FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Updated June 30, 2023
JERSEY’S VIOLENCE INTERVENTIONISTS RALLY FOR SUPPORT AND OFFICIAL RESPECT
Budget related matters are driving this session of the New Jersey State Legislature to a challenging close. The Statehouse has consequently been the backdrop of a flurry of legislative action by advocates on any number of issues. Last week, our coalition, the New Jersey Violence Intervention and Prevention (NJVIP) Coalition boldly jumped into the fray, hosting a profoundly moving rally and day of action focusing on those bills that will help make a real difference in giving much needed and deserved resources to programs proving their worth in reducing violence in their respective communities.
Driving this call is not just the possibilities that can emerge from the passage of those bills, but the fact considerable resources previously earmarked for these programs have yet to be released. “Why are we still waiting,” asked a frustrated Solomon Middleton Williams, Deputy Director of the Newark Community Street Team. The City of Newark has reduced violent crime to a 60-year low because of the presence of these programs, yet state funding is still slow to reach them.
Among the programs represented were the Newark Community Street Team and the Brick City Peace Collective from Newark, Trenton’s two street teams-The Trenton Community Street Team and Salvation and Social Justice’s Restorative Street Team and the Trenton AntiViolence Coalition, the Transformative Justice Initiative of Camden, the Jersey City AntiViolence Coalition Movement and from Paterson came Operation Ceasefire and the Paterson Healing Collective (PHC), the latter daring to rebound from the tragedy of losing one of their own Najee Seabrooks to police violence while in a mental health crisis just weeks ago because law enforcement refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of their work. Other supporting advocates also came and joined the chorus call for Community based Violence Intervention (CVI) support, including the Community Justice Action Fund, Giffords Center for Violence Intervention and Equal Justice USA, key national partners in the coalition, as well as Moms Demand Action, Faith In New Jersey, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, the National Action Network and the People’s Organization for Progress.
Although cities that have well-established CVI programs have seen real results in violent crime reduction, these programs have yet to receive the sustainable funding they need to ensure the forward motion of their lifesaving work and the establishment of genuine professional respect and courtesy from both law enforcement and elected leadership. The worst expression of that divide is what happened to Seabrooks. In a beautiful circle of unity and faith, NJVIP called for the following bills to be passed.
A2049 - Appropriate 10M to fund community based violence intervention initiatives.
S2007/A3581 - Require Medicaid coverage for community violence prevention service.
S3086/A4978 - Establish a Division of Violence Intervention and Victims Assistance with the Department of Law and Public Safety.
A5326 - Earmark 10M to establish a Community Crisis Response Advisory Council and a community crisis response teams pilot program.
A1515 - Earmark 800K for Civilian Complaint Review Boards upon the granting of authority to have municipalities who desire them to have them.
Rey Chavis, the High Risk Intervention Director of the Newark Community Street Team addressed the problem squarely when he pointedly said:
“Our CVI teams are putting their lives on the line daily without security or health insurance! CVI should be taken just as seriously as our other public safety professionals, as we are first responders to violence intervention and prevention, as well as the facilitators of healing and well-being in the community.”
National partner, Jordan Costa of Giffords Center for Violence Intervention backed that up when she said:
“Investing in community violence intervention efforts through legislation that centers community voice is a powerful testament of New Jersey’s commitment to a safer society. Last week, we were proud to join hundreds of voices united in advocacy to implore our legislators to show courage, uplift community members working on frontlines, and take decisive action to save lives.”
Another national partner Jermaine Belcher of the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (the HAVI) agreed and added:
“The HAVI has been working with its Coalition partners to advance sustainable CVI funding and to decrease gun violence in the state of New Jersey. We will continue to work with all stakeholders in the state to ensure that we uplift the voices of those nearest to the everyday violence impacting the state.”
The circle was also joined with a surge of unexpected but related solidarity when a sea of workers from a delegation of labor union SEIU32BJ pushing for a Workers Retention Bill (S-2389/A4682) came forward and participated. The circle took on an even more emotional character at the end when they addressed how the indifference and professional hostility towards CVI work played out horribly on March 3rd with the Najee Seabrooks incident.
Seabrooks, a PHC interventionist and widely beloved in his community, was not only killed by police in a mental health crisis, but his team, especially trained for these matters, were wrongly and senselessly denied access to him at that critical and fateful moment. His was most certainly a preventable death! “Eight of our team was there that night,” said a passionate Liza Chowdhury of the PHC referral to that fateful incident where Seabrooks was killed. “Because they don’t give us the credibility for us doing this work, because they don’t give us that credit, that is why what happened to Najee happened.”
“My life has not been the same since March 3rd,” Solomon said painfully acknowledging the hurt and loss by the Paterson Healing Collective since Seabrooks’ preventable and senseless death.
Neither has ours Solomon.