The Philly Children’s Movement is very excited to have been selected as a founding partner in the Trauma to Triumph (TTT) initiative in 2024. In partnership with Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS), TTT supports and empowers Philadelphia youth who have been impacted by race-based trauma. TTT is a five-year grant in which PCM is one of five partner organizations. Each year, 100 youth will experience programming from PCM, Mothers in Charge, Black Men Heal, NAMI Philadelphia, and EMIR, each of which offers unique activities to address various elements of trauma and healing.
PCM’s programming focuses on Black Joy! Each session connects PCM’s pillars of power, identity, systems, dialogue, action, joy, & justice to various manifestations of joy: joy in cooking, joy in music, joy in art, joy in making, the five senses of joy, and exploring the role of Black Joy in healing from trauma. We are ecstatic that founding member Maleka Diggs has been creating and facilitating the program, while Sam Gerlach and Maya Mehta co-facilitate and support. 2024 was definitely a building year, so we are excited to embrace remixing and revisiting in 2025.
Read on below for a few TTT highlights:
Speaking of mixing, TTT participants took a field trip to The Freezer, PCM Core Member Sam’ Gerlach’s recording studio! Youth shared about their favorite artists, gained valuable insights into the recording industry, and explored the role of music in Black resistance, both historically and contemporarily.
Youth conjuring the Five Senses of Black Joy and building community through cooking!
TTT youth also tried their hands with 3-D pens to craft sculptures that brought them joy. They reflected on the question, “What does joy look like to you?” and flexed their creative skills with an art tool that was new to almost everyone, including us at PCM!