ALBANY – Approximately $30 million in grant funding is now available to benefit programs across New York State that provide direct services, including counseling and crisis intervention, advocacy and legal assistance to crime victims.
That’s according to Governor Andrew Cuomo, who said New York was one of the first states in the country to provide compensation to crime victims.
The funds will allow community-based organizations across the state to offer New Yorkers the immediate and long-term assistance they need to fully recovery.
Crime victims’ assistance programs can apply for the funding through a competitive request for proposals that has been issued by the state’s Office of Victim Services (OVS), the agency that oversees crime victims’ compensation.
Eighty percent of the funding for those grants comes from the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Victim and Witness Assistance Grant Program, with the remainder from the state. No federal or state taxpayer dollars are used to fund the grants; funding comes from fines, fees and surcharges that are paid by certain offenders convicted in state or federal court.
The deadline for RFP applications is Monday, May 12. A complete list of the currently funded programs, searchable by county, can be found here: http://www.ovs.ny.gov/locateaprogram.html.
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