Re-establishing a PACEs (positive and adverse childhood experiences) collaborative was identified by the Buncombe County CHIP Advisory as an action, that when combined with other actions in our community, has a reasonable chance of making a difference in achieving anti-racist, trauma-informed systems in our community. This project is a reenvisioning of the prior ACEs Collaborative that existed in our community.

The planning phase for re-establishing a Buncombe County Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences collaborative (PACEs) began in the Fall of 2022. The project has focused on designing a community listening format to facilitate over 2-3 community/public events. The purpose of these listening events will be to listen deeply to BIPOC community feedback on prior initiatives (including harms done and what needs to change), gather feedback to implement an anti-racist framework for collaborative facilitation and strategic planning, and to gauge community investment in forming a cross-sector PACEs collaborative to address systemic trauma (including racism and oppression), community adversity, and adverse childhood experiences. Additionally, the collaborative would support with ongoing prevention and resiliency initiatives for the community to counter the impacts of systemic and familial adversity. The implementation of community listening events will occur over March, April, and early May 2023, with a final report and recommendations by June 2023.