The DOJ Just Cut VOCA Funding — What It Means for Survivors and Communities
The DOJ Just Cut VOCA Funding — What It Means for Survivors and Communities
In April 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice abruptly canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in VOCA (Victims of Crime Act) funding—lifelines that survivors of violence, grieving families, and community organizations have relied on for years.
As someone whose organization has received VOCA support for the past three years, I know firsthand what’s at stake.
This isn’t just about grants.
This is about survival.
VOCA Funding Was a Lifeline for Families
For the last three years, my organization has partnered with federal funding under VOCA to serve families devastated by gun violence—especially families who have lost loved ones to homicide.
VOCA funding allowed us to meet immediate needs:
Emergency crisis response
Therapy referrals and trauma counseling
Burial assistance
Healing-centered workshops
Stabilization services to help survivors rebuild after loss
It allowed survivors to breathe again after tragedy tried to suffocate them.
It gave them a hand to hold when systems failed.
Hope at the Table: Our Visit to the DOJ
In August 2024, I traveled to Washington, D.C., with the University of Chicago’s Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academy (CVILA) Cohort 2.
We gathered inside the Department of Justice, sitting across the table from DOJ leadership, discussing how to strengthen collaborations, eliminate barriers, and build sustainable support for violence prevention and survivor services.
There was hope in that room.
There was accountability.
There was vision.
The conversations we had were meaningful. We dreamed of a system that worked better for the communities we serve.
And yet, less than a year later, the very support we were working to strengthen has been pulled away.
How It Feels: The Weight of the Loss
It feels like a toy snatched from a child’s hand.
Like candy ripped away.
Abrupt. Cruel. Unnecessary.
This decision isn’t just administrative—it is human.
It is survivors without shelter.
It is families without counseling.
It is trauma left to fester in silence instead of being treated with care.
When lifelines are cut, it is not organizations that suffer first.
It is the people.
Where Survivors Truly Stand: Reframing Maslow’s Hierarchy
When I think about the families we serve, I think about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs—but I reorder it based on reality.
For survivors of violence:
Safety must come first.
Physiological needs follow second.
Because no one cares about where they sleep or what they eat if they don’t even feel safe staying alive.
Through VOCA funding, we helped families:
Regain safety through emergency relocation and crisis services
Meet basic needs like housing, food, and funeral support
Find belonging and connection through healing communities
Start climbing toward self-actualization—the rediscovery of hope, purpose, and healing
But none of that can happen if we remove the base of the pyramid.
A Flawed Funding Model: Why Are We Competing to Save Lives?
Even before these cuts, the system was broken.
For years, community organizations like mine have been forced to compete through complex RFPs for funding that should be guaranteed in a public health crisis.
We don’t compete for relief after hurricanes.
We don’t compete for aid during wildfires.
So why are we competing for resources when it’s our children, our mothers, and our neighbors bleeding in the streets?
Gun violence is a public health emergency.
And emergencies require bold, sustained, and aggressive investment.
A Clear Lesson from COVID-19
During COVID-19, we witnessed what happens when the government treats a crisis seriously:
Aggressive funding
Rapid mobilization
No-hesitation resource distribution
Sustained support until the numbers shifted
Gun violence deserves the same level of urgency, investment, and national commitment.
Until then, we are treating survivors like they are optional.
And they are not.
Where We Go From Here
The DOJ’s decision makes one thing clear:
We cannot solely rely on government grants to save lives.
We need:
Diversified, sustainable funding sources—private philanthropy, foundations, corporate social responsibility programs, individual donors.
Public advocacy campaigns that demand survivor services be prioritized—not bureaucratized.
Bold leadership that treats violence prevention and victim services as the essential pillars of public health that they are.
Because the truth is simple:
Our communities cannot survive these cuts.
And they shouldn't have to.
Closing Reflection: They Can Cut Grants, But They Can’t Cut Our Healing
They can cancel funding.
They can shut down programs.
They can pull resources from spreadsheets and budgets.
But they cannot cancel the love, resilience, and leadership rooted in our communities.
We are still here.
We are still fighting.
We are still healing.
And we will continue to fight for survivors—until public health includes everyone, not just the privileged.
