Victim Services Budget Amendment

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Alison Alter
Posts: 211
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2017 3:52 pm

Victim Services Budget Amendment

Post by Alison Alter »

Colleagues,

As we will discuss in this afternoon's work session, our Victim Services Division has just secured unexpected Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding from the state, freeing up additional funding for Victim Services. As we’ve discussed many times, our Victim Services Division has been historically underfunded and under-prioritized to the severe detriment of our community. To build on our ongoing work to fortify Victim Services, I will be bringing forward an amendment to use the money freed up by the VOCA grant to fund two additional counselors and one part-time program coordinator, as well as a $10,000 increase to the Victim Services emergency assistance fund. Because immediate cash assistance is a primary need identified by survivors of violence, I will also bring an amendment to use the remainder of the freed-up funds as one-time funding for the RPS Task Force Services for Survivors Work Group recommendation related to piloting an expansion of emergency financial assistance projects. The latter may be spread out over three years to provide stability in our capacity to fund these needs.

When a member of our community is experiencing their worst day, it is imperative that we are able to offer highly qualified, compassionate Victim Services counselors to help them, advocate for them, and provide much needed safety and services.

I look forward to discussing this topic and to your support for our Victim Services Division.

Regards,
Alison Alter
Council Member, District 10
Mackenzie Kelly
Posts: 73
Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2021 2:56 pm

Re: Victim Services Budget Amendment

Post by Mackenzie Kelly »

Council Member Alter,

Thank you for your advocacy of Victim Services. I am in full support of advancing the effort to support survivors of crime.

I am looking forward to this discussion during budget adoption.

Warm Regards,

mk
Council Member, District 6
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