Stress and trauma

Two institutions bookend the block — St. Luke Baptist Church and the convent of St. Benedict the Moor. Between them, about 40 homes line a steep grade, a mix of early- to mid-20th century duplexes, row houses and detached homes with yards and driveways. Most are occupied by their owners, who are cash poor and older, and in several, family ties go back generations.

The block does not wear the face of trauma. It seems tranquil. Most people work or are retired. But many said they have mourned a murder victim, know people who have been murdered or have friends who have mourned. Several said they have endured poverty and fear at some point.

But less overt forms of trauma — racism, poor education, insecure jobs, the threat of eviction — are generational and more pervasive, affecting people on quiet as well as turbulent blocks, said Matt Walsh, a therapist and community coordinator at Duquesne University’s Counseling and Well-being Center.

He researched the effects and patterns of systemic stress and trauma for his doctorate as a member of the FOCUS team.

“When people are dealing all their lives with these burdens, something’s going to break,” he said. “The FOCUS model is such an inexpensive investment in healing, and it will have more impact as we get to blocks with more kids. The earlier the intervention, the more effective it is.”

FOCUS expects to build a protocol that it can use on subsequent blocks in the Hill and that organizations can use in vulnerable neighborhoods everywhere.

Mr. Bowden, FOCUS’s man on the street, inspired confidence in residents, who said he was the assurance they needed that this intervention was not yet another effort by academics to tell a black neighborhood what it needed. He is from the neighborhood and knew Rhonda Lockett, a teacher’s aide who grew up on the block.

He tapped her to help him recruit residents to take part. She calls herself Miss Nebby. He calls her an influencer.

The first meeting was in her house, she said; then residents gradually began turning out at larger meeting places. They now maintain a block watch and meet regularly with Zone 2 officers. They have exchanged phone numbers and emails as a result of FOCUS’s monthly dinner gatherings.

The team’s health professionals assessed the residents’ health, helped the uninsured get insurance and directed people to the medical or mental health care they needed. For those whose properties were passed down informally, a legal team has gotten titles issued in their names.

Rebuilding Together added value by hiring Hill District residents onto its crews. Mr. Sisco said the Webster work -— which ranged from projects under $1,000 to one around $20,000 — “was by far the most rewarding we’ve done because it was so complete and there are people there who are super committed.”

A $200,000 grant from the McAuley Ministries Foundation and $50,000 from Neighborhood Allies, a community development nonprofit, has supported the work on Webster. The team will choose subsequent blocks based on resident interest and funding.

The Rev. Paul Abernathy, an Iraq war veteran, was an Orthodox minister in training when he started FOCUS Pittsburgh, a chapter of FOCUS North America. He said his experiences with clients at FOCUS resonated with the growing body of evidence about the impact that long-term, generational trauma was having on people’s