New York City Trauma Recovery Center Network
City Profile: New York City Trauma Recovery Center Network
How the Network Was Built
The NYC Council invested approximately $15 million over four years to establish four TRC programs — the first TRCs in New York State — through annual appropriations rather than state-level legislative infrastructure.
Adrienne Adams, who served as New York City Council Speaker from January 2022 through December 2025, made trauma recovery centers one of her defining public safety priorities after spending time with families of homicide victims in her Queens district. “I’ve met the mothers of these people and the grandmothers. I have sat in their homes… And what do we do for them? These families want to retaliate. Siblings want to retaliate. [But now] we have some place for folks to go where they can find comfort.”
The Council allocated nearly $5 million in fiscal years 2023 and 2024 to launch the first three centers. Adams framed the investment in public safety terms rather than social service terms: “Trauma recovery centers should be a pillar of our public safety infrastructure to support underserved crime victims and communities harmed by the trauma of violence inflicted in our neighborhoods.”
The Four Programs
Bronx TRC (est. 2023, Astor Services)
The first NYC TRC to open, operated by Astor Services in the Bronx. Astor Services is an established mental health and social services nonprofit with decades of roots in Bronx communities.
East Flatbush TRC, Brooklyn (Rising Ground)
Operated by Rising Ground in East Flatbush. Rising Ground is an established nonprofit with community relationships that preceded the TRC funding.
East Flatbush TRC and Community Context
THE CITY’s December 2025 coverage described the broader model that the NYC TRCs deploy: survivors who enter any of the four centers receive individual case-management assessment, help with housing and food access, legal assistance, job training, and mental health treatment from teams of psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers — all free of charge. The programs are designed specifically for people who, as the Council stated in its April 2024 press release, “fall through the cracks of traditional victim services.”
Coney Island TRC (Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island)
Opened in a ceremony attended by Speaker Adams in 2024. The Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island, which has served the neighborhood for decades, was selected as operator. The JCCGCI’s TRC description notes it “dismantles barriers and facilitates healing” for clients including immigrants and survivors who fear law enforcement contact.
Downtown Brooklyn TRC, Center for Community Alternatives (est. December 2025)
The fourth NYC TRC opened December 16, 2025, in Downtown Brooklyn, operated by the Center for Community Alternatives (CCA). The fourth center was bankrolled with $1.2 million in discretionary City Council funds.
CCA Executive Director David Condliffe described the program’s distinction: “This Trauma Recovery Center is something new. It is the first in the nation specifically designed to address the trauma experienced by people involved in the criminal legal system — people who have survived violence, incarceration, family separation, and systemic harm, often all at once.”
Dulande Louis, PhD, LMSW, the center’s director, described the program’s starting point: “We can talk a lot about how mental health care and services can be effective in the recovery journey. But if I don’t know where my next meal is coming from, I don’t care to process my traumatic experiences because I am in survivor mode.” The program addresses that directly: housing help, food access, and essential needs are integrated with therapy from the start.
The program serves survivors of physical or sexual violence, intimate partner or family abuse, trafficking, hate violence, homicide loss, incarceration or criminalization, and immigration-related trauma.
2024 Outcome Data
The NATRC released a report on NYC’s TRC programs at the December 2025 opening of the fourth center, drawing on 2024 data from the three then-operating sites.
Survivors served: 1,197 in 2024 across three sites
Demographics: 58% identified as women; crime types: domestic violence (40%), gun violence (21%), physical assault (19%)
Mental health outcomes: 70% experienced a reduction in PTSD symptoms; 65% experienced a reduction in depression symptoms
Waitlists: 75% of NYC TRCs operate at full capacity, with waitlists of up to two months; 67% have wait times of two to four weeks
Dr. Alicia Boccellari, founder of the UCSF TRC model and Senior Director of NATRC, described the NYC programs at the opening: “These TRCs have removed barriers to care, created pathways to healing and helped to rekindle a sense of safety and hope for these survivors of violent crime and the communities they live in. The New York City Council should be commended for their support and advocacy of these programs.”
The NATRC report also cited broader CalVCB-documented outcomes for the model: approximately 43% decrease in PTSD and depression symptoms; 82% of clients linked to other community services; 91% reporting improved ability to handle daily activities; and the model costing 34% less than standard fee-for-service care.
The NYC Council’s April 2024 report on TRC outcomes, released alongside the Coney Island opening, documented an additional finding specific to sexual assault survivors: the TRC model increased the rate of those receiving mental health follow-up services from 6% to 71%. That figure reflects what the outreach-and-barrier-removal design produces when applied to a population that historically has had extremely low rates of engaging with formal mental health services after an assault.
