Slaughter Announces Nearly $2 Million in Funding for Mt. Hope Family Center

WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25) announced today that the Mt. Hope Family Center has received a five-year $1.9 million grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to provide trauma treatment services for children and families exposed to a wide array of stress and trauma and to promote policies that support trauma-informed care. The Mt. Hope Family Center is the only member and Category III provider for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network in New York State outside the New York City area. Affiliated with the department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology at the University of Rochester, the center serves over 900 at-risk children and families across the region every year.

“Traumatic events have the potential to impact children throughout their entire lives. The Mt. Hope Family Center is the only facility of its kind in our state outside of New York City, helping at-risk youths in our region overcome these obstacles and put them on a path for success. At a time when our region is still grappling with high concentrations of poverty, I’m pleased to announce this award so Mt. Hope Family Center can continue their important work in our community,” said Slaughter.

“I want to thank Congresswoman Slaughter for her tremendous support for our Center through the years and for this program. This grant allows us to continue to improve the lives of children and families who have experienced violence, abuse, neglect or trauma,” said the Center’s Director Sheree Toth and the grant’s Principle Investigator. “With this support, we will strengthen our trauma training and evidence-based models of intervention at local, national, and international levels.” 

“The immediate benefits of the grant will provide much needed trauma treatment and evaluation of interventions for traumatized children and families,” said Mt. Hope Family Center Clinical Director Jody Manly. “The five-year project allows us to provide evidence-based trauma treatment to approximately 800 children and adults. We will also train diverse groups of providers and professionals about the effects of trauma on children and families, and disseminate best practices for the implementation of evidence-based interventions locally and nationally.”

Rochester has the highest rate of childhood poverty among comparable-sized U.S. cities with over 50 percent of children living in poverty. High poverty rates are can be associated with extensive family and community violence. One of the focus areas of the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative is trauma and this grant will enable Mt. Hope Family Center to continue to support evidence-based trauma care services and training in the community.

A new project, Supporting Trauma Recovery Opportunities and Nurturing Growing Emotional Resilience (STRONGER), will build on existing collaborative efforts from a multidisciplinary team of community stakeholders, including such partners as Willow Domestic Violence Center and the Monroe County Department of Human Services, as well as military coalitions such as Help Base Greater Rochester and One Team One Fight, organizations who help support resilience in families dealing with military-related experiences, such as deployment. 

Mt. Hope Family Center integrates research, training, intervention and prevention services to reduce the devastating impact of childhood trauma, especially child maltreatment, and achieve better short and long-term mental health, developmental and physical health outcomes. A leader in the field of developmental research, the center has been studying the effects of child abuse, neglect, and trauma for over 35 years and provides evidence-based services to over 900 at-risk children and families in the Rochester community each year thanks to support from the federal government, Monroe County, United Way of Greater Rochester, and private philanthropy. As part of the University of Rochester, they also train and educate the next generation of clinicians and research scientists. For more information, go to www.mthopefamilycenter.org.

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