Brigid Collins Family Support Center has had to scale back staffing over the past five years as federal and state funds for its services have dropped by more than $415,000. Employees says the cuts are impacting services that help children across northwestern Washington who have experienced trauma.
“These cuts have been devastating to services the child services receive, resulting in less victim advocates, mental health services, long-term care management, emergency financial assistance and forensic interviewers,” said Melissa Pickel, director of operations.
At Brigid Collins, children who have experienced severe trauma because of sexual or domestic abuse are able to find help through therapy and victim services. The center serves as a one-stop shop for healing and justice for the children and their families in Whatcom, Skagit, Island and San Juan counties.
Now, Brigid Collins and other domestic violence organizations across Whatcom County and the state are bracing for further budget shortfalls if state lawmakers are unable to figure out how to fill a funding backstop meant for the 52,000 crime victims a year in the state.
The funds, administered through the federal Victims of Crime Act, or VOCA, flow across the country from a pot of money collected from criminal fines, penalties, forfeited bail bonds and special assessments collected by the federal government.
Every year, Washington state gets a chunk of the federal dollars but since 2018, VOCA funds have been declining. The state received $17.8 million in the 2024 fiscal year, the lowest amount since 2014. That funding was then split up among the hundreds of shelters, victim support services and advocacy centers in the state.
Because of the fluctuation in the federal dollars, the state has provided supplemental funds over the last four years for victim services. But next June, the Washington State Department of Commerce is anticipating a 51% drop in VOCA state plan funds when the supplemental funds run out.
Reasons for declining funding can run the gamut of the court fines and fees not being collected, to the court system still recovering from COVID-19 pandemic delays.
The risk of declining funds has victim service organizations pressing state lawmakers to find a solution when they return to Olympia in January for the 2025 legislative session.
In Whatcom County, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services (DVSAS) receives 60% to 70% of its funding from VOCA funds, said Marjie George, the development director at DVSAS.
While George said the supplemental funds the state has passed over the past few years have been great to stabilize funding, providers still face budget questions in the fall.
“We go into this like ‘Oh, God, are we going to have to make hard decisions next spring when we find out if supplemental funds have been passed, or are we going to be able to provide services to our communities in the way that we have been,’” she said. “It can be scary, it can be worrisome.”
DVSAS and Lummi Victims of Crime provide shelter services for people leaving domestic violence situations. Those shelters and the 24-hour helpline are funded in part through state VOCA funding.
Rosalee Revey-Jacobs, a Lummi Indian Business Council member who assists with LVOC, said the tribe is experiencing a “perfect storm” because of rising volumes of domestic violence and mental health cases post-pandemic and recovering revenues from the casino.
While there’s been no reductions in services as LVOC, “this next year, 2025, we’re expecting to have a lot of different conversations about our budget,” she said. “Here at Lummi, 85% of our budgets are from federal funding.”
LVOC also receives funding from the state. About 10.5% of VOCA state plan funds go to tribes across Washington.
During a Washington State Senate Law and Justice Committee hearing on Sept. 19, lawmakers learned about how Maryland had established a fluctuating amount of state dollars to backfill VOCA shortfalls so victims programs remain funded. It’s one solution Washington lawmakers could bring ahead of the 2025 Legislative session.
But without a funding solution, rural and tribal communities could be at risk without stable VOCA funding. Nan Stoops, an advocate at the Washington Coalition Against Domestic Violence, told senators during the hearing that she would anticipate a wave of shelter and survivor program closures in 2026.
Brigid Collins could have up to $230,000 cut from their services. That means children and their families could be waiting longer for therapy and case management services.
LVOC could lose 17 out of 20 employees, Revey-Jacobs said.
“I get frustrated because I feel like the most vulnerable population is affected first and I feel very protective,” she said. “I want my community members that are at their worst to receive the services they need.”
But service providers remain committed to supporting survivors of domestic and sexual violence, even with the an uncertain funding future.
“As long as intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and sexual exploitation persist in our community, we will continue to dedicate ourselves to supporting survivors through safe, well-staffed and multifaceted programs,” said Devin Connolly, the interim executive director of DVSAS.
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.
