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| New
Mexico Grants | State by State VAWA Funding
|ACF
Domestic Violence Fact Sheet | HHS
Domestic Violence Fact Sheet |
| Dept.
of Justice Violence Against Women Office |
President Clinton Announces New Mexico Domestic Violence
Grants and
Urges Congress to Pass Violence Against Women Legislation
Today, President Clinton will call on Congress to reauthorize the Violence
Against Women Act and will announce the final Department of Justice
(DOJ) Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) grants for New Mexico at the
Chavez Community Center in Santa Fe. This funding of $1.7 million is
part of this fiscal year’s $173 million in Justice VAWA grants,
bringing nationwide VAWA funding to a total of over $1.6 billion. These
grants help to make our streets, schools, and homes safe for all women
and children. The grants announced today will: strengthen tribal law
enforcement and prosecution efforts to combat violence against Native
women; help develop coordinated responses to domestic violence and child
abuse in rural areas; encourage state, local, and tribal governments
to treat domestic violence as a serious violation of criminal law; and
strengthen civil legal assistance programs. The President will urge
Congress to act expeditiously to reauthorize VAWA, set to expire on
September 30, so that the nearly 900,000 women who experience violence
at the hands of an intimate partner every year will have a fighting
chance to live lives free from violence.
VAWA’S SUCCESS IN COMBATING
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. Over the last seven years, the Clinton Administration
has led an historic effort to reduce crime in our nation’s communities
and, in particular, to recognize and respond to the problem of violence
against women. In 1994, with the President’s strong support, Congress
passed the landmark Violence Against Women Act, as part of the Administration’s
crime bill, which established new Federal criminal provisions and key
grant programs to improve the criminal justice system’s response
to domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, and to direct critical
services to victims. VAWA programs are making a difference across the
country. A recent report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that
domestic violence has declined since 1993. The number of women experiencing
violence at the hands of an intimate partner declined 21 percent from
1993 to 1998, and in 1996, 1997, and 1998, intimate partners committed
fewer murders than in any year since 1976. DOJ and the Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) have awarded over $1.6 billion in Federal
grants to support the work of prosecutors, law enforcement officials,
the courts, victim advocates, health care and social service professionals,
and intervention and prevention programs. In addition, the Act established
the Domestic Violence Hotline, which has received over 500,000 calls.
VAWA MUST BE REAUTHORIZED. Although
tremendous strides have been made, domestic violence still devastates
the lives of many women and children. Nearly one-third of women murdered
each year are killed by their intimate partners and violence by intimates
accounts for over 20 percent of all violent crimes against women. If
Congress fails to reauthorize VAWA, many critical programs may be jeopardized.
Reauthorization legislation, which has broad bipartisan support, will
help to: maintain existing programs; expand the investigation and prosecution
of crimes of violence against women; provide greater numbers of victims
with assistance; maintain and expand the domestic violence hotline,
shelter, rape prevention and education programs; and support effective
partnerships between law enforcement, victim advocates and communities.
VAWA GRANTS IN NEW MEXICO. Today,
the President will announce approximately $1.7 million in VAWA funding
for New Mexico that will be used to combat domestic violence. Here is
how some of the grantees -- a legal services center, tribes, and a battered
women's shelter -- will use this funding:
- El Refugio, Inc., a legal services
center, which partners with a local domestic violence program, will
provide training for law enforcement and judicial staff on domestic
violence issues and legal representation to victims of domestic violence
in restraining order and divorce cases.Previous civil legal assistance
funding has enabled the center to provide legal representation and
advocacy for victims of domestic violence who desperately need legal
assistance.
- The Eight Northern Indian Pueblos
Council, Inc., provides services to the Pueblos of Tesuque, Pojoaque,
Santa Clara, San Ildelfonso, Picuris, Nambe, San Juan, and Taos. VAWA
funds have enabled the Council to support legal services for victims,
train tribal law enforcement, and provide direct victim services to
the eight northern Pueblo communities. The Council will use this new
grant to maintain and improve collaboration among social services,
tribal police departments, tribal prosecutors, tribal courts, and
the PeaceKeepers Domestic Violence Program.
- Morning Star House is a community-based
advocacy program for women and children in Albuquerque. VAWA funding
previously supported community outreach, interagency collaboration,
services for women and children, and legal advocacy. Continuation
funding will identify a network of safe houses for Indian women and
children and develop a plan for a permanent shelter that is culturally
appropriate for Indian women and children.
- With this new grant, Taos Pueblo
will continue to work collaboratively with the Eight Northern Indian
Pueblos Council, the New Mexico/Colorado Tribal Judges Association
and the Southwest Intertribal Court of Appeals to implement its Family
Protection Code. The Tribal Court and victim advocate have used previous
funding to coordinate training for court staff and to encourage the
implementation of mandatory arrest policies in the tribal police department.
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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials
are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.
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The page was last updated:
October 22, 2003
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