Butler County’s VOICe warns stagnant funding threatens ability to offer sexual assault services
For the last five years, Pennsylvania’s rape crisis centers have operated without a funding increase, which Tracy Veri, executive director of Butler County’s VOICe, says is concerning.
“At this point, no increase is a decrease, because we can’t keep up with the cost of inflation,” Veri said. “It’s definitely been extremely difficult when it comes to the rape crisis side of things.”
While VOICe’s domestic violence programs saw a funding bump a few years ago, the sexual assault side of the work has largely been left behind for the organization that serves as a comprehensive victim services agency covering domestic violence, sexual assault and other violent crimes.
Veri said lawmakers often misunderstand how those streams of money are separated.
“Sometimes they lump us all into one category, and they don’t understand that just because the domestic violence side got an increase, that trickled down to other things,” she said. “Not all of that money has to go toward domestic violence.
“There’s just a lack of understanding about how these agencies work and what the funding streams support and don’t support.”
Butler County has managed to maintain its level of sexual assault services so far, but Veri acknowledged that the situation is fragile.
“We have been able to maintain the level of services that we need, however, if there’s an influx in need, we would have to start having some really big conversations about what this looks like for us and what we can provide,” she said.
Part of the strain comes from the 24/7 nature of the work. Advocates are on call at all hours to accompany sexual assault victims at the hospital or other designated locations across the areas in which they serve.
“That’s a big ask to have people, at three o’clock in the morning, drive an hour to be with a victim — and it’s hard to sustain without being able to compensate staff properly,” Veri said.
Across Pennsylvania, other centers already are feeling the crunch when it comes to hiring and retaining staff members.
“There are absolutely other centers who are at a hiring crisis,” Veri said. “They can’t find staff, which means they either ask current staff to go above and beyond or turn people away. That is a very real thing.”
The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape is seeking an $8 million increase to stabilize services statewide. But so far, that request has not been included in any recent appropriations bills.
“It’s extremely disheartening that there’s not an understanding about the importance of these services and the victims that need this care,” Veri added.
Another factor at play is that the Pennsylvania’s General Assembly still hasn’t passed a budget, leaving victim service agencies uncertain about baseline funding.
Complicating matters is that state funding is distributed on a reimbursement model, meaning agencies must front the money before being paid back months later.
During budget impasses, agencies rely on reserve funds and are sometimes advised to take out a line of credit to cover costs, which turns into debt that can’t be repaid with grant dollars.
“These situations just exacerbate an already problematic situation,” Veri said. “We’re always under a microscope on every penny that we spend, but we’re not afforded many options to survive.”
For now, staff at rape crisis centers can only watch as state legislators negotiate the budget, while hoping that eventually their concerns will be addressed, Veri said.
“We constantly monitor that individually and as a coalition,” Veri said. “It’s beyond disappointing that we’re not prioritized and we haven’t been for these services for many years.”
