PATERSON — Two men who survived being shot on the streets of Paterson are among the members of a local nonprofit group that wants to bring its violence intervention program into city schools.
Representatives of the Paterson Healing Collective told school officials that their own traumatic experiences would resonate with city students and help steer Paterson youth from violence.
“I was once on the negative side of things. Now I’m on the positive side and trying to make a difference in my community,” Isaiah Elam told the Paterson Board of Education during its Oct. 8 meeting.
The group is offering its crisis intervention specialists and “trained survivors” to conduct one-hour workshops in assembly settings or small groups to give city students skills to resolve conflicts without violence, said Casey Melvin, the Healing Collective’s field operations director.
Melvin said the group would like to provide its training in 10 schools for students in grades six through 12, with visits throughout the school year. said the organization already has funding from the Passaic County Youth Services Commission so there would be no cost to the Paterson school district, said Liza Chowdhury, the Healing Collective’s executive director.
It’s not clear whether Paterson Public Schools will take the Healing Collective up on its offer. Superintendent Laurie Newell made no comment after the group’s presentation. Newell’s communications office did not provide a response when Paterson Press asked where the superintendent stood on the offer.
School board members praise Healing Collective’s work
But several school board members on Oct. 8 expressed praised for the Healing Collective’s efforts.
“When I see this sort of organization stepping up to the plate to make sure our kids are safe, I’m all in,” said Board of Education President Eddie Gonzalez.
Board member Valerie Freeman said she was “absolutely for this” program and board member Della McCall said the Healing Collective has been “a blessing to our community.”
The Healing Collective had conducted some programs in Paterson schools toward the end of former superintendent Eileen Shafer’s tenure. But the partnership has not continued in the past two years.
More: Her son died from a stray bullet. Now a Paterson mom helps others with similar loss
The Healing Collective, which has received several million dollars in funding from the state and federal government since 2020, focuses on sending its crisis intervention workers to St. Joseph’s University Medical Center to make bedside visits to victims of gun and knife violence.
The purpose of those visits is two-fold — to connect the victims with services they will need to get through their trauma as well as to discourage them from retaliating against whoever shot or stabbed them.
Rival gangs engage in prolonged battle
Melvin told the school board that gunshot survivors like Elam and Javis Porter “have transformed their lives and now work for peace.”
Elam said he comes from “the Towers,” the high-rise apartment buildings along Presidential Boulevard near the Passaic River. Porter told school officials he is from North Main Street, which is about a block away from the Towers.
Javis Porter, an outreach worker and mentor with the hospital-based violence intervention program the Paterson Healing Collective, congratulates a graduate of the Safe Summer Teen Club during a celebration in 2023.
“My neighborhood has issues with Isaiah’s neighborhood,” Porter explained to the school officials.
Federal law enforcement authorities say the “100k” gang from North Main and the “Blockboyz” from the Towers have been engaged in a prolonged battle resulting in murders, shootings, and robberies.
Porter told the Board of Education he and Elam work together to try to prevent problems from escalating to violence.
“So, if one of his young guys has a problem with one of my young guys, we coordinate every day to fix it,” Porter said.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson group wants to bring violence prevention to schools