Rape Survivor Services Warn of New York State Funding Crunch

New York Public News Network | By Jimmy Vielkind

Groups that provide services to crime victims — including rape survivors — are sounding the alarm over millions of dollars in lost state funding.

Dozens of organizations received notice in recent weeks that grants from the Office of Victims Services are coming in lower than expected or have been canceled. The problem, association executives say, is that too many groups applied for a finite pool of funds.

“It’s this wide-open free-for-all and they keep spreading the money around more and more thinly,” said SafeHorizon CEO Liz Roberts, whose group operates domestic violence shelters and offers legal services to immigrant victims of crime.

SafeHorizon is the largest victim services organization in the country and reaches around 250,000 people per year. Its state grant is decreasing from $10.2 million to $9.3 million, Roberts said.

But other providers were hit harder: Kingsbridge Heights Community Center, a Bronx settlement house, lost its entire award.

“One of the reasons why we’re so shocked is that Governor [Kathy] Hochul and the state had really attempted last year to reorganize funding streams and prioritize increases where there had been none,” said Sadie Mahoney, Kingsbridge’s chief program officer. “Unfortunately, expanding in one area doesn’t help if funds and programs are retracted in another area.”

Office of Victims Services spokesperson Janine Kava said the agency saw an unprecedented response to its request for funding applications. A total of 316 groups sought about $500 million more than what was available.

“The incredible demand, the state’s competitive procurement process, and federal rules and funding uncertainty, required us to make difficult decisions,” Kava said in a statement. “The $126.5 million to be awarded annually represents the single largest investment in victim services in the state’s history, allowing us to fund more programs and reach more New Yorkers in need.”

The contract awards haven’t been finalized, Kava said. The total state budget this year is $277 billion.

Advocates are hoping for some kind of last-minute adjustment. They said the cuts will have a particular effect on rape crisis programs, which send trained advocates to accompany rape survivors to seek treatment and undergo forensic exams at hospitals, as well as to appointments at court and with law enforcement officials.

New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault Executive Director Emily Miles said funding distribution has to consider the vast geography of the state. She said rape crisis programs surveyed by her group reported a $2.5 million decrease in funding in the five boroughs, and more than $1 million decline in the Binghamton area near the Pennsylvania border.

Christine Battisti runs the Crime Victims Assistance Center in Binghamton. The organization lost around $750,000 in funding awards, which represents around a third of its operating budget.

“It’s chaos right now. This came really abruptly,” said Battisti, who is now preparing to lay off about a third of her staff.

Rape crisis counselors respond to calls on a 24/7 basis, and now those services will be reduced, Miles said.

“Your ZIP code shouldn’t determine whether you get access to an advocate,” she said.

Image: The New York state capitol building in Albany. (Brian Sharp/WXXI News)