The Six (6) Core Principles of Trauma-Informed Economic Development
The six core principles of Trauma-Informed Economic Development (TIED) are adapted from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to provide a "new compass" for revitalization efforts in communities burdened by collective trauma. These principles shift the focus from simple capital growth to building resilient, human-centered prosperity.
1. Safety (Physical, Psychological, Social, and Moral)
In the context of economic development, safety transcends simple crime statistics; it is the creation of environments where residents feel safe from harm, humiliation, judgment, and exploitation.
ED Application: This involves designing public spaces with better lighting and active programming, as well as ensuring that community meetings are respectful forums rather than psychological threats to residents who fear displacement.
2. Trustworthiness and Transparency
This principle mandates that organizational decisions and operations be conducted openly to build and maintain trust in communities that have historically experienced broken promises, disinvestment, or exploitation.
ED Application: Practitioners must make decision-making processes—such as budget allocations for downtown projects or selection criteria for development partners—clear, consistent, and accessible to the public.
3. Peer Support
This principle recognizes that shared lived experience is an invaluable vehicle for healing and empowerment.
ED Application: It involves integrating peer recovery coaches into workforce development programs or creating mentorship networks where established small business owners guide new entrepreneurs through the permitting process.
4. Collaboration and Mutuality
This represents a fundamental shift in power dynamics, moving from "doing for" a community to "doing with" a community. It acknowledges that healing occurs through relationships and shared decision-making.
ED Application: Rather than holding perfunctory hearings to ratify pre-determined plans, this involves genuine co-creation, such as participatory budgeting or giving community advisory boards real authority over project design.
5. Empowerment, Voice, and Choice
Trauma often robs communities of their sense of agency; TIED seeks to restore it by building on existing strengths and providing meaningful options.
ED Application: Instead of offering a single pre-packaged development solution, practitioners provide a "menu" of potential improvements, allowing neighborhoods to choose their own priorities and career pathways in workforce programs.
6. Cultural, Historical, and Gender Issues
Practitioners must actively move past cultural stereotypes and biases to understand the historical trauma that has shaped a community's identity.
ED Application: This looks like honoring the "pride and pain" of an industrial past during brownfield revitalization or recognizing that urban transportation inequities are often rooted in a history of systemic racism that requires anti-racist solutions.
To better understand this framework, you might think of TIED principles as the biological health of a community’s nervous system. While traditional economic development tries to force a tired body to run faster (growth), trauma-informed principles focus on regulating and healing the body first, ensuring it is strong enough to actually sustain the movement toward prosperity.