Victim service programming in Massachusetts is a lifeline resource to survivors of crime in the aftermath of trauma. Service providers are a crucial support to victims and survivors by providing crisis intervention, safety planning, assisting in navigating the criminal legal system, and supporting their emotional, mental, and physical needs in their healing journey.

Today, however, funding for victim service providers is critically low, risking agencies’ abilities to maintain the lifesaving supports that survivors rely on both in the immediate aftermath of crime and in the longer term.

The Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance (MOVA) supports more than 100 victim service programs that provide free of cost direct services to survivors through grant funding. As a result of reductions in federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grants nationwide, MOVA is facing a significant funding gap to support programming in fiscal year 2025. MOVA-funded programs will experience drastic reductions in their grant awards on July 1 unless a continued state investment is included in the annual state budget.

Reduced dollars to MOVA will impact funding to services that support all victims of crime, including children’s advocacy centers, sexual assault programs, domestic violence programs, homicide bereavement programs, victim legal assistance services, elder abuse programs and other services to historically marginalized and underserved crime victims who are disproportionately impacted by crime.

MOVA and the victim services community have been advocating before the Legislature for the last several years to fund the VOCA Bridge, a multi-year funding request to bridge the gap in federal cuts to maintain victim services and meet the increasing demand for victim assistance. House and Senate leaders have supported this need by providing $40 million over the last two fiscal years which has avoided devastating cuts to programs. We know first-hand that this funding has kept agencies open and functioning, and we are asking legislators once again help us ensure that every survivor in the Commonwealth has access to high-quality services that are trauma-informed, culturally-responsive, and reflective of diverse communities.

Despite having less funding available in the last year, MOVA-funded programs served the highest number of crime victims in our agency’s history. In Suffolk County, more than 16,000 individuals were served by victim service agencies, including the nineteen programs that seek to meet the needs of Suffolk County survivors, including the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, Casa Myrna Vasquez, Inc., and the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute.

The consequences of funding cuts will be far-reaching, touching not only the lives of individual survivors but also reverberating throughout entire communities. Marginalized populations disproportionately impacted by violence need culturally specific programming that values diversity, understands racial inequalities, and develops services and supports to meet the unique needs of each community. Culturally specific services are among the many programs at-risk of significant cuts without the VOCA Bridge.

Fully funded and operational victim services programs are not just important to victims in the moments they face violence; they also help to prevent future violence by working to address its root causes. Violence prevention work is likely to be lost as programs maximize outside funding to fill in the gaps of direct service. In addition, without adequate supports in place to serve crime victims, there is a larger potential for long-term social and economic consequences. The Commonwealth as a whole suffers in this scenario and it will take years beyond the VOCA bridge commitment to repair.

As the Legislature considers the development of the state’s annual budget for fiscal year 2025, I implore legislators to pass the VOCA Bridge and invest in the work of programs statewide that provide lifegiving resources and services to crime victims every day.

Liam Lowney is the executive director of the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance (MOVA)