The 2014 Camden Trauma Summit will take place at Rutgers University-Camden, 326 Penn Street, on Monday, Oct. 6, and Tuesday, Oct. 7.
During the two days, speakers and workshops will present an analysis of the city’s problems. The two days will reimagine Camden city from a “behavior problem” to one of healing opportunity, understanding the trauma that the city’s community structures — parents, teachers, police, government officials — are often experiencing, in a community of neglect, endemic poverty and structural injustice, and working to create and sustain a healthy community.
The summit “seeks to create a vision that Camden become known as the healing center of our country,” said Jesuit Father Jeff Putthoff, executive director of Hopeworks ‘N Camden, which uses education, technology and entrepreneurship to bring a better future to Camden’s youth.
Monday’s speaker will be Dr. Robert Block, past president of American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and professor of pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine in Tulsa.
Tuesday’s speaker will be Dr. Sandy Bloom, on the Board of Directors at Hopeworks ‘N Camden; associate professor in the School of Public Health at Drexel University; and president of CommunityWorks, an organizational consulting firm committed to the development of nonviolent environments.
The summit is sponsored by the Camden Healing 10, an organization that seeks to bring about systemic change in the city.
The cost is $20 for the two-day event, which includes parking in the Rutgers University lots. For more information, and for financial assistance, go to www.healing10.org, or e-mail info@healing10.org