Action Alert: DON’T LET CONGRESS IGNORE SURVIVORS!

As the House, Senate, and White House prepare to negotiate the next and likely final COVID-19 supplemental funding package, we have an important message for them - they cannot ignore the needs of survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence!

Congress has provided trillions of dollars in supplemental funding to respond to the COVID-19 emergency, but they have provided NOTHING for survivors of sexual assault, for community-based culturally-specific organizations serving survivors in Communities of Color who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, or for tribal victim service programs. They have provided some, but insufficient, funding for mainstream domestic violence organizations. This is despite knowing that COVID-19 has caused an increase in interpersonal violence!

Survivors, and the advocates that serve them, NEED YOUR HELP! We can’t let Congress fail survivors a 4th time. It’s time to flood Congress with phone calls, fill Members of Congress’s email inboxes, and blanket local newspapers with op-eds and letters to the editor. Social media posts are also useful, but since everyone else is also Tweeting, it is hard to break through, so please both tweet AND pick up the phone.

A toolkit with call scripts, op-ed and letter to the editor templates, sample emails, survivor and advocate stories, and social media content HERE.

Contact your Members of Congress - more than once, if you can! You can find your Senators’ contact information HERE and your Representative’s contact information HERE. Try calling district offices as well as DC offices.

Tell your Members of Congress that the next supplemental funding package MUST:

• Prevent drastic cuts to victim services funding that would compromise programs’ ability to meet the increased need caused by COVID-19 by increasing deposits into the Crime Victims Fund and by temporarily waiving match requirements for Victims of Crime Act victim assistance grants.

• Provide dedicated funding for culturally-specific organizations that provide domestic violence and sexual assault services through both the Division of Family Violence Prevention and Services in the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families and the Office on Violence Against Women;

• Address the needs of survivors by funding sexual assault services;

• Fund Tribal governments to provide domestic violence and sexual assault services;

• Provide more funding for domestic and sexual violence programs through a VAWA formula grant directly to victim service programs;

• Ensure that access to safety for immigrant survivors is not compromised by ensuring access to health and economic supports, as well as by restricting immigration enforcement at sensitive locations like courts and hospitals and by prohibiting the detention or deportation of survivors with pending immigration applications; and

• Allow states to make survivors eligible for unemployment insurance if they leave their jobs due to domestic or sexual violence.

Thank you for your advocacy - it makes all the difference!

For more information, please contact Rachel Graber (rgraber@ncadv.org), Dorian Karp (dkarp@jwi.org), and Monica McLaughlin (mmclaughlin@nnedv.org).

ACTION ALERT: Contact your Senators and tell them to pass a COVID-19 response package that supports victims and survivors

Congress must acknowledge that racism is part of all of our institutions, as amply demonstrated by the disparate impact of COVID-19 on Black communities and Communities of Color. While we appreciate that the House’s HEROES Act provides funding for domestic violence programs and ensures the long-term viability of the Crime Victims Fund, it provides NO funding for culturally-specific community-based organizations that provide domestic violence and sexual assault services. This is unacceptable - and the Senate needs to hear from you.

COVID-19 has both increased the incidence of interpersonal violence and the complexity of serving survivors. Victim service providers need additional funding to provide critical services to their communities. While the HEROES Act contains vital funding for domestic violence programs through the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act, it falls far short of providing adequate funding for sexual assault services. Instead of focusing solely on victim services, it funds law enforcement and prosecutors out of scarce VAWA grants, despite ample funding outside of VAWA for law enforcement. It also fails to provide critical funding for tribal domestic violence and sexual assault programs and important protections for immigrant survivors. The HEROES Act furthermore does not require states to strengthen their unemployment insurance laws by recognizing that leaving a job because of sexual or domestic violence or stalking constitutes, “good cause.” We know survivors need more. 

In late May, the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence (NTF) sent a letter to Congress, signed by 450 domestic violence and sexual assault organizations, detailing the need for funding and policy changes to protect survivors. On June 8, the NTF sent a supplemental statement to Congress, reminding them of the NTF’s priorities while also acknowledging the positive provisions in the HEROES Act. In the next COVID-19 relief package, the Senate should preserve important provisions that support survivors and, in addition:

• Provide dedicated funding for culturally-specific organizations that provide domestic violence and sexual assault services through both the Division of Family Violence Prevention and Services in the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families and the Office on Violence Against Women;

• Address the needs of survivors by funding sexual assault services;

• Fund Tribal governments to provide domestic violence and sexual assault services;

• Provide more funding for domestic and sexual violence programs through a VAWA formula grant directly to victim service programs;

• Ensure that access to safety for immigrant survivors is not compromised by immigration enforcement, by restricting enforcement activities at sensitive locations like courts and hospitals and by prohibiting the detention or deportation of survivors with pending immigration applications; and

• Allow states to make survivors eligible for unemployment insurance if they leave their jobs due to domestic or sexual violence.

