FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HARRISBURG, Pa., (June 20, 2023) — A joint effort between the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV), its network of 59 domestic violence service providers, 90 state legislators, and individuals across the Commonwealth is urging the state to approve a budget that provides increased funding for domestic violence services.
Domestic violence programs across Pennsylvania are at a tipping point, nearing a financial crisis that threatens the ability to keep their doors open to victims fleeing life-threatening violence.
PCADV and its network rely on a broad and constantly moving mix of public and private funding to ensure the availability of free and confidential services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
A lack of adequate funding results in victims and survivors being placed on longer waitlists or not receiving the services they need when they need them. During a single day in 2022, PCADV programs served more than 3,500 victims and survivors. However, nearly 400 service requests were unmet because of a lack of financial resources. Many of those unmet requests were for emergency shelter and housing needs.
The state legislature must increase appropriations allocated to the Department of Human Services through Act 44 by $4 million in FY23-24 to begin filling gaps paramount to ensuring victim safety.
Neither the Governor’s proposed budget nor HB 611, which passed out of the House on June 5, included increased funding for domestic violence services.
Since then, ninety Pennsylvania legislators – both Democrats and Republicans – signed a letter urging their colleagues to support an increase in state funding for domestic violence services. Rep. La’Tasha Mayes (D-24), Rep. Natalie Mihalek (R-40), and Senator Judy Schwank (D-11) led the effort to garner support for a domestic violence funding increase.
The need for adequate funding and resources for domestic violence services was also a recurring theme at a public hearing on domestic violence on May 22, where PCADV staff, Safe Berks CEO Beth Garrigan, and other experts provided testimony.
Individuals can join in the call for increased funding for domestic violence services by signing PCADV’s petition.
About PCADV
Founded in 1976, the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV) is the oldest statewide domestic violence coalition in the nation. Each year, a network of 59 local domestic violence programs provides free and confidential services to nearly 90,000 victims of domestic violence and their children in all 67 counties of the Commonwealth. The local programs and Coalition form interconnecting links in a chain of services and support to help victims and survivors find safety, obtain justice, and build lives free of abuse.
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