<p> Nonprofit Human service assistants provide much of the direct care for the most vulnerable and disenfranchised populations (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2003; Cleary et al., 2006.) Their high turnover rates compromise service quality and increase nonprofit costs (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2003; Baumeister &amp; Zaharia, 1987; Durlak &amp; Roth, 1983; Mor Barak, Nissly, &amp; Levin, 2001; Rutowski, Guiler, &amp; Schimmel, 2009). To ensure client services are effective, nonprofit leaders need to identify strategies to enhance human service assistant&rsquo;s organizational commitment. This qualitative study explored how human service assistants perceived their organizational commitment and the experiences that impacted their organizational commitment. From the interviews with 21 human service assistants, a grounded theory emerged illustrating the factors that foster organizational commitment. Human service assistants arrived at their agency with experiences, characteristics, and/or personal circumstances that may have influenced their commitment. Once employed, the nonprofit environment provided experiences that fostered organizational commitment. The culmination of these experiences resulted in participants feeling valued by the organization or <i>I matter.</i> Feeling they mattered was the core condition for organizational commitment.</p>

<p> Trauma-informed care (TIC) is an approach to service delivery based on the understanding of the prevalence of psychological trauma among service users, knowledge about the impact trauma has on engagement to services, and recognition that service settings can be re-traumatizing. For more than a decade, momentum has been building on this topic. Practitioners are pursuing the knowledge and skills needed to implement trauma-informed service delivery, while organizations are building infrastructure and processes aimed at supporting this approach. Disciplines across many human service sectors are eager to incorporate TIC into policy and practice. Despite this enthusiasm, implementation efforts are slow. Acquiring foundational knowledge about TIC has typically been recommended as a first step when implementing a trauma-informed approach. However, slow progress in implementation suggests knowledge may not be enough. This study investigated the individual characteristics that impact a commitment to TIC, with specific attention to the relationship between foundational knowledge about trauma-informed care and commitment to TIC. Other variables of interest included perceived principal support, TIC self-efficacy, beliefs about trauma and its impact, and organizational strain. Survey data were collected from 118 participants working in mental health, public health, and early childhood. Results from structural equation modeling suggest that foundational knowledge predicts affective commitment to TIC both directly and with the partially mediated paths through principal support, TIC self-efficacy, and beliefs about trauma. Organizational strain does not moderate these effects. However, group differences based on high and low levels of perceived organizational strain were observed and discussed. These findings add to the growing literature on TIC and should be considered as organizations strive to implement TIC. </p><p>