Dear PHC Family, Partners, and Community,

As we close out 2025, I want to pause with deep gratitude and pride to reflect on what we have accomplished together and the powerful momentum carrying us into 2026.

This year reaffirmed what we know to be true: community-led, relationship-based healing saves lives. Even amid funding uncertainty and growing need, the Paterson Healing Collective showed up with consistency, courage, and care.

Our Impact: People, Not Just Programs

In 2025, PHC remained deeply engaged with individuals and neighborhoods most impacted by violence. Our work was not one-off or transactional; it was sustained, intentional, and rooted in trust.

• 274 individuals directly served, including survivors of gun violence, assault, domestic violence, and high-risk youth and adults
• 102 high-risk interventions, de-escalating conflicts and preventing retaliation
• 45+ community events, reclaiming public spaces and strengthening neighborhood safety and connection
• Exceptionally low new justice-system involvement among participants
• Zero reinjury or retaliation among survivors actively engaged in our hospital- and community-based intervention services

These outcomes are the result of consistent presence, credible messengers, trauma-informed case management, and a belief that people deserve support—not surveillance—during their most vulnerable moments.

Stabilizing Lives in Crisis

Our impact is also reflected in the tangible resources we put directly into the hands of those recovering from violence:

Housing Assistance:
$19,187 in 2024
$11,363.16 in 2025

Emergency Financial Assistance:
$39,281 in 2024
$30,268 in 2025

These funds helped survivors remain housed, relocate to safety, keep utilities and phones connected, and access food and warm meals when injuries made working or cooking impossible. While 2025 funding was reduced due to the non-renewal of certain victim assistance grants, community need remained high and our commitment never wavered.

To Our Community and Participants, With Deepest Gratitude

Most of all, we thank our community and our participants.

Thank you for trusting us. Thank you for allowing us into your lives during moments of pain, fear, and uncertainty. Thank you for showing up with honesty, courage, and resilience. This work exists because of you—and it works because we heal together. Your strength, leadership, and belief in a different future guide everything we do.

To Our PHC Team

To our extraordinary PHC staff: thank you.

You carried this work with heart, professionalism, and resilience. You responded to crisis while building hope. You supported healing while preventing harm. I am endlessly proud of who we are as a team and the standard of care we bring to this field every day.

To Our Board

Thank you for continuing to be responsive and supportive to ensure that our organization succeeds.

To Our Hospital Partners

Thank you to our hospital partners for your trust, flexibility, and shared commitment to survivor-centered care. Because of you, healing begins at the bedside and continues in the community with continuity, dignity, and compassion. Ken and Dr. P, your leadership and wisdom are so appreciated by our team.

To Our Funders and Philanthropic Partners

We extend deep gratitude to RWJ, The Dodge Foundation, and Everytown for Gun Safety. Your philanthropic investments have helped us build capacity in ways that state and federal funding often cannot, allowing us to be responsive, flexible, and truly survivor-centered.

Thank you as well to the VIVA Office for your continued partnership and belief in this work.

To Our Advocates, Allies, and Local Partners

Thank you to Moms Demand Action, NJ VIP, and the National Council of Jewish Women for your advocacy, donations, and unwavering support of community violence intervention.

We are also deeply grateful to Passaic County Probation, the Passaic County Youth Services Commission, and the Gun Violence Advisory Committee for their consistent local support of our programming and their collaboration in advancing community-based solutions to violence.

To our Passaic County nonprofit partners: your allyship and collaboration strengthen this ecosystem of care more than you know.

And to our local, state, and federal elected officials and legislators: thank you for your advocacy that has translated into real financial and legal support for this lifesaving work over the years.

Looking Ahead to 2026

As we step into 2026, we do so with excitement and purpose. The year ahead will mark the launch of new programs, deeper systems alignment, and continued growth in our ability to serve those most impacted by violence.

Most importantly, 2026 will be a year where we become even better as practitioners, partners, and leaders in this field.

The future of safety is not built through one-time events or short-term fixes. It is built through relationships, trust, and sustained investment. Together, we are proving that a different path is possible—and it works.

Attached you will find our year-end impact reports for your review.

Thank you for believing in this work. Thank you for standing with us. And thank you for healing with us.

Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope you are able to rest and spend meaningful time with your loved ones. We look forward to continuing to bring love to our communities in 2026.

With gratitude, hope, and determination,

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Dr. Liza Chowdhury
Executive Director
Paterson Healing Collective