Contact your members of Congress on social media, by phone, or by email through their website. You can find your Senators and their contact information HERE. You can find Members’ social media handles HERE. If you have contacts in Senate offices, email is also an effective way to get in touch with staff who are working remotely.

A toolkit with sample call scripts, emails, Tweets, and Facebook posts can be found HERE.

For more information about reaching out to your Senators and other grassroots actions, please contact Rachel Graber (rgraber@ncadv.org), Dorian Karp (dkarp@jwi.org), and Monica McLaughlin (mmclaughlin@nnedv.org). 

For more information about the needs of culturally specific organizations serving communities of color, please contact Megan Simmons (msimmons@ujimacommunity.org). For more information about the the needs of sexual assault survivors, please contact Terri Poore (terri@endsexualviolence.org).

Action Alert: Tell Congress to address the needs of survivors in the next COVID-19 response package

Right now, survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault are at great risk. 

Act now to urge Congress to address the urgent and emerging needs of domestic violence and sexual assault survivors and the programs that serve them during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and resulting disruptions. 

The House of Representatives is finalizing its phase four COVID-19 response package. It is critical that this package meets the needs of victims, survivors, and everyday people. We have circulated a letter to Members of Congress, outlining steps they can take to support survivors and advocates -- now we need YOUR help. Your Members of Congress need to hear from you NOW, while negotiations for the phase four package are underway. Your Senators and Representative both need to hear from you, but if you can only contact one person, right now, the priority is the House of Representatives. 

Call your Members of Congress or contact them on social media, and tell them that the phase four package must contain provisions to directly address the needs of survivors and the people who serve them. Tell them that the package must:

● Include $100 million in additional funding for the Sexual Assault Services Program (For more information on the needs of rape crisis centers and sexual assault survivors click here.)

● Include emergency VAWA funding to states for victim services with funding for Tribes and culturally specific-services; 

● Fund the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act; 

● Include funding for grants for outreach to underserved communities;

● Address the housing needs of survivors;

● Meet the economic needs of survivors;

● Address the long term impact on survivors by redirecting funds from deferred and non-prosecution agreements from the General Treasury to the Crime Victims Fund; 

● Temporarily waive match requirements for federal grants; and

● Ensure immigrants have access to health, safety, and stability, including access to testing and treatment, and restricting immigration enforcement. For more information on the needs of immigrant survivors click here. 

You can find your Senators and their contact information HERE and your Representative and their contact information HERE. You can find Members’ social media handles HERE. If you have contacts in Congressional offices, email is also an effective way to get in touch with staff who are working remotely.

Call/email script:

“Hello. My name is [your name], and I am a constituent [calling/emailing] from [your location and, if applicable, your program]. COVID-19 disproportionately impacts victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence, and Congress must act to support them and address their needs. This includes providing more funding for programs and  ensuring survivors have access to services, housing, and economic stability; waiving grant match requirements; ensuring immigrants have access to health, safety, and stability; and addressing the long term impacts of this crisis on survivors by addressing dwindling deposits into the Crime Victims Fund. We’re counting on you to protect victims and survivors.”

If you are emailing or communicating on social media, please include a link to the letter mentioned above. 

Sample social media posts:

.@Handle, #COVID19 disproportionately harms survivors of Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault. Support them by increasing funding, waiving match, supporting ALL communities & addressing VOCA shortfalls! More at https://tinyurl.com/ybkmnots.

.@Handle, support Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault survivors and programs by increasing resources for FVPSA/VAWA/housing, waiving match, fixing the Crime Victims Fund, and supporting ALL communities! #COVID4More at https://tinyurl.com/ybkmnots. 

For more information, please contact Rachel Graber (rgraber@ncadv.org), Dorian Karp (dkarp@jwi.org), and Emily Dahl (edahl@nnedv.org).