$10M Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Aims to Reduce Gun Violence

Governor Murphy and New Jersey Attorney General Platkin yesterday announced that $10 million in federal American Recovery Plan (ARP) funds will be allocated towards the State’s Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs, which aim to help gun violence victims and break the cycle of gun violence in NJ communities.

In January 2020, the Murphy administration and the Attorney General’s Office awarded $20 million in federal Victims of Crime Act dollars to fund nine Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs across New Jersey.

These programs are considered by experts and practitioners to be one of many crucial strategies for violence intervention and prevention services and have established New Jersey as a national leader in curbing gun violence.

A primary goal of Hospital-Based Intervention Programs is to link hospitals with community-based organizations that are already working to assist victims and prevent the spread of gun violence.

These programs have shown to be effective in reducing the cycle of gun violence, intervening when retaliation is most likely to occur and spread.

When $20 million in competitive federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding was announced, selected hospitals received two years of Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program funding, some of which the hospitals sub-awarded to community-based providers in their areas. At the end of the two-year grant period, the Attorney General’s Office made available a third year of Victims of Crime Act funding in the amount of $10.3 million.

In 2021, Governor Murphy and the Attorney General’s Office announced the creation of the Community-Based Violence Intervention (CBVI) Program, an entirely new program that aimed to expand violence intervention work in New Jersey, funded with $10 million from the State of NJ.

Currently, CBVI grants directly fund more than 20 community organizations in 15 municipalities covering every region of the State, supporting intervention strategies to reduce homicides and shootings by developing healing relationships among the groups and individuals who are at the center of gun violence.

During this time, the AG’s Office learned of an upcoming decrease in federal VOCA and HVIP funds and worked with the Murphy Administration to identify alternative sources of funding. The federal ARP funds will provide this alternative funding source for the HVIP program for at least another 12 months after the VOCA funds are expended. Further details on this competitive program will be made available in the upcoming months.

The initial $20 million VOCA investment along with the additional third year of VOCA funding in HVIP grants were awarded to the following hospitals:

• Center for Family Services, City of Camden, Camden Count
• Trinitas Health Foundation, Elizabeth, Union County
• AtlantiCare Atlantic City, Atlantic County
• Capital Health, Trenton, Mercer Count
• Jersey City Medical Center (RWJBarnabas), Jersey City, Hudson County
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick (Serving Middlesex, Somerset, and Union Counties)
• University Hospital, Newark, Essex County
• Jersey Shore University Medical Center/Hackensack Meridian, Monmouth County (Focusing on Asbury Park, Neptune Township, and Long Branch City)
• St. Joseph’s Health, Paterson, Passaic County

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