Paterson Advocates Committed to the Healing of the Residents

Advocates Promote Healing

It is the first hospital-based violence intervention program in Passaic County, in partnership with St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson. The Collective’s list of beneficiaries include: victims of violence and their families, neighborhoods at risk for violence, business owners caught in the crosshairs of violence, and youth looking for ways of escaping violence. Any person exposed to urban living can find themselves in either one of these categories, or probably in multiple categories simultaneously. Thus, making the work of Paterson Healing Collective all-encompassing and all too important. Paterson Healing Collective is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting and empowering victims of violence, their families, and the communities in which they live. Paterson Healing Collective was founded in 2020 by Dr. Liza Chowdhury to provide comprehensive services and resources to survivors of violence that can help them heal and move forward.

“Lots of advocacy work needs to be done around brown and black victims,” says Dr. Chowdhury. In response to a Request for Proposal from the level II trauma center in 2019, a not-for-profit she heads, Reimagining Justice, was awarded the grant to do just that, reimagine justice, under the name, Paterson Healing Collective. If you ask Executive Director Chowdhury, she will tell you that Paterson Healing Collective’s foundational infrastructure and fiscal support is thanks to the hospital, but she is exceptionally grateful that the organization is granted a level of autonomy, trust, and community credibility that allows the program to operate beyond visiting the bedsides of gunshot victims.

The concept of reimagining justice is akin to the melting pot of ethnicities that make up the state’s third largest city, rich and diverse. The array of services offered by Paterson Healing Collective include: advocacy for victims of violence, funeral home planning for lost victims, support groups for survivors, victim counseling, youth summer camps, victim case management for aftercare services like physical therapy and disability claims, food, housing, and employment referrals, and support for local businesses damaged due to neighborhood gun violence.

Chowdhury believes this work begins and is centered around community outreach, and Paterson Healing Collective’s visibility and perception as a trusted partner specifically within known “hot spots” or areas prone to violence. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Paterson Healing Collective staff beat the streets of Paterson asking community members what they needed to feel safe, what they needed for individual improvement of quality of life, and what youth in particular needed as an alternative to hanging out on street corners. People were looking for jobs and youth were looking for constructive places to be. Other outreach programs include safety walks through community hot spots; even after a shooting has occurred, to show solidarity with community members. Campaigns like “Stop The Bleed” was a widespread initiative where the Collective taught community members how to limit or stop the bleeding of

gunshot victims. “The idea is to create an ecosystem of safety that is not reactionary. Let’s not normalize violence. [People are saying] we want to live here. How can we make it safe?” Chowdhury says.