PAVE Prevention, led by Olympian CEO Arlene Limas, is continuing its work in Oakland, California, with an additional opportunity to offer trauma-informed, compassion-driven first responder training. Their partnership as the exclusive training provider for MACRO (Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland) has seen great success in the amount of non-emergent calls received and redirected from traditional fire and police resources. Due to the success of the MACRO program, PAVE has been offered the opportunity to facilitate training for Oakland Park Stewards, which will provide the OPS team with personal safety skills, effective communication, trauma-informed practices, and compassionate care.
PAVE's mission is to empower these first responders with a skill set to address non-emergent calls safely and compassionately to reduce violence rates in the emergency response sector. The tools provided to OPS will allow a solution to public concern while addressing the need for a more intimate level of care and understanding, keeping the OPS team and any individual interacting with OPS safe, respected, and free from physical and nonphysical violence. The training program includes a focus on cultural humility and communication as the result of assessments in the current community, maintaining the premise that compassion and communication are pivotal in effectively mitigating violent events. In a further drive to provide a service that is holistically safe, training is delivered in a scenario-based format, allowing responders to identify the triggers of adrenaline and learn mechanisms to effectively navigate the effects of an adrenalized state and respond to situations and triggers appropriately.
"We are deeply thankful to the Oakland Department of Parks and Recreation for investing in the PAVE mission to create safer communities through antiviolence education. Following the continued success and positive reception of the MACRO program, we are proud to provide further training in the community. We believe these opportunities will create stronger relations between alternative first responders and the communities they serve, establishing trust, and reducing the occurrence of violence among both first responders and the community." – Arlene Limas OLY, CEO PAVE Prevention