The Relationship Foundation

The Problem: The school to prison pipeline, bullying, social cruelty, and violence are affecting the education system. They are proven to be a link to childhood adversity, which causes trauma.  

The Solution: Understanding that student behavior is directly related to childhood trauma has had an extraordinary impact in reversing these affects. It’s called the Trauma-Informed approach.

How You Can Help: Take a few minutes to watch a short video and learn how schools can become a safe and secure learning environment and donate today. 

We're working to raise funds to bring our work into schools throughout the city and beyond. 
Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me.

$500 allows us to give a daylong workshop at one school

$5,000 allows to give workshops at 10 schools

$10,000 allows to give a workshop at 20 schools

$15,000 allows to give a workshop at 30 schools

Radical Transformation has begun!
The education system is about to undergo a paradigm shift.
You can be a part of it!

The Relationship Foundation offers programs for students and teachers, which gives them the tools to develop respectful and empathic communication skills. In it’s simplest, we explore how we can articulate our needs and feelings without blame and judgment and listen empathically. These skills help to counteract bullying, sexual harassment and other types of social cruelty.

We also incorporate the Trauma-Sensitive School approach, which fosters an understanding that due to childhood trauma, students who act out, do so as a coping mechanism, not due to behavioral issues. This finding is based on a CDC study of 17,332 people, which showed that two-thirds of participants experienced some form of trauma in childhood.

We help schools realize that behavioral issues stem from the effects of ongoing trauma mostly from the home environment. Trauma releases stress hormones: cortisol and adrenaline, which perpetually has children in fight, fight, or freeze. In 2010, during a two year period, a pilot school implemented a trauma-informed approach.  It resulted in suspension days going from 796 to 135, and graduation rates going up 5 times. Caring relationships became the norm rather than a punitive response. Since then, the Trauma-Informed School Movement has begun to spread nationwide. The Relationship Foundation is bringing this approach to schools in New York City.

After ten years of providing relationship education to over 35 schools, word has spread about the impact of our work, and schools throughout the city are requesting our program. Many of the interested schools do not have the funds to bring us in. With your support, we can help schools increase academic achievement and foster a better quality of life for their community.

Help us bring our program into thirty more at-risk schools in New York City this coming year. Every $1,000, allows us to give a series of three trainings and 10 copies of our curriculum that can change the climate and culture of any school.

Thank you from all of us at TRF,

Michael Jascz
Executive Director
The Relationship Foundation

The Relationship Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works to implement relationship education into the learning process. All donations are tax-deductible. 

http://www.trf.net/