05-03-2025
Victim services nonprofits ask state for emergency funding
Tennessee nonprofits that help victims of violence are asking for emergency state funding in order to avoid a financial cliff.
Why it matters: The nonprofits deal with domestic violence, sexual abuse, human trafficking and child abuse.
Without state help, some victim services nonprofits could shutter while others are bracing to scale back their vital work.
State of play: The financial emergency is driven largely by a drop in funding from the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), primarily fines and penalties paid by people convicted of crimes.
Bureaucratic changes to the VOCA funding formula take effect July 1, so nonprofit groups have been preparing for funding reductions for months. There's also been a sharp drop in penalties as federal prosecutors pursue more plea deals in recent years.
Exacerbating the issue is that federal pandemic relief funds picked up the slack in recent years, but that money is drying up.
What they're saying: More than 360 people representing victim services groups from across Tennessee co-signed a letter asking state officials to commit to a recurring $25 million fund.
The Sexual Assault Center and the YWCA are among the prominent local victim services nonprofits in Nashville behind the cause.
"Service providers across Tennessee are at a breaking point," Children's Advocacy Centers of Tennessee executive director Stephen Woerner said in a press release. "Without the dollars to back them up, shelters won't be able to stay open, crisis hotlines will go unanswered, and child victims of physical and sexual abuse will be left with nowhere to turn."
The latest: Rachel Freeman, president of the Sexual Assault Center, tells Axios advocates have been meeting with lawmakers regularly since last fall to discuss the issue and that they had an "encouraging" meeting with Lee's office earlier this week.
There was no money earmarked for the nonprofit groups in Lee's initial budget, but amendments are common. Lee told reporters Monday that "victims advocacy and victims rights are incredibly important parts of the entire criminal justice system," adding it's "possible" money will be directed to the nonprofit groups in the upcoming supplemental budget.
According to the Tennessee Lookout, 35 states have directed funding to victim services nonprofits.
The bottom line: "This situation is unprecedented in my 24 years at the Sexual Assault Center," Freeman says. "People take for granted there will always be funds for victims services groups and that's not the case."
