TRENTON, NJ — On Jan. 20, Gov. Phil Murphy and Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced 11 recipients of a combined $10 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds allocated for the continued support of the New Jersey Hospital-based Violence Intervention Program.
NJHVIP launched in 2020 using funds from the federal Victims of Crime Act program. Following a reduction in VOCA grant dollars that necessitated seeking alternative funding sources, Platkin worked with the Murphy administration this past summer to secure ARP dollars to maintain HVIPs across the state. As a result of that funding, these awards bring the state’s HVIP programming into its fourth year.
These programs connect victims of community violence to services beginning at the hospital bedside, delivering comprehensive support that provides the healing and stability needed to reduce the risk of retaliation or revictimization. NJHVIP’s teams of medical and community service providers are an integral part of the state’s public safety strategy.
“These innovative violence intervention programs support survivors of gun violence from the very early stages of their healing journey to help disrupt the cycles of violence that have claimed the lives of too many New Jerseyans,” Murphy said. “Attorney General Platkin and I will continue to do the work to provide these necessary services to communities who have suffered enough from the epidemic of gun violence.”
“Keeping New Jerseyans safe is my No. 1 priority, and these groundbreaking violence intervention programs stop cycles of violence before they start,” Platkin said. “Thanks to Gov. Murphy, we are providing essential funding (to HVIPs) to continue their successes and reinvest in their work. These innovative community-based partnerships with our leading medical institutions across the state are what happens when we treat public safety as a shared responsibility and as a matter of public health.”
The success of HVIP is rooted in meeting the victim where they are at a critical moment. Teams of medical and community provider staff — consisting of hospital clinicians, social workers, case managers, violence interventionists and community health workers — come together in the immediate aftermath of a violent incident to provide a range of services for victims and their families. These services include crisis intervention, conflict mediation, victim compensation, and mental health and substance use interventions. As a result, victims leave the hospital engaged in services and with the supports needed to continue on a healing path.
The federal dollars allow the attorney general’s office to continue and expand this program: Of the 11 HVIPs funded under this award, nine are returning hospital-provider teams and two are new.
In Union County, Trinitas Regional Medical Center, in partnership with the YWCA of Union County, will receive $866,400 to continue its work.