Shareable Talking Points

• Survivors rely on federally funded programs for shelter, advocacy, counseling, and legal support. Without this funding, those services disappear.
• Even short funding delays cause layoffs, service reductions, and sometimes program closures.
• Prevention saves lives and money: Every $1 invested can save up to $12 in long-term costs.
• Cutting or consolidating prevention programs means fewer tools to stop violence before it starts.
• The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) must remain independent. Its expertise and connection to communities cannot be replicated by broader agencies.
• Grant turmoil and uncertainty force staff to focus on survival instead of supporting survivors.
• Congress must act to restore funding, reject harmful budget cuts, and protect the infrastructure survivors need to be safe and heal.

Why Federal Funding for Victim Services Is Critical

Every year, over five million survivors of domestic and sexual violence—both adults and children—turn to community programs for emergency shelter, legal advocacy, counseling, and support. These services are often the difference between life and death. Yet today, they are in jeopardy. A wave of federal funding cuts and delays, including the abrupt termination of over 360 federal grants and proposed slashes to prevention funding, threatens to dismantle the very infrastructure survivors rely on to heal and stay safe.

The consequences are dire. Programs may be forced to lay off staff, close their doors, or turn survivors away. For victims seeking help, this means fewer options, longer waits, and sometimes, nowhere to turn. Even short delays in funding cause damage—resulting in program shutdowns, staff attrition, and dangerous service gaps.

The economic argument is just as clear: domestic violence costs the U.S. an estimated $12 billion annually. Each instance of rape costs survivors more than $122,000. Prevention programs like DELTA (Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancements and Leadership Through Alliances) and RPE not only save lives—they save money, delivering up to $12 in savings for every $1 invested. The Violence Against Women Act alone prevented nearly $15 billion in victimization costs in its first five years.

Now, proposals to consolidate or eliminate offices like the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), and cuts to essential prevention programs, threaten to unravel decades of progress. OVW’s unique role—bridging policy, grantmaking, and survivor-centered expertise—cannot be replicated elsewhere. Efforts to merge it into broader departments ignore Congressional mandates and dismiss the importance of survivor-informed policymaking.

This is a moment of crisis. But it is also a moment of choice. Congress must act to reject these harmful cuts, restore interrupted funding, and ensure a future where all survivors—regardless of where they live—have access to the safety, justice, and support they deserve.

Additional Resources and Fact Sheets

• National Alliance to End Sexual Violence (2024) - FUNDING IS CRITICAL for Sexual Assault Services and Prevention.
• NNEDV’s 19th Annual Domestic Violence Counts Report https://nnedv.org/resources-library/19th-annual-domestic-violence-counts-report-national-summary-english/
• Sign on letter to AG Bondi from over 600 local, state, and national organizations raising concerns about DOJ funding.
• Letter from the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence to HHS Secretary