We have been working closely with the city of Saint Paul for several months on a variety of exciting projects. The foundation of our engagement is the development of the groundbreaking Traumagraph™ for the city of Saint Paul, which maps instances of financial trauma and economic violence across the city. The Traumagraph™ aims to understand the severity and geographical concentration of financial trauma across the city of Saint Paul while exploring how the experience of financial trauma impacts the wealth-building capacities of Saint Paul residents. This map has been, and will continue to be, an essential tool in solving for systemic financial issues in our community and providing solutions that promote wealth justice in our classrooms and the greater community through program development and, hopefully, policy change.
One exciting outcome of this work has been the development of WealthRise® programming for our community, in-school, and after-school programs. This program provides financial education through a trauma-informed, justice-oriented lens. Informed by data from the Traumagraph™ and the lived experiences of Saint Paul residents, we are in the process of creating targeted programming for our community partners and in-school and after-school programs. This programming infuses wealth justice into the foundational educational framework and helps students become equipped to navigate our economic system, which will lead to greater wealth-building capability.
