Mass. violence-prevention groups urge sustained, flexible funding as federal cuts bite

Massachusetts violence-prevention providers urged the state Commission on Violence Prevention Services Funding on Nov. 6 to expand long-term, flexible funding and to step in where federal funding has shrunk.

"Our job is to examine how that money's being used, and the efficacy. Who's getting that money? Are we doing, are we spending the money in the right places? Are we spending enough money?" said co-chair Marjorie Decker as she opened the hearing.

The hearing gathered testimony from dozens of community organizations that run street outreach, reentry supports, bereavement and trauma-informed services. Testifiers said stable, multi-year funding and the ability to use dollars for basic needs, food and flexible supports are often the difference between a program that can scale and one that barely survives.

"Lived experience, no 1 needs to teach us what we need," said Emilio "Noble" Williams, executive director of the Transformational Prison Project, describing in-prison and community work with young people and parents. He said the organization operates on a $1.6 million annual budget with 11 staff and that cuts have constrained travel, outreach and expansion; he said an "ideal" budget would be…