ACTION ALERT: Contact Your Legislators
We ask for your urgent attention and that you act now and contact your legislators to ensure maximum impact, preferably between March 23rd and April 30th.
House Bill HF3398 and Senate Bill SF3447 aim to increase funding for crime victim services. This urgent need has not been addressed in the last 10 years. We are encouraging our community to support and raise awareness about these bills.
WHY:
The bills would add much-needed dollars to the Department of Public Safety’s Office of Justice Programs to issue grants for direct service organizations (including Alexandra House) serving victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, general crime, and child abuse. These dollars would be in addition to funding already provided for similar programs.
HOW DOES IT IMPACT ALEXANDRA HOUSE?
Alexandra House is critical in ensuring public health and safety, but the demand for our services far exceeds what we can manage. It costs us around $700 per individual to provide services to a victim/survivor, which is beyond our government funding streams. This cost includes operating our 24-hour emergency shelter, offering ongoing victim advocacy and support services to the survivor and their family, conducting community education, professional trainings, and outreach, and providing intervention and prevention services to high school students.
During committee hearings, several abuse survivors – both domestic and sexual violence – testified on behalf of the need for further funding to ensure that safe pathways are available for Minnesotans to escape and regain a sense of normalcy and safety. During emotional testimony, impassioned survivors urged lawmakers to increase the funding for programs they stated “…were lifesaving in a time of need.”
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
You can contact your legislators and senators by phone, mail, or email and urge them to increase funding for Crime Victims Services. If you’re unsure who your legislators or senators are, you can use a handy tool, Who Represents You, to find out. If you’re not sure what to say, you’re welcome to use the language provided below:
Support Language
Dear Representative
As your constituent (INSERT MAILING ADDRESS), I am counting on you to help make Minnesota safer. Minnesota is safer when domestic and sexual violence programs have the resources and funding they need to provide:
- Critical safety services that support victim/survivors and their children.
- Domestic Abuse Transformation Programming to change abusive behaviors and prevent future violence. Without Domestic Abuse Transformation Programming, there will always be another victim.
- Prevention programming and services to stop violence before it starts.
Minnesota is safer when elected officials like yourself understand the connection between relationship abuse and issues such as:
- Housing: No one should choose between living with violence and living without housing. We are safer when survivors have safe homes.
- Transportation: In communities of every size, a lack of transportation leaves victim/survivors isolated with another barrier to safety. We are safer when we all have access to reliable public transportation.
Please support HF 3398 to increase grant funding for victim services.
Dear Senator,
As your constituent (INSERT MAILING ADDRESS), I am counting on you to help make Minnesota safer. Minnesota is safer when domestic and sexual violence programs have the resources and funding they need to provide:
- Critical safety services that support victim/survivors and their children.
- Domestic Abuse Transformation Programming to change abusive behaviors and prevent future violence. Without Domestic Abuse Transformation Programming, there will always be another victim.
- Prevention programming and services to stop violence before it starts.
Minnesota is safer when elected officials like yourself understand the connection between relationship abuse and issues such as:
- Housing: No one should choose between living with violence and living without housing. We are safer when survivors have safe homes.
- Transportation: In communities of every size, a lack of transportation leaves victim/survivors isolated with another barrier to safety. We are safer when we all have access to reliable public transportation.
Please support SF 3447 to increase grant funding for victim services.
