
ARCHS has awarded $750,000 to a network of community partners to increase and enhance support services for crime victims and victimized communities.
Through the Neighborhood Healing Network (NHN), ARCHS leads a multi-faceted collaboration between trusted area organizations known for their support of under resourced families and neighborhoods dealing with violence and trauma/PTSD.
Each partner offers unique expertise and has close relationships with neighborhood residents, businesses, and faith-based organizations. The partners work closely together and use common objective/outcome, training, referral, reporting, communication, and evaluation processes. ARCHS’ funded NHN partners include:
-Alive & Well Communities (Trauma/PTSD training)
-Better Family Life (Crime victim resource hub)
-Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis (Crime victim resource hub)
-Crime Victim Center (Crime victim support services)
-Fathers & Families Support Center (Crime victim resource hub)
-Mission: St. Louis (Crime victim resource hub)
-Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis (Crime victim resource hub)
ARCHS launched NHN in August of 2020 with $1 million in funding provided by the Missouri Department of Social Services (Victims of Crime Act/VOCA). Since October 2021, an additional $750,000 in VOCA funding has been provided through ARCHS.
NHN has dramatically grown the availability of support for crime victims (not specific to any one type of crime) from one city-based location to six, placing services directly in the neighborhoods experiencing violence and trauma/post- traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) and providing multi-faceted trauma-informed care and services.
Since August 2020, NHN has achieved the following results:
-680 victims of crime served and provided more than 800 acted upon referrals to area crime victim support/social service agencies.
-96% of clients reported a positive experience accessing NHN services and 76% recommended NHN services to others.
-80% increase in referrals to St. Louis’ Crime Victim Center in FY21.
-36 trauma education and support workshops conducted for more than 400 initiative agency staff and community residents.
-5 professional sector trauma trainings held for more than 430 early childhood, faith-based, workforce, and youth development professionals with 99% reported feeling better prepared to effectively work with and support crime victims and 61% indicated they increased their knowledge of trauma.