pope Francis at Castel Gandolfo.

But what if the trauma is not a one-time event? What if a person’s entire world is filled with adversity, flooding her with constant stress and anxiety and preventing her brain from ever recovering?

This the challenge that underlies the treatment of complex, or chronic, trauma, says Amelio D’Onofrio, Ph.D., a clinical professor and director of the Psychological Services Institute in the Graduate School of Education (GSE).

In general, a traumatic experience is one that is so distressing that it overwhelms the brain’s ability to process the event and triggers a set of survival-oriented physiological and psychological responses. Acute trauma refers to a singular event such as a car accident, an assault, or a natural disaster. Complex trauma, though, is more pervasive.

“For instance, if a parent chronically abuses substances and cannot meet a child’s basic needs, that is a traumatic environment for the child. Or if there is violence in the home or in the neighborhood and kids are constantly trying to protect themselves, that is traumatic,” said D’Onofrio, who is also a practicing psychotherapist.

“We expect kids to focus on doing schoolwork and solving complex problems, but they’re so worried about self-protection that their nervous systems have been activated to the point that they can’t focus.”

This year D’Onofrio received a $311,000 grant from the Department of Health and Human Services to design an intervention program for inner-city students who have experienced complex trauma and who otherwise would not be able to receive specialized psychological services.

The grant-funded program, which was implemented in two Bronx middle schools this fall, is divided into ten-week increments over the course of two years. For each set of ten weeks, doctoral students from GSE’s counseling and counseling psychology program run structured group treatment with at-risk students. The team also meets with each student individually at least twice and meets with parents to educate them on the effects of trauma and how it impacts their children.

The goal is to help students start to understand the impact of stressful and traumatic environments and to teach them healthy coping skills so that they will be less likely to turn to gangs or drugs.

“We worked closely with GSE’s Center for Educational Partnerships to select the two schools. One of the schools is serving many recent immigrants from all over the world, and the other school recently had a gang-related stabbing,” D’Onofrio said, referring to an incident this summer in which a 14-year-old student stabbed and killed another student outside their middle school.

D’Onofrio hopes to later develop internships and externships in the schools so that Fordham counseling students can continue working with the middle school students once their ten sessions come to an end.

“I think this a powerful interface between a Jesuit university and the community, a way of giving back and working toward social justice,” he said.