Advocates against domestic violence warn of funding cuts

Republican-American – Monday, November 11, 2024
By Livi Stanford

WATERBURY – Local and state advocates against domestic violence continue to sound the alarm about severe funding cuts expected for counseling and support services for victims of domestic violence unless legislators include an additional $3.2 million in funding in the fiscal year 2026-27 budget.

“Some of the concerns are, do we have to lay off some of our staff and reduce our hours?” said Amanda Nardozzi, executive director of Safe Haven of Greater Waterbury, one of the 18-member organizations of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, which serves survivors in Waterbury, Wolcott, Cheshire, Prospect, Naugatuck Middlebury, Southbury, Woodbury, Beacon Falls, and Watertown.

Nardozzi said such scenarios are ones that staff must think about.

“We are trying to plan some options in case this happens and the state does not come through,” she said.

Nardozzi said Safe Haven of Greater Waterbury helped more than 4,600 individuals this fiscal year, a 700 increase from the previous year.

The Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence says there is a $6 million cut expected specific to domestic violence services statewide.

Meghan Scanlon, chief executive officer of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence has served 40,000 people and their families, which has remained steady.

The Victims of Crime Act was passed in 1984 to support funding services for victims of crime. The funds are distributed into the fund from fines and fees from major federal criminal crimes including white-collar cases. Funds grew in the Crime Victim Fund from 2007 to 2018, but then fewer deposits came into the fund because of the outcome of dispositions, according to the Office For Victims of Crime.

As a result, in 2021 Congress passed the VOCA Fix Act, which expanded what could be collected in the Crime Fund, but it was not enough to offset the overall drop.

These cuts result from changes in the way these programs are funded, they said, calling the reduction potentially devastating. The reduction will impact the statewide counseling hotline Safe Connect, the employment of criminal court advocates, and other specific advocates who help survivors of domestic violence. Those services are funded entirely through the federal act’s funding, said Liza Andrews, vice president of government and public relations for the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Nardozzi and the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence have been reaching out to state legislators imploring them to address the issue.

State Rep. Ron Napoli, D-73rd District, said securing the funding is critical.

“If we don’t find a way to hold the line, we will have more fatalities,” he said. “If we do nothing 300 advocates would be laid off and we as a society go backward.”

Napoli said it is essential to keep the statewide counseling hotline Safe Connect up and running, which will cost $1 million.

“It is really important to the success of the program,” he said.

State Rep. Geraldo Reyes, D-75th District, said he believes something will be done to help fund the programs.

“I don’t have the specifics as to how much and when but it is not lost on me,” he said.

He said next year’s state budget will be much tighter as there will be no funding from American Rescue Plan Act.

He said there may be other funding sources that could help in the short-term.

Nardozzi stressed the importance of the funding.

“We need these legislative measures to increase our funding for the shelter so we can continue to serve the people who desperately need our help,” she said.

Scanlon said it comes down to ensuring safety for victims of domestic violence.

“If we don’t do that it opens individuals to be at risk,” she said. “It is a public health and safety issue at this point.”

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