As grants dry up, victim advocate agency looks to community

Focus on prevention renewed

By Eileen Persike | Editor

RHINELANDER – October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This year’s recognition comes with an added awareness that the agency serving Northwoods domestic violence and sexual assault victims will have to do its job with 70% less funding.

Tri-County Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault serves Oneida, Vilas and Forest counties and has done so since 1979. It is one of thousands of agencies across the country – including law enforcement, district attorneys’ offices and more – forced to restructure victim services due to a decrease in funding from the Victims of Crime Act.  VOCA became law in 1984 and established the Crime Victim’s Fund, where millions of dollars are deposited annually from criminal fines, penalties, forfeited bail bonds and special assessments collected by the federal government. That fund balance goes up and down, depending on settlements. For example, rollcall.com points out that in fiscal year 2017 the fund increased noticeably with $2.8 billion in payments to VOCA from Volkswagen, “stemming from the German automaker’s emissions cheating scandal, and $2.9 billion deposited from six large banks in cases associated with foreign exchange and global interest rate manipulation.”

But that was years ago. With no large cases on the horizon, VOCA funding has decreased and may not be seen at 2017 levels anytime soon. Angie Fanning, Tri-County executive director, called the cuts devastating.

“Based on the previous year’s operating budget, we are facing a 77% decrease in our funding dollars that support staff, overhead costs and other operating expenses, and of course our shelter, Lily’s House,” Fanning said. “VOCA funding in the most recent years has been able to support emergency financial assistance to those facing barriers to a safe exit. This has given the opportunity to make a meaningful change for many victims and no funds to support that effort could mean that lives will be lost.”

Six part-time staff and a full time outreach coordinator, who has been with the agency for more than a decade, lost their jobs. In turn, due to staff cuts, the emergency shelter Lily’s House will no longer be able to accommodate more than one victim or family at a time.

“There will be times when someone calls and we’ll have to say we’re short staffed right now, but can they call you back tomorrow? That’s not even an option in people’s lives to call back tomorrow if they’re facing crisis,” Fanning said.

Before VOCA became a main source of funding for Tri-County, the agency relied on resources from the community. That’s something Fanning said the agency will have to go back to.

“I really feel like we are too grant dependent; we have been for too long,” Fanning said. “Grants are not reliable and they can be taken away, and essentially this one has been – it didn’t even cover shelter staff.”

So Fanning is making a plea to the communities the agency serves.

“Our organization is your organization,” she said. “We offer our services to you for free. So we need your help in sustaining us. We haven’t relied on our community to support us and we’re going to now.

“As uncomfortable as this topic is – and it is, I get it; nobody wants to talk about domestic violence, nobody wants to talk about sexual assault, nobody wants to acknowledge it happens, but sit in the courtroom for intake one day and tell me it doesn’t happen. So let’s do something about it. It’s not going away,” Fanning added.

Tri-County will refocus its efforts on outreach and prevention and build awareness.

“It starts with the young kids, talking about consent and healthy relationships and red flags,” Fanning said. “We’re sowing the seeds. It may not be something they remember right now, but when they see the situation in the future they may think – hey, that’s a red flag. This sounds familiar.”

The agency kicked off the DV awareness month with a “Painting Silence Purple” fun run and has other events and displays planned in the coming weeks.  But right now, the agency is still trying to find its footing, just weeks after its programming was dealt a significant blow.

“So it really is one foot in front of the other, trying to figure out creatively how to do this with what we have,” Fanning said. “And what we have is not much.”

For more information, visit tricountycouncil.org. For help, call the 24/7 crisis hotline, 800-236-1222.