A pilot project in New Haven aimed at giving money to people injured by violence to help them in their recovery is expanding.
Yale New Haven Hospital, funded by the nonprofit 4-CT, last year gave $1,000 each to 100 victims of violent crimes – primarily young men recovering from gunshot wounds at the hospital.
The preliminary findings, just released, showed promise, said people involved with the effort. The pilot is expanding to Connecticut Children’s, a hospital in Hartford.
“Emergency cash aid empowers participants,” said Dr. James Dodington, medical director of the Yale New Haven Hospital Center for Injury and Violence Prevention. “They're more likely to engage in those key activities that we want them to be able to — to experience mental health recovery if they have that assistance.”
The cash assistance may also help people from getting injured again, he said.
Dodington said the cash acted as a buffer for loss of income after trauma, as well as covering costs of food, medical care and relocation.
“People are spending money on rent; they spend money on utilities, phone bills,” said Sarah Blanton, CEO of 4-CT. “It's groceries, it's transportation, it's clothing for kids. We have no restrictions on these cards, and so people can spend the money on anything they want, and we're not finding that they spend it on the things that I think many people worry about. They're not spending it on alcohol. They are truly spending it on helping themselves recover.”
Dodington emphasized that the rate of homicide for Black men in Connecticut is almost 30 times the rate of white men.
“We see this incredible and staggering disparity in Connecticut,” he said. “And we're hoping to see more of these cash aid assistance programs. Our hope is that as we build further evidence for this work, we will then have a case for making this more of a federally-funded and supported program.”
Learn more
Listen to Sarah Blanton and Dr. James Dodington discuss the pilot program on Connecticut Public’s “Where We Live” — and learn more about gun violence as experts are declaring it a public health crisis.
