Image: VPC

By Laura Durenberger-Grunow - Boreal Community Media - February 13, 2024


The Cook County Violence Prevention Center (VPC) is asking for help from the community. In a press release issued on February 12, 2024, the VPC shared that federal and statewide financial support has been decreasing since 2018 for "domestic and sexual violence advocacy organizations", and that many are facing financial crises. Specifically, federal funding from the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) (which is part of the Crimes Victims Fund (CVF) and is an important funding source that helps "thousands of victims find safety and healing in the aftermath of abuse and violence"), has experienced a "historic depletion." In fiscal year 2018, the budget cap was set at $4.4B. This year, the "U.S. Senate Appropriations bill that includes VOCA funding has been set at a $1.2 billion cap on the crime victims’ fund. This is a proposed $700 million funding cut. That is a 37% budget cut from last year."

At the state level, "Minnesota fell short by about $37 million of what was needed to fund domestic and sexual violence advocacy programs across our state."

In addition to a decrease in funding, the request for services has significantly increased since 2018. Boreal Community Media reached out to the Violence Prevention Center and talked with Director Lindsey Gau, who said "The need for our services has increased significantly since 2018. As our services have increased, the number of staff employed to provide direct client services has remained the same. These increases come at a time when our field has faced significant underfunding from both the state and federal governments. Without this funding, it will be challenging to grow our services to meet the increasing needs of our community."

A significant impact

In 2023, Gau shared that the VPC, with four employees and a small group of volunteers, served over 200 clients. Of those over 200 clients, they provided services almost 1,000 times, as seen in the chart below. This is up significantly from previous years. (Contacts are the number of times we provided services to clients, according to Gau.) 85% of the cases they assisted with involved domestic assault, while 15% related to sexual assault. 

 Image and data: Violence Prevention Center

Image and data: Violence Prevention Center. Clients are in purple, and contacts, or number of services provided, are in tea. 

How you can help

According to the press release, the VPC states that "Being in a rural and remote location presents unique challenges for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. It also presents unique challenges for our program funding." However, even similar organizations are facing funding challenges. Without adequate funding, these types of organizations, like the VPC, run the risk of not being able to provide services to the Cook County community. 

To help, the VPC is asking all community members to reach out to their local state and federal representatives, and have provided contact information, as well as specific information to mention. 

State Level

The VPC is asking people to request local representatives' commitment to ensuring the human rights of all Minnesotans to live free from violence by funding domestic and sexual violence advocacy programs accordingly by voting to Fund Bill S.F. 3447, which "would be an increase in funding for Crime Victim Services." This will be voted on at 12:30 pm, this Wednesday, February 14th.