By Senator Sylvia Santana and Senator Erika Geiss, Guest Writers, November 11, 2020, Lansing State Journal.
Over the past several months, Michiganders have faced unprecedented traumatization. The devastation from COVID-19 disproportionately taking lives and impacting residents across our state, along with the anguish from the turmoil during this moment in history, has been traumatic.
Community violence, a persisting issue in Michigan, has been exacerbated by the strains placed on communities by the pandemic. The lack of critical assistance to those areas hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic (and historically under-resourced) has also resulted in trauma.
We have worked with our Republican colleagues, Sens. Peter MacGregor and John Bizon, to include $4 million per year from federal funding in the Legislature’s proposed budget to develop four trauma recovery centers in Battle Creek, Detroit, Flint and Grand Rapids. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services must ensure that the money is dispersed as it was intended. We can all agree that this is an investment in public safety that our state needs and deserves, one we can be proud of including in the final adopted budget.
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