Stansbury, Keller, Heinrich, Luján Highlight $1 Million in Public Safety Funding

ALBUQUERQUE — Interrupting cycles of violence through trauma-informed care is critical to Albuquerque’s public safety and community well-being, which is why U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury (N.M.-01) fought to secure $1 million in federal funding for the City of Albuquerque’s future Trauma Recovery Center during her first day in office in the House. Congresswoman Stansbury highlighted the importance of the funding today during a press event with Mayor Tim Keller and Violence Intervention Program Manager Gerri Bachicha. 

The funding is part of $10 million in Community Funded Projects that Congresswoman Stansbury helped secure for New Mexico’s First Congressional District with support from U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján. The Trauma Recovery Center will complement survivor services and violence intervention programs, using a public health approach to violence prevention and interruption that includes access to wraparound mental health and social services.

The funding passed the House of Representatives next week, and now moves to the Senate for consideration before the president can sign the funding bill into law.

“I was proud to be able to fight for this funding on my first day in office because bringing mental health and public safety dollars home to the First Congressional District is vital to the safety and well-being of our communities,” said Congresswoman Stansbury. “The Trauma Recovery Center will help connect victims of violent crime to the support services they need and help interrupt cycles of violence using a proven public health approach.”

“In Albuquerque, we are working every angle to tackle violent crime and address underlying causes like addiction and behavioral health, and we won’t leave victims behind. The more our society learns about trauma, the more we see it is an underlying cause itself, and can cause lasting damage for those affected,” said Mayor Tim Keller. “Thanks to Congresswoman Stansbury and Senators Heinrich and Lujan’s work, we are close to establishing a Trauma Center in our city to actively connect survivors to the help that they deserve.”

“Empowering victims of violent crime in their healing and recovery is an essential part of not just disrupting, but ending, perpetual cycles of violence," said Senator Heinrich, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "I thank Congresswoman Stansbury, Mayor Keller, and Senator Luján for their partnership in securing this vital funding. I look forward to the continued teamwork as we fight to ensure the needs of victims and survivors are met with these critical services across New Mexico.”

“Thanks to the partnership of Congresswoman Stansbury, Senator Heinrich, and Mayor Keller, Albuquerque is one step closer to creating a Trauma Recovery Center to help connect survivors of violent crime to critical services,” said Senator Luján. “I look forward to working together to fully secure this funding and improve public safety for New Mexicans.”

The Trauma Recovery Center model provides outreach and engagement to engage crime victims in services, find service gaps, increase service capacity, and align the work of existing service providers. Trauma Recovery Center models have found that participants engage more in services and show more improvement in overall health using this model of care and support. 

The Trauma Recovery Center will:

1. Create a central hub to connect victims of violent crime to services through peer-based models of assertive outreach and mediation, and support existing multi-disciplinary models of assertive outreach;
   
2. Increase community-based service capacity through training and implementation of proven strategies, like motivational interviewing, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, psychotherapy and community and cultural healing, to address crime survivor needs;
   
3. Develop a clinical case management component to support violent crime victims and to interrupt the cycles associated with criminal activity;
   
4. Respond to under-served and unserved victims of crimes, like those who experience community violence and people who face challenges in accessing care such as youth, homeless and people from communities of color; and
   
5. Provide essential mediation services.