Picture this: After years of abuse, a woman finally takes the hardest step and seeks help from one of New York’s indispensable domestic violence programs. In the following months, she works with a program advocate who helps her escape, connects her to financial and legal resources and safe shelter, and promises to sit beside her at her order of protection hearing.
Then the call comes. The DV program she sought support from lost its funding, and her trusted advocate’s job is gone. No one else in her county does this work anymore. She has nowhere to turn.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and domestic violence programs are calling for more than just purple ribbons. DV programs are in crisis, and they — and the tens of thousands of domestic violence survivors across New York who depend on them — need immediate support from our leaders.
Most DV programs in New York depend on vital federal victim services funding that flows through the state Office of Victim Services (OVS). This summer, per survey data from the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, licensed DV programs lost more than $19 million from OVS, compounding $29 million in cuts from the previous grant cycle.
Thanks to advocates, $11.7 million of that much-needed funding was restored. But the new contract period started Oct. 1, and programs are still sitting empty-handed. Even if they’re approved today, it could take months for the executed contracts and reimbursements to get out the door.
The cuts are already crippling programs, forcing them to lay off staff, cut back services, take out credit for payroll, and close offices. One provider in New York City estimates they could serve 200-300 fewer survivors next year alone.
DV programs were already in crisis before this summer. On a single day last September, providers had to turn down 787 requests for help. Several programs were forced to close or downsize, affecting the whole region. After Fulton County’s DV program closed, a Catholic Charities in neighboring Montgomery County stepped in to serve Central New York. But this year, OVS slashed its funding, forcing service reductions and uncertainty while barring the program from using grant money to help survivors across county lines. DV programs are warning that there are more closures to come, which will result in even more service deserts.
How does that happen? Every few years, DV programs compete for OVS grants in a “Hunger Games”-style competition against other victims services organizations.
The way these grants are doled out was always complex, but this year, there was a total lack of transparency about how and why OVS made these cuts to so many well-established programs. Some of them lost more than half of what they’d applied for and received in previous years. And this isn’t the first time OVS has delayed getting programs the grant awards they’re owed. The state’s system is broken, unsustainable, and needs an overhaul.
New York can fix this. The Hochul administration must restore the cuts to all DV programs so they can rehire advocates and reopen their doors; guarantee steady funding streams for licensed programs already doing this work so a program’s survival no longer depends on winning a competition; work with us to come up with a plan now to replace the more than $125 million in federal victim services funding New York has lost since 2018; and pay programs on time.
Survivors can’t wait for the next grant cycle to know if they’ll be able to access life-saving support. The governor has campaigned on supporting survivors. Now it’s time to make good on those promises with meaningful change.
Neal is the executive director of the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence.