Boston Medical Center
Violence Intervention Advocacy Program (VIAP)
Speaker Masika Gadson
February 9, 2022 - 10:30 am

Join us as Boston community leader, advocate and innovator Masika Gadson speaks to us regarding the VIAP (Violence Intervention Advocacy Program) at the Boston Medical Center.

The Violence Intervention Advocacy Program helps victims of violence recover from physical and emotional trauma by empowering them with skills, services and opportunities. Empowerment enables victims to return to their communities, make positive changes in their lives, strengthen others who were affected by violence, and contribute to building safer and healthier communities.

Masika Gadson has been supporting resilience and healing for children and families for over 20 years. She currently works as a Violence Intervention Advocate at the Violence Intervention and Advocacy Program at Boston Medical Center, where she provides comprehensive support to survivors of community violence and their families.

She serves as a lead team member for the Neighborhood Trauma Response Team and actively contributes to several city-wide safety task forces. Masika is a member of the Training Subcommittee and the leadership team at the Boston Public Health Commission Division of Violence Prevention. She is a member of the Dorchester Corridor Health Commission. Masika serves on the Community Advisory Council for the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence. She is also a board member of Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI).

Previous to her work at Boston Medical Center, Masika worked at the Center for Community Health and Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for over 5 years. She spent 12 years at The Home for Little Wanderers where she worked with children and families. Masika has volunteered with several non-profit organizations, including Score4More,Inc., The Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, Pine Street Inn, and United Sisters of Color. She was Co-facilitator of SELF (Self-Esteem Lasts Forever), a girls empowerment program in partnership with Project Right, with founder Nicole Flynt. Masika’s approach to violence intervention and prevention is grounded in a statement that she likes to emphasize: “We don’t only show up for bad times in the community; we have to show up in good times as well”.