Programs for crime victims are in peril across the state as an unprecedented demand for aid has left many rape crisis and child advocacy centers millions of dollars short – forcing some to consider closure. And advocates and lawmakers want Gov. Kathy Hochul to intervene. 

Domestic violence centers, rape crisis programs and child advocacy centers are seeing their primary source of funding – aid from Federal Victims of Crime Act – significantly cut.

The state Office of Victim Services, which administers the federal funds, notified organizations that applied for the grants of their tentative awards July 9, though the state Comptroller’s Office still has yet to review those awards. Of the state’s 48 child advocacy centers, 36 applied for funding. Six were denied funding  altogether while 21 received substantial decreases. The decision means a loss of over $6.9 million to child advocacy centers statewide, which assist families to investigate instances of child abuse – a 31% decrease.

Likewise, rape crisis centers statewide, are being pushed to a similar fiscal cliff because of the reduced federal awards, which were slashed at a time of higher need. Rape crisis programs in New York City are expected to receive about $2.5 million less than in 2022. The Kingsbridge Heights Community Center in the Bronx lost all of its grant funding when the Bronx has the city’s highest rates of sexual violence.

Some rape crisis programs are being forced to consider closing locations, eliminating free attorney services for survivors, laying off forensic interviewers, eliminating therapy and other prevention programming and halting services for incarcerated people. State law mandates all hospital emergency rooms have Sexual Assault Forensic Examiners, or SAFE, training by 2027, and the cuts threaten hospitals’ ability to comply. 

Lawmakers are perplexed by the current funding procurement system, and want Hochul to fix the administrative and regulatory issues that have led to the dire circumstances for victims’ services, arguing the programs are overreliant on federal funding.   

The state allocated $52.8 million in funding to augment the available federal aid and offset cuts. The state Office of Victim Services also limited funding available for criminal justice agencies to prevent even bigger cuts. 

Several lawmakers are expected to participate to call for reform for how the Office of Victims Services distributes the aid in a virtual press conference on Tuesday. State Sen. James Skoufis said the nonprofit Fearless! Hudson Valley Inc. in his district had its aid cut by 30%, and wants a different funding procurement process for crisis centers that is more equitable, similar to aid formulas for school districts. “We need to hit a reset button on these awards and go through the process through ample funding,” Skoufis said. “This should not be a ‘Hunger Games’ type of an outcome when we’re discussing critical services like this.”