Organizations that serve survivors of domestic and sexual violence say they’re facing another year of financial hardship due to ongoing funding cuts.
Many victim services organizations rely on grant funding from federal programs created by the Victims of Crime Act, or VOCA. VOCA funds have been dwindling in the past few years. The Michigan State Legislature allocates money in the state budget to help fill this gap — but organizations say that money has begun to shrink as well.
Melanie Hooker is the executive director of the Domestic Violence Coalition in Van Buren County. She said VOCA cuts and the loss of other grants has left the coalition in a $60,000 deficit for the upcoming fiscal year.
Hooker said the organization would need to raise that amount by the end of November to avoid losing staff or potentially shutting down.
“We can continue as we are, keep my staff, keep doing what we're doing until we run out of money. We have a very small little investment that — we could pull that out. That will get us to the end of March and then our doors would close,” Hooker said. “Obviously, we don't want our doors to close because then we can't — it's really, really hard to open back up.”
Hooker said to avoid closure with the current funding deficit, she would have to take drastic measures. She said that could include laying off staff and attempting to run the organization by herself with extremely limited services. But she said these options would mean fewer services for the people who need them.
"We have already laid off several staff"
In Benton Harbor, another organization is in a similar situation. Robin McGinnis is the CEO of Caring Connection, which runs the Empowerment Center for Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault in Benton Harbor. The organization provides services for survivors and operates a 23-bed shelter. McGinnis said the center is facing a $400,000 funding deficit for its upcoming fiscal year, which begins in October.
“We weren't sure exactly what we'd be cut. But when we did get the final numbers, we had a plan. So we have already laid off several staff,” McGinnis said.
McGinnis said those employees will stop work in October, but that won’t be enough to make up for the full deficit. She said the organization has asked for their rent to be waived for six months, but hasn’t heard back from its landlord. McGinnis worries that ultimately, reducing services will be the only option.
“My major concern is that survivors or victims of domestic violence will remain with their perpetrators. Which will put children — if they have children — at risk. They'll be living in their cars. And they're afraid to come in. It's devastating,” McGinnis said.
In Van Buren county, DVC also lost another grant this year that it usually relies on – the Services, Training, Officers and Prosecutors grant (STOP). The state of Michigan receives funding for STOP grants through the federal government and distributes the awards to organizations. DVC didn’t receive a grant this year, and Hooker said the process was more competitive than ever.
“The top 30 scores, because they score your application, got funded. You have to have a score of 80 or above to be considered. We were right at 89, I believe. And still didn't get funded,” Hooker said. “There were people that were scoring in the 90s that didn't get funded because there were so many people that asked for the money.”
Further east, YWCA Kalamazoo was one of the organizations that did receive a STOP grant for the upcoming fiscal year. YWCA Kalamazoo CEO Susan Rosas said the domestic violence service organization and shelter is “extremely fortunate” this year.
“Although we did see nearly $400,000 dollars in impact — which for us is really significant — from the grants that we have historically held, we also secured other grants that are helping us to mitigate that particular state impact. So we're, at this point, we have sidestepped — right now – dramatic funding impact. So we remain intact.” Rosas said.
But, she said that doesn’t necessarily mean YWCA is completely in the clear when it comes to maintaining the organization’s status quo.
“I think the difficult part for us now though, is that because our program is being funded through other sources of funding, the grant requirements are all quite different. And so the way that we provide the service might look a little bit different in order to make sure we comply with new requirements. So we may see some adjustment in how we administer the programs, but the programs remain,” Rosas said.
Competing for grants, but working together
Rosas, Hooker and McGinnis all said one of the biggest challenges for victim services organizations is the fact that they are all fighting to secure the same dollars. But even though they’re having to compete, the organizations say they’re still putting their heads together to see how they can help each other.
McGinnis at Caring Connection has appeared before Van Buren officials to help advocate for Hooker and DVC. Hooker said she keeps in regular contact with Caring Connection, YWCA and other Southwest Michigan victim services organizations to tell them about funding opportunities she thinks might help them. And all three organizations participate in brainstorming calls, where they say Rosas has used her connections to think up different ways the organizations can help each other.
“We've started conversations about what resources we know to be available for one another. We've talked about collective storytelling, collective data collection — just, how do we better paint the picture for folks so that our government can make different choices in how victim service agencies are supported? I think so often, I mean, we are crisis response organizations, right? We are constantly charged with making sure that we respond immediately and effectively because lives are at risk if we don't,” Rosas.
Over at DVC, Hooker is leaving no stone unturned in her quest to close the organization’s funding gap before it’s too late. DVC has partnered with several local and chain restaurants for “give back nights” where customers can use a special code or bring in a promotional flyer to have a portion of the proceeds from their purchase donated to DVC.
On October 8 and January 19, Panda Express locations across the US will participate in a give back night where customers with DVC’s unique code can direct donations to the organization.
“We send out the code, or are trying to share it as wide as possible. And wherever you are, if you order a Panda Express from your local Panda Express with our code, they give us 28% of all those sales for that,” Hooker said.
DVC is also partnering with several local franchise locations of chain restaurants like Panera Bread and Red Robin, and locally owned restaurants like Roca, Principle and Salt of the Earth.
Hooker said she’s hoping these fundraisers will add up — but at the end of the day, she and other organization leaders say substantial, sustainable grants are the only way to guarantee services remain.
