RUTHERFORD COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Advocates for survivors of domestic violence in Middle Tennessee fear they could soon face cuts to staff and services. Organizations have requested Governor Bill Lee step in with $25 million in recurring funding.
Ericka Downing is the executive director for the Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Center in Murfreesboro. She estimated the organization will see a roughly 40% reduction in funding due to federal cuts on “Victims of Crimes Act,” funding. That could mean a $250,000 to $350,000 hit to the organization’s budget. Downing said that reduction will have a direct impact on the roughly 3,600 survivors her organization serves each year.
“Rutherford County already does see a huge crime rate for domestic violence,” Downing said. “Domestic violence and sexual assault are also under-reported.”
The center has taken on nearly 300 new cases over the past two years.
“Removing those services from the county and reducing those services that may be available to survivors is going to be to the detriment of our county,” Downing said.
Downing said the 40% cut could mean fewer emergency shelter beds, counseling waitlists going from a one-month wait to a three- or four-month wait, and cuts to staff who provide services such as rape exams and emergency order of protection filing.
VOCA funding cuts will impact not only the Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Center, but other victim services, such as organizations that offer human trafficking and child abuse services.
The Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Center is one of multiple organizations across the state asking Governor Bill Lee for $25 million in recurring funding to help stay afloat.
“We are available 24/7, but if we don’t have the funding to support, we have to really analyze and figure out what we’re going to cut,” Downing explained. “It’s very hard to look someone in the eye and tell them that you can’t help them because you don’t have the funding in order to do it.”
Downing said much of the staff at the Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Center are survivors themselves and feel called to the work that they do. She added that their emergency shelter is especially critical to have open the moment a victim is ready to seek help.
The Tennessee Victim Service Providers Alliance asks the public to contact their state lawmakers and urge them to support adding the requested $25 million to the Governor’s supplemental budget, set to be released at the end of March.
