Yvette Smith (left, center) places a rose in a vase while Cynthia Brown (right), the Benedict Center’s community justice director at the time, looks on. Smith said the Benedict Center’s assistance had been important to her personal life. The event was held in 2017 to commemorate the opening of the Center’s Sisters Program’s South Side location. (Photo provided by Journal Sentinel / Michael Sears, photographer).
By Devin Blake
This story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, where you can find other stories reporting on fifteen city neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Visit milwaukeenns.org.
Editor’s note: The Wisconsin Senate on Tuesday, March 12 — after this story was published — unanimously approved Assembly Bill 940, sending it to Gov. Tony Evers.
Nonprofit leaders and other advocates are urging people to contact their legislators to express support for a bill that addresses a substantial drop in federal funding for programs that serve crime victims.
The federal funding comes from the Crime Victims Fund created by the Victim of Crimes Act of 1984, also known as VOCA.
The grant money goes to Wisconsin agencies that provide direct services to adults and children who are the victims of a range of crimes, including domestic abuse, sexual assault, hate crimes, kidnapping and human trafficking.
In 2023, Wisconsin agencies, including those in Milwaukee, were awarded roughly $23 million from the grant, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
The department estimates that in 2024 this funding will decrease by roughly 40%.
The clock is ticking
The Legislature will decide this week whether to take action.
If state legislation is not passed to make up for this loss, advocates fear that the services agencies provide will be seriously hampered.
But the clock is ticking.
The Wisconsin Senate adjourns for the year on Thursday, March 14, and the bill must be passed there before going to the governor.
“We depend on this funding in a lot of ways,” said Jeanne Geraci, executive director of Benedict Center, a Milwaukee organization that receives VOCA funding for its Sisters Program.
The Sisters Program provides advocacy and support for women in the street-based sex trade – women who experience high levels of gender-based violence, sexual and physical assault and sex trafficking, Geraci said.
From October 2022 to September 2023, the Sisters Program provided street outreach to 633 women; served 336 women through its two drop-in centers; provided sexual assault advocacy; and offered case management services to 150 women.
VOCA funding provides a large portion of the support and resources for all this work, Geraci said.
Pathfinders Milwaukee, another Milwaukee-based agency, uses VOCA funding as well, but for children and youths, including those at risk of trafficking and sexual exploitation and for survivors of sexual abuse or sexual assault.
Pathfinders has used VOCA funding for such purposes for more than a decade, said Tim Baack, president and CEO of Pathfinders.
Linda Telfered (standing), staff member forthe Benedict Center Sisters Program, assists a client with laundry, one of several services offered at the drop-in center for women who participate in the street-based sex trade. The drop-in center, located at 1609 W. North Ave., is one of two run by the Benedict Center. (Photo by Devin Blake)
A steady decline
In 2018, Wisconsin agencies were awarded more than $58 million in VOCA funding, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
But in 2023, that amount declined to roughly $23 million.
Now, the amount is expected to decrease even further to $13 million.
Such a decrease would be a serious loss to Pathfinders as well as to other VOCA-funded agencies in the community, Baack said.
“If we are not able to replace those lost funds with other sources of revenue, we and other organizations we refer youth to will see a pretty dramatic decline in the number of young people we can serve within our anti-trafficking and exploitation work,” he said.
Bipartisan efforts underway
Wisconsin lawmakers are working to pass legislation to replenish some of this lost VOCA funding.
“We realized that the federal government was not going to reauthorize this funding, and we started working with service providers across Wisconsin to see what we could do to address this,” said Wisconsin state Sen. Melissa Agard, D-Madison, one of the sponsors of the Senate’s bill designed to address losses in VOCA funding.
Agard said she and her colleagues have “an opportunity to hit a home run and get this right.”
On Feb. 22, lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 940, which would add $10 million in funding over the current biennium.
Agard hopes the legislation will receive widespread bipartisan support, noting that the bill’s co-sponsor is Sen. Jesse James, R-Altoona.
“Ultimately, it is it is very hard to talk about domestic violence and sexual violence … but we as policymakers need to take meaningful life-saving steps and actions to protect folks in Wisconsin who are victims and survivors,” Agard said.
For more information
Those who are interested in the issue can reach out to their senators.
Devin Blake is the criminal justice reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. His position is funded by the Public Welfare Foundation, which plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.