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4w ago

New York Reduces or Cancels Hundreds of Victim-Services Grants

The cuts threaten staff, 24/7 advocacy and clinics’ ability to meet state training requirements unless funding or the award process changes.

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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.
Domestic violence centers, rape crisis programs and child advocacy centers are scrambling as their primary funding source – aid from the Federal Victims of Crime Act – significantly cut.

Overview

  • The Office of Victims Services, which notified applicants on July 9, received 316 requests totaling about $626.1 million over two years and had roughly $500 million less available than applicants sought.
  • OVS told providers it plans to award $126.5 million a year and the state added $52.8 million to blunt reductions, but those awards are tentative and the New York State Comptroller is still reviewing them.
  • Dozens of organizations reported immediate harms after receiving tentative notices, including layoffs and program cuts, with examples such as SafeHorizon’s state grant shrinking and the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center losing its entire award.
  • Lawmakers and advocates are pressing Governor Kathy Hochul to backfill gaps and change OVS’s competitive procurement process, and several plan a public push to force administrative or budgetary fixes.
  • The crisis flows from heavy reliance on federal VOCA pass-throughs that vary year to year, which means funding instability could shrink forensic interviews, court advocacy and prevention work and make hospitals’ required SAFE training harder to deliver by 2027.