ARKANSAS, USA — Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has approved a one-time $17 million grant for crime victim advocacy groups. This comes after a steady decline in funding from the federal Victims of Crime Act or VOCA. The state is now taking money out of the American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA which is a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill passed in 2021.
"This money is collected from fines and fees for federal crimes. In the last couple of years, we've had a bit of a VOCA crisis," said Beth Sanders, Executive Director for the Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She said these funds were needed after the pandemic.
"There is significantly less money to operate the programs," said Sanders.
Without the state stepping in to help with ARPA funds, Sanders said some centers in Arkansas would've had to close their doors, "We cannot afford to have shelters closed. Arkansas typically ranks in the top 10 states for domestic violence."
Melanie Allen, the executive director for CASA of Crawford County said without the state's help they would've also suffered, "There's 23 programs in the state. And a lot of us were looking at a 60% - 80% budget cut."
Without the new funding, Allen says she would've had to let someone on her staff go, "That means that we could possibly have to turn around cases and say 'We don't have anybody to service that.' ... And we don't want to turn kids away. Every child deserves an advocate."
Since currently the funding is only for one year, agencies will have to brainstorm how they can keep their doors open.
"We're looking and exploring other ideas of fundraising. We have one huge fundraiser each year. And so we're going to have to look at other funding opportunities," said Allen.
“These programs will have to focus intentionally on fundraising, developing community support, and reaching out to people who may have ways to help," said Sanders. "Our goal this year is to really just get everyone focused on sustainability, and how they can become more financially solvent without having to use this money.”
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