The Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery (OVPTR) was created by Mayor Ras J. Baraka in June of 2020. It is headquartered at the former 1st Precinct of the City of Newark Police Division, located in the Central Ward, and will host program services and a Museum to honor the city’s long fight for racial integration and social healing.

OVPTR envisions a city where violence is approached from a public health perspective and where people are considered individuals as well as products of their environment. The Office’s mission is to improve the quality of life for all residents of Newark through reimagining public safety and public health as tools to address the underlying causes of violence, not only its consequences.

The Mayor and City Council have allocated 5% of the Public Safety budget to fund the new OVPTR.

Our team has analyzed historic city data, listened carefully to suggestions from residents and invited recommendations from experienced community and city leaders who have been working to prevent violence in Newark for many years to define how budget expenditure could be prioritized. The result is the following strategic goals.

View the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery's Strategic Plan here

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OVPTR CORE VALUES

Empathy and integrity are key requirements of any member of OVPTR.

Duly trained in Trauma, Trust, Conflict, and Crisis Intervention to better serve communities and coordinate services with law enforcement. 

We work by four main values: 

Compassion – we aspire to relieve suffering through open-hearted and holistic engagements. 

Caring – we commit to being consistently equitable, healing safe spaces in our city through innovative and effective strategies. 

Community – we empower our residents to take part in restorative justice, and contributors to the well-being and health of the community. 

Collaboration – fostering synergy and collaborations with stakeholders, businesses, government, and universities to address the root of shared trauma in the City of Newark. Establishing the center as a national think tank on Violent Crime Reduction and Trauma Healing. 

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