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Thursday, January 30, 2014 by Action Alliance

ADDITIONAL FUNDING SOUGHT FOR DOMESTIC ABUSE CENTERS

RICHMOND — House of Delegates Republicans want to put money where their mouths are with symbolically significant House Bill 1, setting up a new funding stream for the state's domestic violence crisis centers.

As instances of domestic and sexual assault keep rising, "We need to step up now," said Del. Barbara A. Comstock, R-Fairfax, sponsor of HB1.

Stepping up translates to a $10.6 million budget amendment to ease a growing funding problem for Virginia's crisis centers. Nearly half of Virginia's 57 crisis centers can no longer manage round-the-clock access to hotlines or shelters, according to the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance.

On the Peninsula, Transitions Family Violence Services has stretched its $1.1 million budget to keep those services up and running, but it has had to scale back legal support services, outreach to immigrant women and education programs intended to break the cycle of domestic abuse.

But education and outreach are critical, too, abuse victim Lisette Johnson said.

The Chesterfield County resident told lawmakers a harrowing story of how the man who had verbally abused her for years one day shot her and then turned his gun on himself. Education, she said, would have helped her know how dangerous it can be when a spouse is about to leave a marriage. Preventive programs could have made clear the risk sudden explosions of violence pose for children like her daughter, who saw the shooting scene, or her son, who ran for help, she said.

Comstock's bill would use the state Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund to disburse funds to the centers and make sure they are used as intended.

Del. Chris Peace, R-Hanover, whose mother helped found his community's crisis center, is pushing the $10.6 million budget amendment. It would come on top of the money federal and state programs already provide through grants.

"A lot of the centers are living grant to grant, and that's no way to survive when you are trying to help other people survive," he said.

At the current state funding level of $5.4 million a year, crisis centers can meet only a third of requests for shelter and 70 percent of requests for someone to come with them in emergencies when they need to go to the hospital or see a magistrate, according to the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance. Other requests for help are even harder to meet.

The alliance said the additional $10.6 million would boost the centers' ability to respond to crises, meeting two-thirds of requests for shelter, most requests for accompaniment in emergencies and more requests for trauma counseling. It would take an additional $7.4 million to pay for all requests for emergency services and a full range of trauma services and prevention programs, the alliance said.

Ress can be reached by phone at 757-247-4535.

Source: dailypress.com

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