Urban Triage

Urban Triage is on a mission to foster Black families' self-sufficiency, community leadership, advocacy, and family success through psychoeducation, community engagement, trauma response, and cultural heritage. Our Vision: Is to launch an emergency response team that can respond to all Madison School Districts' incidences of Racism and/or discrimination by the end of 2021. Our vision includes expanding our reach into Chicago IL by June of 2021. And building a legal network of resources for Black families by March of 2021 while employing 100 Black families by the end of 2021. Our focus is to create a system of community support lead by Black people for Black People. Urban Triage was founded by Brandi Grayson last year in March and has been up and running providing advocacy, advocacy training and community support services. Urban Triage is an extension of the work that Brandi Grayson has been during in the Dane County area over the past 10 years. The work of Urban Triage centers the needs of Black families with children and Black community members who are the most vulnerable through 3 pillars. Our first pillar is our Supporting Healthy Black Families (SHBF) training which is designed to increase leadership within the Black community by enhancing the strengths and assets that already exist in local communities which increases human, physical, and social capital in navigating complex processes and systems. We achieve this by centering psychosocial behaviors which is a person's ability to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of life. Specifically, as a Black person. Our psychoeducation curriculum includes critical thinking, creative thinking, integrity, accountability, self-awareness, decision making, problem-solving, effective communication, interpersonal relationships, coping with stress & emotion as well as inner to the outer circle. Our framework is grounded in a model of transformative learning—a way of learning that gives people an awareness of the basic structures in which they know, think and act. From that awareness comes a fundamental shift that leaves people more fully in accord with their possibilities and those of others. Participants find themselves able to think and act beyond existing views and limits—in their personal and professional lives, relationships, and wider communities of interest. In doing so participants are empowered, inspired to mobilize community resources and other residents. Our framework is promoting and increasing the capacity of Black families and communities to develop, implement and sustain their solutions to problems in a way that helps them shape and exercise control over their physical, social, economic and cultural environments. 2nd pillar is our Emergency Response Team of Black Advocates trained in Public Education (IEP's), community resources, criminal justice, and legal resources. 3rd pillar is the facilitation & curriculum development of Black Student Unions within the Madison Metropolitan School District. The design of our organizational framework moves marginalized populations from being recipients of services (traditional nonprofits) to individuals with agency, autonomy, and self-efficacy that support their leadership and advocacy development allowing less reliance on future services. Through advocacy, transformative education, leadership, and collaboration, Urban Triage addresses the root of health disparities & inequalities.

We provide community support services including transportation, food, rental assistance, liaison to other resources (including mental wellness support), advocacy, personal development, and leadership training as well as curriculum development for institutions and non-profit organizations. Urban Triage also provides training, keynote speaking, coaching and workshops centered in transformative justice, equity and transformative education.