Hope Unlimited, Inc., was recently awarded $158,919 through a $15 million federal package distributed by Gov. Laura Kelly.
The funds reached 65 state crime victims and survivor services organizations.
The local organization will use the grant money to further their mission of assisting victims of crime through their various programs, including emergency shelter, crisis intervention, outreach services, Child Visitation Center, Child Advocacy Center, and Healthy Initiatives Project.
Hope Unlimited was formed in 1984 to assist victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Allen, Anderson, Neosho, and Woodson counties.
It is home to the area’s only Child Advocacy Center and also hosts the Child Visitation Center to give children a safe place to visit their families during times of conflict.
Donita Garner, Hope Unlimited’s Child Advocacy Center coordinator, emphasized how important these funds are in helping provide services to the most vulnerable: children.
The funds will help continue to make forensic interviews possible at the center and ensure that young victims are being helped when they most need it.
The grant funding is provided by the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Victim Assistance grant program to increase access to justice, to support crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, and to strengthen community safety.
VOCA was passed by Congress and signed into law on Oct. 12, 1984.
The program is funded by the millions of dollars deposited annually from criminal fines, penalties, forfeited bail bonds, and special assessments collected by the federal government. The money comes from people or corporations convicted of federal crimes.
“Whenever there is a federal case and they seize property and sell it, that money goes into this fund,” said Hope Unlimited Executive Director Dorothy Sparks. “The idea is that it goes back out to the crime victims. It’s for non-profits, law enforcement, and the judicial system.”
VOCA funds are explicit in how they can be distributed. A minimum of 10% of each state’s annual VOCA assistance grant must go to victim services in three priority areas: domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault.
Hope Unlimited has received VOCA grant funds for the past 20 years with the amount they receive changing from year-to-year.
“That is a problem,” noted Sparks. “What we actually got this year is less than what we normally get. So, they’re working on building that fund back up. It’s especially going to hit the Child Advocacy Center hard.”
Sparks added the money is important to funding and maintaining four positions at the center ranging from shelter and sexual assault services to children’s services. In addition, the VOCA grant will help fund direct services to victims and outreach programs.
