Newark Community Street Team to Expand Life-Saving Work in Additional Newark Neighborhoods

Newark – The Newark Community Street Team (NCST) has been awarded a $2 million federal competitive grant today from the Department of Justice.

NCST will use the funding to expand its collaborative neighborhood-centered, data-driven effort to reduce and prevent crime in Newark. The work combines violence intervention activities led by NCST, community-based organizations, law enforcement, and other criminal and juvenile justice agencies, with human and social service prevention activities addressing risk factors for crime, targeted to people and places at high risk of crime or victimization.

“This funding will enable NCST to expand our High Risk Interventionist (HRI) program to prevent and reduce violence in additional communities in Newark,” said Solomon Middleton-Williams, deputy director of NCST. “The HRI program provides violence interruption and intervention efforts by engaging directly with both victims and perpetrators, preventing retaliatory actions and connecting residents with resources.”

More than $100 million in grants were awarded today to community violence intervention organizations across the country. The resources made available under the Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative will develop and expand the infrastructure needed to build community safety and strengthen neighborhoods. Funds awarded by the Department of Justice under this solicitation will support holistic, cross-agency collaborations, seed new efforts and fund expansion plans in both community-based organizations and local government agencies, provide funding and assistance through intermediaries to build the capacity of smaller organizations, offer technical aid to jurisdictions that do not receive federal funding and invest in research and evaluation to better understand what works to reduce violence.

NCST’s grant was crafted and submitted by Development Director Jennifer Gannett, who joined the organization earlier this year, in collaboration with Deputy Director Solomon Middleton-Williams, Chief of Compliance Deysi Maury and grant writer MonaLisa Whitaker.

Community based violence intervention is nuanced and painstaking work requiring highly skilled practitioners who have credibility in the areas in which they work. “A lot of people think this is just community activism, as if we go outside and say, ‘Stop the violence.’ Our work goes much deeper. It’s trainings. It’s standard operating procedures. It’s formulas that allow us to engage individuals and de-escalate situations,” said Daamin Durdin, executive director of NCST.

NCST is considered a national model for Community Violence Intervention (CVI) organizations and has contracted with the State of New Jersey to assist other organizations with capacity building. NCST has helped to launch a national organization to assist CVI organizations across the country and NCST continues to engage in community-based, trauma-informed high-risk intervention, both mediating ongoing disputes that may result in violence and preventing retaliation.

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. 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.