Speaker Adrienne Adams, Council Members, and Center for Community Alternatives Celebrate Opening of New Trauma Recovery Center to Support Survivors of Violence

Council has established and supported New York State's first TRCs, with now four in NYC, to serve crime victims

New report by National Alliance of Trauma Recovery Centers highlights how TRCs across city and state improve public safety, need expanded funding

Brooklyn, NY - Today, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Council Members, and the Center for Community Alternatives (CCA) celebrated the opening of a new trauma recovery center (TRC) in Downtown Brooklyn, the fourth innovative crime victim services center established in New York City by Council funding. It will provide free, trauma-informed care to survivors of physical or sexual violence, intimate partner or family abuse, trafficking, hate violence, homicide loss, incarceration or criminalization, and immigration-related trauma. It is also nationally innovative in bringing specialization to the intersection between violence and involvement in the criminal legal system.

The creation of New York State's first TRCs has been a priority of the New York City Council, led by Speaker Adams, to expand support for underserved victims of crime, stop cycles of violence, and improve public safety. The Council has allocated approximately $15 million in new funding over the last four years to expand these comprehensive crime victim services.

The New York City Council also released a new report by the National Alliance of Trauma Recovery Centers that details how TRCs have supported the safety of New Yorkers and the funding needed from the City and State to support existing centers and expand new ones in other neighborhoods.

"For too long, the communities most impacted by violence have had the least access to traditional victim services and the support needed to recover," said Speaker Adrienne Adams. "With our opening of New York City's fourth trauma recovery center, crime victims will have access to vital services that help them recover, and communities will be safer. This historically diverse, women-majority Council has consistently prioritized holistic approaches to public safety that address inequities and equip our communities with the resources to stop cycles of violence. To sustain this work, city and state leaders must prioritize expanded investments for TRCs as a pillar of our public safety infrastructure, so that New Yorkers have access to their life-saving services. I thank the Center for Community Alternatives and the National Alliance of Trauma Recovery Centers for their leadership and partnership in supporting our city's crime victims to improve public safety."

The Council's efforts have established and sustained New York State's first TRCs, which provide comprehensive crime victim services to survivors of violence in communities that experience it at disproportionately high rates but lack access to traditional victim services. The city's initial TRCs are operated by Astor Services in the Bronx, Rising Ground in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, and Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island (JCCGCI) in Brooklyn.

TRCs are designed to reach survivors of violent crime who have less access to traditional victim services and are less likely to engage in mainstream mental health or social services. They provide wraparound services and coordinated care, including mental health, physical health, and legal services, by utilizing multi-disciplinary staff that can include psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and outreach workers focused on providing survivor-centered healing and removing barriers to care. Based on a model of care developed in 2001 at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), TRCs have been proven to improve economic, health, and social outcomes of those who receive their services. They improve public safety by interrupting cycles of violence and increasing participation in the legal process.

The new report by the National Alliance of Trauma Recovery Centers detailed the reach, impact, and needs of New York's first four TRCs, including three in New York City and one in Buffalo. In 2024, the four sites collectively served 1,197 survivors, with 81% identifying as people of color and 58% identifying as women.

The primary types of crime experienced by survivors who received TRC services were domestic violence (40%), gun violence (21%), and physical assault (19%). After receiving services at a TRC, survivors saw significant improvements in their mental health, with 70% experiencing a reduction in PTSD symptoms and 65% experiencing a reduction in depression symptoms.

The report recommends the need for continued investment from the City to sustain the operations of the existing TRCs, meet the unmet demand for services, and create new centers. The four TRCs identified key barriers in their work, including staffing shortages, funding constraints, and gaps in service accessibility. Three-quarters (75%) of TRCs are operating at full capacity, with waitlists of up to two months, while two-thirds (67%) have a wait time between two to four weeks.

Since the creation of the first TRC in 2001 within one state, there has been a nationwide expansion to 52 centers across 14 states, including Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

"This is a meaningful moment for CCA and for the people we support," said David Condliffe, CCA Executive Director. "This Trauma Recovery Center is something new. It is the first in the nation specifically designed to address the trauma experienced by people involved in the criminal legal system - people who have survived violence, incarceration, family separation, and systemic harm, often all at once. This did not happen by accident. It happened because of the New York City Council under the leadership of Adrienne Adams."

"The New York Trauma Recovery Centers (TRCs) have done a wonderful job in bringing evidence based, high quality and cost-effective services to some of New York's most vulnerable communities," said Dr. Alicia Boccellari, Founder, UCSF Trauma Recovery Center model and Professor Emeritus, UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. "These TRCs have removed barriers to care, created pathways to healing and helped to rekindle a sense of safety and hope for these survivors of violent crime and the communities they live in. The New York City Council should be commended for their support and advocacy of these programs."

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