{"id":72982,"date":"2025-05-22T13:34:31","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T20:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=72982"},"modified":"2025-05-22T13:34:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T20:34:31","slug":"over-200-ralliers-demand-newsom-fund-domestic-violence-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=72982","title":{"rendered":"Over 200 Ralliers Demand Newsom Fund Domestic Violence Victims"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Viji Sundaram<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Over 200 participants rallied at the state Capitol May 20 to demand funding for domestic violence support.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Over 200 ralliers across some 20 women\u2019s advocacy groups rallied at the state Capitol on Tuesday, May 20 asking the legislature for $250 million in one-time funding in the 2025-26 budget. (Photo: Viji Sundaram)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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SACRAMENTO \u2014 \u201cI am a survivor of sexual and domestic violence. I was held hostage, beaten, raped, tortured and shot,\u201d wrote Elvira Herrera of Southern California.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf rape crisis centers didn\u2019t exist, I would never have been able to tell my story. The staff at the rape crisis center lifted me from the ground where I was left to die,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

Herrera\u2019s statement was included in a Tuesday, May 20 letter from women\u2019s advocacy groups statewide urging key legislators to shore up the major gap created by cuts in federal funding for support services to survivors of domestic violence and rape like Herrera.<\/p>\n

The groups, who rallied on the western steps of the state Capitol that day, had hoped that Governor Newsom\u2019s May 14 budget\u00a0revision<\/a>\u00a0would close the gap.<\/p>\n

It did not. There was nothing in the budget allocated for domestic violence services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese programs are so essential,\u201d said Krista Colon, public policy director at the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, one of the organizers of the rally held to voice concern for the budget cuts.<\/p>\n

The over 200 participants across approximately 20 women\u2019s advocacy groups asked the legislature for $250 million in one-time funding in the 2025-26 budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of public safety,\u201d Colon said.<\/p>\n

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Sen. Susan Rubio speaks at the rally. To her right is Krista Colon and to her left is Sandra Henriquez, CEO of Valor, one of four co-sponsors of Rubio\u2019s bill SB 841. (Photo: Becky Wolf)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

California receives funding through the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA<\/a>) to provide essential services to survivors of crime, including survivors of domestic and sexual violence.<\/p>\n

These funds help provide survivors with critical services like emergency shelter, counseling and financial assistance.<\/p>\n

Over 800,000 survivors in California alone benefit from VOCA dollars.<\/p>\n

Dwindling federal support for crime victims has been a source of concern for service providers in recent years. Without funded services, many survivors end up homeless.<\/p>\n

In 2024, domestic violence support groups successfully pushed the state to meet a $200 million shortfall in the previous fiscal year\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are not alone,\u201d Senator Susan Rubio, a Democrat from Baldwin Park, told participants at the rally.<\/p>\n

She added that the trauma that survivors of domestic violence endure doesn\u2019t \u201cjust go away. They need service providers to hold their hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sen. Susan Rubio at the rally. (Photo: Viji Sundaram)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A longtime legislative bill author for domestic violence programs, and a survivor herself, Rubio lifted participants\u2019 spirits when she told them that\u00a0SB 841<\/a>, a bill she had introduced two months prior, had made it to the Senate Appropriations Committee with bipartisan support.<\/p>\n

Her bill would prohibit employees of homeless shelters, rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters and human trafficking shelters from allowing federal officials to access non-public areas of those facilities, except as required by state or federal law for immigration enforcement activity.<\/p>\n

If passed, \u201cimmigration enforcement who show up at those facilities will have to have a valid ID and judicial warrant\u201d before they are allowed in, said Grace Glaser, senior public affairs and policy manager at the nationwide sexual violence prevention coalition Valor, one of four co-sponsors of Rubio\u2019s bill.<\/p>\n

Glaser said there were two incidents in the past week where ICE officials were able to gain access to two domestic violence shelters in California.<\/p>\n

Timely intervention by immigration attorneys kept any arrests from happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when we are seeing the federal administration attack immigrant communities, we want to ensure that all survivors \u2014 documented and undocumented \u2014 are able to access healing and supportive services,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Others who spoke at the rally included Assemblymember Blanca Rubio, a Democrat representing Baldwin Park who chairs the Assembly Select Committee on Domestic Violence; Assemblymember Pilar Shiavo, a Democrat representing the San Fernando Valley; and Sandra Henriquez, Valor\u2019s chief executive officer.<\/p>\n

Henriquez reminded the participants that, faced with a funding shortfall last year, domestic violence advocates were able to convince state lawmakers to cough up their $200 million ask.<\/p>\n

After the rally, many participants went to the offices of key lawmakers to request support for their funding request.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ByViji Sundaram May 22, 2025 Over...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72983,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72982\/revisions\/72983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}