THE CITY, reporting on the fourth center opening, described what TRC services look like in practice: “Staff at the trauma recovery centers begin with an individual case-management assessment. That often leads to helping people with basic needs such as finding safer or more stable housing, food and seeking legal assistance or job training. The centers are staffed by psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and community outreach staff. All of the services offered there are free of charge.”
The Funding Structure
NYC’s TRC programs are funded primarily through City Council appropriations, with the Council allocating approximately $3.75 million per year across four programs. The programs also access federal OVC funding and state grants where available.
The NATRC’s recommended permanent baseline is at least $1.4 million per center — higher than what the current NYC appropriation provides per program. The gap between current funding and recommended baseline reflects the difference between a program that operates and one that operates without waitlists.
The Council’s own analysis showed the math: with approximately $3.75 million per year distributed across four programs, each center receives roughly $940,000 annually — 33% below the NATRC’s recommended minimum. Programs operating at that funding level are running waitlists not as a sign of success but as a sign of structural underfunding. The NATRC report framed the waitlist data as the core argument for Albany: “Addressing these challenges will require the state’s investment in the existing Trauma Recovery Centers to ensure continued accessibility of services, as well as additional investment to develop Trauma Recovery Centers in other communities where they are needed throughout New York State.”
Before departing office, Speaker Adams and the Council called for $7.2 million in permanent baseline funding to sustain existing centers and create new ones in Queens and Staten Island. Mayor Eric Adams’ FY2025 executive budget omitted this request, requiring the Council to secure funding through its own appropriations process.
New York State has not established a state-level TRC funding mechanism comparable to California’s CalVCB structure. The NATRC 2025 report called on Albany to create such a mechanism, noting that the Manhattan borough — home to 1.6 million people — currently has no TRC.
The Political Transition Challenge
The NYC TRC network’s sustainability beyond Adams’ tenure is an open question. Adrienne Adams left the City Council at the end of 2025 due to term limits. Speaker Julie Menin, who took office in January 2026, inherits a four-program network that was built through her predecessor’s personal advocacy.
Before departing, Adams took two steps designed to institutionalize the investment. First, the City Council had already committed to a fifth TRC in Jamaica, Queens as part of the Jamaica Neighborhood Plan, giving the expansion a legislative basis rather than just a political commitment. Second, the NATRC’s December 2025 report explicitly documented the network’s outcomes and funding needs in a format designed for advocacy to both the Council and Albany, creating an evidence base for the next Council leadership to use.
The Gothamist captured the transition stakes in its December 2025 coverage: “In New York City, Speaker Adams, whose time in office is waning, wants her successor to keep the hubs open and expand the initiative.” Whether the network sustains and grows under new Council leadership, plateaus at five programs, or faces funding pressure is the open question for the 2026 budget cycle.
The Buffalo Extension
The NATRC’s 2025 NYC report noted that a fifth TRC in New York State — in Buffalo — was developed independently of the NYC Council investment. According to the report, the Buffalo program was the result of “a grassroots effort to provide more holistic care and outreach to survivors of violence, including the mass violence shooting that occurred in 2022.” A hospital-based program already in operation “pivoted to develop a TRC with its existing funding and support from its hospital’s administration.”
Buffalo’s model is explicitly hospital-integrated, designed to work in close coordination with Buffalo General Medical Center’s existing violence intervention program. Mark Goshgarian of Spectrum News described the design as creating “seamless transitions” from hospital bedside to long-term recovery.
The NATRC report used Buffalo’s growth as evidence for the case that Albany should establish a state-level funding mechanism — so that programs outside NYC are not dependent on hospital funding pivots or City Council discretionary allocations to operate.
Key Data Points
Network founded: 2022–2023 (first programs) through December 2025 (fourth program)
Council investment: Approximately $15 million over four years
Programs: Four TRCs (Bronx, East Flatbush, Coney Island, Downtown Brooklyn); fifth committed for Jamaica, Queens
2024 outcomes: 1,197 survivors served; 70% PTSD reduction; 65% depression reduction
Demographics: 58% women; crime types: domestic violence (40%), gun violence (21%), physical assault (19%)
Waitlists: 75% at full capacity; waitlists up to two months; 67% with two-to-four week wait times
Political champion: Former Speaker Adrienne Adams (served 2022–2025); current Speaker Julie Menin
Outstanding need: State-level funding mechanism; permanent baseline funding at $1.4M per center; Manhattan has no TRC
Footnotes