Federal cuts threaten Washington crime victims’ advocacy programs - Anlık Haber

Advocates and agencies are asking lawmakers in Olympia to provide stable funding for crime victims’ support services after several years of declining federal funding.

The instability comes from funding dependent on income generated by prosecutions, which can vary from year to year, leading advocates to ask the state to provide a consistent commitment.

“We have this social contract that we say to victims: ‘If you are a victim of crime, we will help to the extent we can with your restoration, with your healing,’” said Laurel Redden, director of communications and public policy at King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, an independent nonprofit that provides wraparound support services to survivors of sexual assault and their families. The Center’s services include crisis support, legal advocacy and counseling.

But with significant cuts projected next year to federal dollars for services funded under the Victims of Crime Act, advocates like Redden are pushing for stabilization funding from the state to keep these programs afloat.

Washington’s Office of Crime Victims Advocacy, part of the Washington State Department of Commerce, has submitted a funding request to the governor for victim services, asking for $50 million in the 2025-27 biennium, increasing to $70 million per biennium.

Without addressing the shortfall, they say, Washingtonians who’ve survived crimes and need support in the aftermath could end up facing major delays in receiving assistance — or might not get it at all.

Love letters and messages of encouragement to survivors are posted in the reception area of the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center in Renton, Jan. 3, 2025. (Genna Martin/Cascade PBS)

The federal Victims of Crime Act, passed in 1984, created a financial assistance fund for victims of crime and the organizations that support them.

In Washington, this funding supports services for victims of “almost every type of harm across the state,” explained Trisha Smith, managing director for the Office of Crime Victims Advocacy during a House Community Safety Committee work session in November.

Smith is leading the request for state funding for victims, which include survivors of a staggering variety of crimes: child abuse, trafficking, sexual assault, domestic violence, even fraud and identity theft. Over 52,000 Washingtonians are connected with resources through this funding each year, which covers a broad range of services spanning legal aid, crisis intervention and support groups, through 140 agencies across 39 counties and 17 tribes.

The funding comes from income generated by federal prosecutions, which means that unlike taxpayer-funded programs, the revenue stream is unpredictable and prone to dramatic variations like the one victim advocacy groups anticipate. “It fluctuates pretty heavily year-to-year,” Smith told the House Community Safety Committee, necessitating “a longer, more sustainable solution.”

The federal cuts have introduced a crisis among victim services nationally, with states scrambling to fill the gaps locally. Some states have passed their own solutions: Maryland last year passed legislation to set a minimum annual funding standard for victim services at $60 million. Should federal funding fall short of that amount, state funds kick in to backfill the shortage.

The reception area at the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, Jan. 3, 2025. (Genna Martin/Cascade PBS)

At a work session for the Washington Legislature’s Senate Law and Justice Committee in September, Lisae C. Jordan, executive director of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, briefed lawmakers on how the new funding process was working.

Jordan said it was “very helpful in the field to have the confidence that there is going to be a stable pot of money, instead of what was a continual worry about radical shifts in the funding.”

In November, during a House Community Safety Committee work session, the Office of Crime Victims Advocacy gave a presentation outlining the need for this increased funding and the impact of the federal cuts. According to their data, federal funding to support services for crime victims was at its highest in 2018 but has been waning ever since, with state dollars making up for the shortfall starting in 2022.

In 2018, Washington was awarded over $70 million in funding for victim services; in 2024, that number dropped to under $20 million, the lowest allocation since 2014. In the next state fiscal year, the agency anticipates $17.8 million in federal funding for these programs.

“If you or your loved one experiences a crime in Washington state, the services you think are there to help you recover may not be there,” said Redden. “It’s going to mean things like potentially sending victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse to a waiting list for services.”

It could also force local agencies to close, she said, which is what happened to the sexual assault agency that previously served Kitsap County. Now, survivors in Kitsap County have to reach out to an agency in Pierce County to be connected with services.

At a rally held at Seattle Center in December, victim services advocates and elected officials described the reality of doing their work under current circumstances, and their inherent instability, which limits their ability to serve victims soon after a crime is committed.

Among the speakers was Aja Osita, the executive director of New Beginnings, a Seattle organization that provides services for survivors of domestic violence. In her speech, Osita described the challenges of providing survivor-informed and -led services without a reliable source of funding.

“Doing this work from a place of uncertainty is unfair,” she said.

A printed-out meme that reads “In terms of money, we have no money” is posted on a cubicle at the King County Sexual Assault and Resource Center, Jan. 3, 2025. In 2018, Washington was awarded over $70 million in funding for victim services; in 2024, that number dropped to under $20 million, the lowest allocation since 2014. (Genna Martin/Cascade PBS)

“Doing this work from a place of uncertainty is unfair,” she said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the funding request for the Washington’s Office of Crime Victims Advocacy for the 2025-27 biennium.

Topics: <a href=”https://www.cascadepbs.org/budget” hreflang=”en”>budget</a>, <a href=”https://www.cascadepbs.org/crime” hreflang=”en”>Crime</a>, <a href=”https://www.cascadepbs.org/criminal-justice” hreflang=”en”>criminal justice</a>, <a href=”https://www.cascadepbs.org/law-justice” hreflang=”en”>Law & Justice</a>

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