GOVERNMENT Austin continues steps toward opening trauma recovery center
WHAT IS A TRAUMA RECOVERY CENTER? A TRC is a public center where victims of violent crime can go to receive treatment for abuse and trauma they have experienced. TRCs help connect victims with social services such as: Counseling Food and shelter
SOURCE: CITY OF AUSTIN/ COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Legal services
Medical care
BY CHRISTOPHER GREEN
to substance use issues and, you know, just unhealthy habits. And so in addressing that and breaking that pattern, we increase the safety and community,” Tucker said. A July report published by the Alliance for Safety and Justice outlines some of the benefits offered by a TRC as well as the gaps between the number of victims of violent crime who do not get assistance and support compared to victims who do. The report recommends having one TRC per 100,000 residents. City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes introduced the resolution to create a TRC and said Austin is in need of the services the center would provide. “The data is there to show that [a TRC] reduces revictimization; it reduces homelessness; and it actually increases reporting of crimes,” Fuentes said.
PROCESS OF OPENING A TRC IN AUSTIN Austin City Council is partnering with the Alliance for Safety and Justice and the Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice to open a TRC. These two organizations provide council with funding strategies and data research about TRC services. SOURCE: CITY OF AUSTIN/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER Austin's current stage
The Office of Violence Prevention in Austin is continuing efforts to bring a trauma recovery center, or TRC, to the city. The city proposed $1 million in funding for a TRC in the 2022-23 budget. Officials approved the city’s overall budget Aug. 18, and that included funding for a TRC. Officials began looking into adding a TRC in March, and city staff have since enlisted two national advocacy groups—Alliance for Safety and Jus- tice and Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice—to help determine the feasibility of bringing such a facility to Austin. Terra Tucker, Texas state director for the Alliance of Safety and Justice, said a TRC helps reduce the risk of incarceration by breaking habits and cycles of abuse. “Unaddressed trauma can lead
Council approves a resolution to open a TRC
in Austin on March 24. 1
Council approves funding for a TRC in
August as part of its budget. 2
City Council works with organizations that implement TRCs across the country to begin the necessary steps to open a TRC in Austin.
3
City Council and the city manager look into data on TRCs and how they can be of service and if it is feasible to open one in Austin.
4
City Council decides whether to open a TRC. 5
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza said his office has bud- geted funds toward the project, and added a TRC is a way to help reduce gun violence in Travis County. “We know so often that people
who perpetrate acts of gun violence have often themselves been victims of gun violence,” Garza said. “And so we think it is key to our public safety to meet the needs of people who are victims of crime in our community.”
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NORTHWEST AUSTIN EDITION • SEPTEMBER 2022
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