Foundation: Newtown Community Continues to Struggle After School Tragedy

Although the community is strong and moving in a positive direction, there is still a good deal of stress, anxiety, fear, worry, and anger directly related to the tragic events at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012, according to a recent survey conducted by the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation.

The anonymous, community-wide survey generated about 1,000 responses after being circulated through Newtown Public Schools, the Town of Newtown, the Newtown Bee, and some internal distribution lists belonging to the Foundation.

The Foundation was formed in 2013 to control the donations received by the Sandy Hook Support Fund (SHSS). An allocation of $7.7 million from the SHSS was given to the 40 most impacted families of the tragedy on August 2013.

As of March 31, the Foundation has awarded $140,000 in grants since its formation. The Spring 2014 grantees included $16,500 to the Tapping Solutions Foundation for expansion of programs and services, $15,900 to the Wheeler Clinic to conduct Youth Mental Health First Aid trainings for all teachers in the Newtown Public Schools (completed 11/2014), and $7,600 to the Northwest AHEC to conduct Youth & Adult Mental Health First Aid trainings for private school staff and community members.

The Winter 2015 grantees included another $7,500 to The Tapping Solution Foundation, Inc. to support the continuation of the trauma mastery training program for clinicians who are working with those in the community who are experiencing complex trauma & PTSD. The Resiliency Center of Newtown received $18,000 to support Camp Creativity for a therapeutic day camp serving a total of 100 children and a positive discipline course.

A breakdown of the Foundation’s overall spending and grant allocations, as well as a full copy of the recent survey, can be accessed online at www.nshcf.org.

Some respondents to the recent survey who said they were outside of the Sandy Hook Elementary School community said they have persistent feelings of guilt, a lack of awareness of community support, and a reluctance to talk about their feelings, according to a press release from the Foundation. The press release further stated: “This has created, as the data in the report confirms, a level of suffering in silence or guilt by individuals who don’t feel as if they should be struggling or have the right to reach out for help because they were not as directly impacted as someone else.”

In March, the Foundation announced a 10-year sunset plan to spend down all available funds by December 2025. It has pledged to keep the Sandy Hook School Support Fund viable as a resource to the community until the youngest children from Sandy Hook Elementary School complete high school.

“It has always been the Foundation’s intention to be time-limited,” said Executive Director Jennifer Barahona, in a recent press release. “The timeline was based on the desire to provide continued support to the community and those most impacted for a period of 10-15 years. The 13 year mark indicated in the sunset plan is in sync with the graduation from high school of the youngest children that were enrolled at Sandy Hook Elementary on December 14, 2012.”

The Foundation will remain focused on the development of partnerships with organizations and groups in the community who will be able to support and sustain recovery efforts for the long-term. Over time, with the right structures in place, the community will be better equipped to support itself, according to Foundation members.

“Flexibility is important in order to meet the evolving needs of the community and continual assessment of those needs will be important,” said Anne Ragusa, newly appointed Chair of the Board of the Foundation, local attorney, and Newtown resident, in the press release. “Since its inception, the Foundation has dedicated itself to prioritizing the short- and long-term unmet needs of those most impacted by the Sandy Hook tragedy, including victims, surviving children, teachers, first responders, as well as the larger Newtown community.”

A definite timeline, Ragusa said, will guide the Foundation’s decisions and uphold its vision of Newtown being a strong community where people connect and support one another in their journey toward healing.

With the recent announcement of the ten year spend down plan of the Sandy Hook School Support Fund, the Foundation will be focused on helping the community with what it calls ‘Four important Cs’ - compassion, communication, coordination, and collaboration, added Barahona in the press release.

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