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DC Victim Services Alliance

Asian Pacific American Legal


Resource Center What Is the DC Victim Services Alliance?
Contact:

Rebecca O’Connor
Asian Pacific Islander Domestic We are an alliance of District of Columbia victim service providers and allied stakeholders
202.299.1181
Violence Resource Project (DVRP)
boconnor@dccadv.org dedicated to protecting the safety net of services for victims and survivors of crimes including
sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, stalking, human trafficking, and
Ayuda
homicide. We have united to support a dedicated revenue stream for DC victim services.
Break the Cycle

Center for Child Protection and What Local Funds Currently Support Victim Services?
Family Support
The D.C. Crime Victims Assistance Fund (VAF), administered by the District’s Office of Victim
Children’s National Medical Center Services (OVS), has been the primary source of funding for victim service providers in the city for
the past decade, funded annually by D.C. Superior Court fines and fees. Under OVS, nearly 30
DC Coalition Against Domestic
Violence organizations provide services ranging from counseling to housing for victims and survivors of
crimes including, but not limited to, domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse and neglect,
DC Rape Crisis Center human trafficking and homicide. While once boasting a robust balance near $18 million, the
Deaf and Abused Women Network fund will be emptied by FY 2012. Supplemental local funding for victim services, which at its
(DAWN) height reached about $4 million, has been repeatedly cut in recent years.
District Alliance for Safe Housing,
Inc. (DASH)
What is the Problem?
This year, we learned that the 2010 transfer from the federally-controlled Court to the District’s
Domestic Violence Legal
Empowerment and Appeals Project Office of Victim Services will be dramatically lower—approximately half of the amount
(DV LEAP) transferred in 2009 and less than a quarter of the 2006 transfer—due to the Court’s escalating
use of funds for direct crime victim compensation. At this rate, OVS will be forced to spend
HIPS
down to zero the balances of both the VAF and the DC Emergency Shelter Fund (a special
House of Ruth revenue fund of approximately $3 million) in order to sustain services through FY11. The VAF
Latin American Youth Center
must be immediately replenished to keep the vital safety net for D.C. victims and their families
intact and we must identify a sustainable, long-term revenue stream for victim services.
Legal Aid Society

My Sister’s Place What Is the Alliance’s Proposed Solution?


National Law Center on The Alliance is dedicated to working with city leaders to identify a responsible, sustainable
Homelessness and Poverty funding stream for DC’s victim services. We are researching and plan to present revenue
enhancement mechanisms based on best national practices. We have also secured
Polaris Project
Congressional support for a one-time appropriation in the FY11 budget to support DC Victim
Ramona’s Way Services. Knowing, however, that a one-time appropriation will not suffice and cannot be relied
upon as Congress weighs its own budget shortfalls, we also support progressive tax increases
Survivors and Advocates for
Empowerment (SAFE), Inc. such as those put forth by the Fair Budget Coalition.

WEAVE, Inc. What’s Needed and What’s at Stake?


Wendt Center for Loss and Healing This is literally a life and death matter for tens of thousands of District residents. The District’s
safety net for victims of crime—for which the VAF is a primary funding source— protects and
Safe Shores The D.C. Children’s
Advocacy Center
serves more than 25,000 men, women and children annually. $9 million is needed to sustain
this safety net.
The William Kellibrew Foundation

Without an investment to stabilize today’s services and programs, the problems of these victims
Contact: Rebecca O’Connor of violence will quickly compound, forcing the expenditure of many more millions of dollars in
boconnor@dccadv.org court, law enforcement, housing and other social services by the District. It could take years to
202.299.1181 x 102
rebuild our current safety net to its current level of functioning.

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