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Victim-services providers and a survivor urge continued city funding for GO Team
Summary
Family Service of Rhode Island and a survivor described how the GO Team partners with Providence Police to support victims at crime scenes, cited the team's response to the Dec. 13 Brown University shooting, and asked the committee to preserve funding for the co-response model.
At the public budget hearing, Emily, director of victim services at Family Service of Rhode Island, asked the Special Committee on Ways and Means "for your continued support and investment with the GO Team," a co-response model that deploys trauma-trained social-service professionals alongside Providence Police to incidents of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse and other traumatic events.
"By pairing trauma trained social service professionals with law enforcement, we ensure that compassionate traumainformed responses are offered to all families," Emily told the committee. She described the GO Team's work supporting families, students and faculty after the Dec. 13 shooting at Brown University, including mobilizing multi-person responses and operating a family center.
A survivor speaker who identified herself as Emmy gave a personal account of being stabbed and nearly killed three years earlier and said the GO Team "was there for me, not just on the scene, in the ambulance, and in the hospital, but for everything that comes after being the victim of that type of crime." She told the committee the team's ongoing support is critical to survivors' recovery.
Committee members thanked the witnesses; the hearing did not produce a formal action. Providers and survivors said the city's funding decisions will determine whether the GO Team can continue rapid, trauma-informed responses.
