YWCA Clark County staffers told U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., on Thursday they fear federal funding cuts will curtail services they provide to survivors of domestic violence.
Last week, all grant funding from the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women was unexpectedly terminated. YWCA Clark County, a nonprofit, planned to pursue five of those grants.
“We have started to notice a really alarming pattern,” said Vanessa Yarie, YWCA Clark County’s chief operating officer.
Domestic violence organizations across Washington, including YWCA Clark County, have already been struggling with funding. In the next fiscal year, Washington anticipates a 51.5 percent reduction in funds from the Victims of Crime Act, which directs money from criminal fines to domestic violence programs.
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Reach YWCA Clark County at 360-696-0167. YWCA Clark County’s 24 Hour Domestic Violence Hotline is 360-695-0501.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Yarie said.
A lack of federal funding is going to have a direct effect on domestic violence prevention efforts in Washington, Yarie said.
“We’re going to start to see children who have experienced … things like sexual violence and domestic violence because we weren’t able to provide the same level of community prevention,” she said.
YWCA staffers said they are also concerned about potential cuts to Medicaid, which many survivors rely on. Survivors could be turned away from hospitals, said Beth Landry, vice president of domestic violence programs.
“We’ve had several survivors over the last year come into our shelter with such grave injuries from domestic violence that they were unable to complete their (activities of daily living),” Landry said.
As a result, YWCA is banking on earmarked funding through Murray. YWCA needs to replace its 1990 building and hopes to build three floors of affordable housing on top of a new office. The organization also hopes to create a prevention program focused on male athletes in high schools and receive funding for attorneys to assist children under the age of 12 who have been sexually assaulted.
Murray said she’ll do everything she can to help.
“Unfortunately, Trump’s unprecedented funding freezes and lack of communication with partners on the ground has created real chaos and uncertainty for places like the YWCA, who do really important work helping some of the most vulnerable in our communities — and have now been left without guidance on whether and when critical grant programs they rely on will open at all,” Murray said in a statement.
Last session, Murray secured $475,000 in Congressionally Directed Spending for the YWCA’s preschool program, which serves children who have experienced trauma, including abuse, neglect and homelessness. The school opened last September.
Some of the children have behavioral issues, said YWCA Clark County CEO Brittini Lasseigne, and have struggled to find a school.
“Kiddos were being expelled from preschool … and there wasn’t a place for them to go,” Lasseigne said.
The children greeted Murray with a large thank you sign on Thursday and, between popsicle licks, shouted, “Bye, Patty Murray!” as the senator left.
