close
close

Association-anemone

Bite-sized brilliance in every update

    • Cuts to Victims of Crime Act funding are devastating nonprofits
    asane

    Cuts to Victims of Crime Act funding are devastating nonprofits

    Online Niel Posted on

    play

    Upstate nonprofits that serve crime victims and others vulnerable to violence have been forced to lay off employees after another year of federal funding cuts.

    The Crime Victims Act was signed into law in 1984 to fund nonprofit victim advocacy organizations and agencies. The crime victim fund is based on fines and penalties from convictions in federal cases.

    Over the past five years, US organizations have received less funding, including three upstate. First Light lost $109,593 this year; The Julie Valentine Center lost $89,000 and the REST Project will lose $163,597.

    First Light is a non-profit organization that combats sexual assault and child abuse in Anderson and Oconee counties. The organization’s chief executive, Chelsey Hucker, said the cuts had led them to lay off counselors, which had hurt staff morale.

    “It was so hard. I don’t want my staff to be worried about anything except how to best serve our clients, I don’t want them to be worried about finances, I don’t want them to be worried about funding our agency,” she said. . “At the same time, I also don’t want to mislead them and tell them that everything is going to be fine, that we’re going to be able to sustain this level of funding cuts year after year because we can’t — nobody can. .”

    Funding has fallen over the past six years, falling steadily since 2020. This year was the lowest for funding since the decline began.

    South Carolina received $12.4 million in 2024, down from the $21.2 million it received in 2023 and the $22.2 million it received in 2022. The state received the most amount – $50.8 million – in 2018.

    Robert Kittle, spokesman for the South Carolina attorney general’s office, said VOCA funding in previous years alone has paid for 693 full-time and 122 part-time positions in the state. For the 2023-2024 grant cycle, the number dropped to 399 full-time positions and 134 part-time positions.

    Ultimately, Hucker said, the deficiencies could affect communities. “If we can’t provide the service, that service isn’t available, period. That is to the detriment of a community. If we continue to not receive the level of funding we need to continue operating, then it will have a domino effect.”

    Why has funding decreased?

    VOCA funding comes from federal criminal fines, forfeiture bonds, penalties, and special assessments collected by U.S. Attorneys’ offices, federal courts, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

    According to the South Carolina attorney general’s office, the Justice Department of the last two US administrations has not received the large fines and settlements that would bring the fund up to the level it has in the past.

    Project REST operates in Spartanburg, Cherokee and Union counties to help victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault. Krystal Watson, the organization’s executive director, said the funding cuts have already affected day-to-day operations and added stress to her small staff of about 30 people.

    “It was a devastating effect. We’re already working at capacity with the staff we have now, so it’s stressful and frustrating. We will do our best to respond to every crisis call, but it is getting very difficult and it is a pressure on us,” she said.

    In 2021, President Joe Biden signed the VOCA Fix bill into law. The bill seeks to establish funding for VOCA by directing revenue collected from deferred prosecution and non-prosecution agreements to be deposited directly into the Crime Victims Fund. Currently, such revenues are deposited in the general fund of the US Treasury.

    “Our hope is that as the provisions of the VOCA Fix Act of 2021 continue to take effect, VOCA funding available to states will eventually begin to increase. The DOJ has recently been more aggressive in pursuing fines and larger settlements to help the fund. However, at this time, we cannot predict what future years will look like,” said Kittle, the attorney general’s spokesman.

    How does it affect nonprofits?

    The Julie Valentine Center supports victims of sexual assault, incest, child abuse and neglect in Greenville County.

    Shauna Galloway-Williams, the organization’s executive director, said as the county’s population grows, so do the number of victims of crime. Her center is also struggling to meet staffing needs.

    “We continue to go above and beyond to provide these services, but at some point, you hit capacity. Then it becomes very frustrating because that person who is not getting services because of understaffing could be someone you or I know,” Galloway-Williams said.

    Upstate nonprofits must seek outside funding and grants to help mitigate the cuts, but it can only take so long, she added.

    “It’s like continually plugging that slow drain. In the end, something has to give,” Galloway-Williams said.

    Each organization serves more than 1,000 victims per year.

    Project REST’s Watson said the funding goes not only to staff, but also to maintaining software and shelters at their multiple locations.

    “We have to keep the lights on, pay the water bill, all the utilities we use, and he (VOCA) covers the training. This is what many people don’t realize; it takes a lot of money to operate our shelters and without funding, everything is on the line,” Watson said.

    She said if the shelters continue to face cuts, the possibility of closure would be a bleak fate for the communities they serve.

    “They (survivors of domestic violence who return to their abusers) are at greater risk of being killed. This is critical. We need to be able to stop this cycle because there have been people who have left our shelters saying they have nowhere else to go. They go back to their abuser and that’s the most terrifying thing they can do,” Watson said.

    Organizations rely on local funding and donations to ease the burden.

    “I wish we could get a more stable funding stream,” Hucker said. “There is only so much private funding, and every agency like ours faces those cuts. It’s hard when there’s a limited pool of funding you’re fighting for and you don’t want to take resources from someone else.”

    Tropical Storm Helene affected many parts of the upstate, western North Carolina and Tennessee. It caused 50 deaths in South Carolina and 22 in the upstate. According to Hucker, First Light lost power and internet for nearly a week and was unable to provide in-person service.

    The problems were similar for the REST Project. According to Watson, their offices were closed and without power for several days. Their emergency domestic violence shelter was near capacity during the storm and was also without power.

    “Many staff continued to work despite the dangerous conditions, so we did not have to turn customers away or move them out of our shelter,” Watson said.

    Online Niel
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like