Newark Community Street Team to Expand High Risk Intervention and Community Sentinels Programs with Federal Support

Newark – Nearly a half a million dollars is coming back to Newark to support the community’s violence intervention organization, the Newark Community Street Team (NCST), via a federal grant facilitated by Representative Donald Payne and Senator Cory Booker.

The $471,000 in funding means NCST will hire and train additional High Risk Intervention (HRI) professionals and support its educational Community Sentinels Program. NCST is considered a national model for Community Violence Intervention (CVI) organizations.

“These federal dollars show that we have the support of Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr. and Senator Cory Booker, and allow us to continue to make a difference in the lives of Newark residents, who are not just our neighbors, but also our colleagues,” said Daamin Durden, Executive Director of NCST. “This work is hard, but fulfilling as we all see the difference we make each day. Being able to expand these two programs means we can do so much more.”

The NCST High Risk Intervention Team currently responds to 2-3 Newark Police Department  dispatch calls in the South and West Ward per day. The team collects intelligence at the scene without crossing the yellow line and in many cases follows the victim to the hospital for a warm hand off to their Hospital-based Violence Intervention Team embedded in University Hospital’s Trauma Unit. The HRI’s role is to leverage relationships with the victim and those associated with the perpetrator to prevent retaliation and create peace in Newark neighborhoods. In addition, the HRI connects victims and their families to services to support their respective healing journey all with an eye toward healing and preventing future violence.

NCST’s Community Sentinels Program trains and deploys resident-volunteers as first responders to low-level, quality of life issues such as loitering, school disputes, and personal disputes in a 4-block radius around NCST’s headquarters in the South Ward. This work is coordinated with the police department and is designed to free up police resources to focus on more pressing public safety issues.

NCST has contracted with the State of New Jersey to assist other organizations with capacity building. NCST helped launch a national organization to assist CVI organizations across the country and continues to engage in community-based, trauma-informed high-risk intervention, both mediating ongoing disputes that may result in violence and preventing retaliation. NCST also offers the community mental health services through its Trauma Recovery Program, provides Safe Passage at many Newark schools, supports Newark renters through its Eviction Prevention team and recently launched an Overdose Response Team.

About the Newark Community Street Team

The Newark Community Street Team is the community violence intervention organization in Newark, New Jersey.  NCST specializes in resolving relationship-based disputes toward a peaceful outcome while reducing the impacts of community trauma. NCST coordinates efforts with partners, including city agencies, service providers, policy organization, and more in order to improve the quality of life of citizens in the City of Newark.  NCST draws upon an evidence-based, trauma informed approach to violence reduction.