The Akron community raised nearly $315,000 for the victims of last year’s June 2 mass shooting in East Akron, said Akron Community Foundation Vice President John Garofalo.
The Gun Violence Response Fund, launched days after 28 people were injured and LaTeris Cook, 27, was killed at a birthday party on Kelly Avenue, was created to provide immediate support to victims and their families.
ACF initially committed $25,000 to the fund, with a match from the United Way of Summit & Medina, and the City of Akron gave an additional $150,000 to the fund.
“This is a textbook example of government working with philanthropy, working with nonprofits, working with the community. It had fallen all into place in a very quick time last year,” Garofalo said.
ACF has distributed $165,000 to the Victim Assistance Program. So far, $114,000 of that portion has been used to support the victims of the June 2 mass shooting.
Victim Assistance is a local nonprofit that provides 24-hour crisis intervention, advocacy and education for victims of crime and trauma.
The organization uses a “flexible financial assistance model,” said Director of Services Rebecca Cool, meaning the funds can be used in several ways without the eligibility requirements other charitable funds may require — requirements such as income level or having children of a certain age. The model is about empowering victims to be the “expert in their own lives” and decide what support will help them overcome barriers, Cool said.
“The experience of victimization in itself is a loss of your own personal control and safety, right? And so we’re never here to tell them what to do,” she said.
The money from the Gun Violence Response Fund has primarily been used to support victims in three categories, Cool said: transportation, housing and utilities. Cool shared that one victim was out of work for two months, which meant they couldn’t pay their bills.
Funds were directly sent to the respective vendors on behalf of the victims, and, in some cases, Victim Assistance was able to help negotiate for leniency, such as waived fees on late rent payments.
Educational resources for trauma survivors:
SAMHSA Tips for Survivors of Traumatic Events
Taking Care of Yourself: Resources for Victims and Survivors of Gun Violence
“It’s really about getting people over that hump and leaching those basic life expenses, so that experiencing victimization doesn’t mean you become homeless…,” Cool said. “For many people we know in our community, they are one paycheck away, or less than one paycheck away, from severe financial distress.”
Tracy Carter, one of the fund’s three advisory chairs — the others are Rev. Charles Myricks, the senior pastor at Arlington Church of God, and Ron Paydo, the Akron/Canton market president for Huntington Bank — said that in meetings with the victims, she continued to hear they were grateful for the support to help them move forward with their lives.
“The common thread among all the victims — grateful, grateful, grateful, touched that the community came together and thought of them,” Carter said. “Many of them said they were just going out to celebrate a loved one’s major milestone in life, and that happened to them. They’re forever changed.”
And the fund is just one resource victims can tap into, Carter said.
Victim Assistance has also partnered with local and state organizations to maximize the funding. For example, Victim Assistance worked with the Ohio Attorney General’s victim compensation program, which provides financial support through reimbursement for medical counseling bills, work loss and funeral expenses. Victim Assistance has helped 14 victims apply for compensation, and nine individuals have been awarded a total of almost $54,000.
Are you in need of assistance?
Individuals in need of support can call the Victim Assistance hotline 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 330-376-0040 (all calls are free and confidential) or visit one of the agency’s six offices throughout Summit County.
Would you like to donate to the fund?
Those interested in contributing to the Gun Violence Reduction Fund can donate on the Akron Community Foundation’s website or by calling 330-376-8522.
Editor’s note: Akron Community Foundation and United Way of Summit & Medina are financial supporters of Signal Akron.
