Christy da Rosa

I am an Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work at Portland State University, housed at Trauma Informed Oregon. I started my career in social work through volunteering with BSW social workers to work with children in emergency shelters and later received my MSW at the University of Maine. In my role I work with community based organizations to apply trauma informed approaches for both those served and the workforce through evaluation, integration, and advocacy. My primary focus is the intersection of cultural resources, race, climate change, and disaster resilience. With the rise in frequency and severity of climate disasters, I collaborate, evaluate, and consulate statewide networking with BIPOC focused community based organizations to support staff and community wellbeing with a trauma informed lens. I am passionate about anti-racist, trauma informed care because it focuses on organizational change to prevent and resist retraumatization for both community members and staff, inviting everyone into places of decision making.

Since 2021 and in response to the 2020 Labor Day Fires, I supported the formation and continue to support what is now the Disaster Resilience Learning Network (DRLN), a network for and by community-based organizations of color. In this network, we problematize resilience to unlearn neoliberalist influences in how resilience is conceptualized and reclaim its practice within culture, language, and community.