HHS Announces $200 Million in American Rescue Plan Funding Awarded to Support Domestic Violence Survivors and their Children

May 24, 2021

The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services through the Family and Youth Services Bureau at the Administration for Children, Youth and Families awarded $200 million to support the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) Program grantees. Funded through the American Rescue Plan (ARP), these programs make immediate crisis intervention and safety planning services available to victims of domestic violence nationwide; reduce the prevalence of domestic violence in geographically isolated Alaskan Native villages; and promote resiliency and healing for children exposed to domestic violence. This funding will provide 296 supplemental grant awards that will reach states/territories, tribes, state domestic violence coalitions, national resource centers, Specialized Services for Abused Parents and Children grantees, and national hotlines.

“The rise in domestic violence incidents during the COVID-19 public health emergency is a crisis within the pandemic, that’s why President Biden is investing in the network that supports survivors and families. The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act Program is the only dedicated federal funding stream for shelters and supportive services for victims of domestic violence and their children,” stated JooYeun Chang, ACF Acting Assistant Secretary. “Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, we are providing critical support to supplement existing programs that provide shelter and supportive services for survivors of domestic violence and their children.”

All ARP supplemental grant awards provide states, tribes, and local domestic violence programs with flexibility in how they use the funding to provide shelter, temporary housing, and supportive services including counseling, mobile advocacy, telehealth, teletherapy, peer support, rental assistance and nominal relocation expenses, supplies, equipment, and software to assist in carrying out remote services for domestic violence survivors and their children.

Since 1984, the FVPSA Program has been an integral part of our nation’s public health response to domestic violence by providing funding, oversight, training, technical assistance, and guidance to emergency shelters, crisis hotlines, prevention programs, specialized resource centers, and a wide-range of federal, state, local and tribal partners across the United States. By addressing domestic violence as a public health epidemic, FVPSA’s reach is broad and changes lives. Each year, FVPSA-funded state and tribal programs serve more than 1.3 million victims and their dependents and respond to 2.7 million crisis calls; with these supplemental funds, FVPSA grant programs will be able to provide critical supports to even more families all across the country.

Get more information on the ARP-FVPSA funding and the FVPSA program.

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Quotes

“The rise in domestic violence incidents during the COVID-19 public health emergency is a crisis within the pandemic, that’s why President Biden is investing in the network that supports survivors and families. The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act Program is the only dedicated federal funding stream for shelters and supportive services for victims of domestic violence and their children.”
— JooYeun Chang, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families
“Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, we are providing critical support to supplement existing programs that provide shelter and supportive services for survivors of domestic violence and their children.”
— JooYeun Chang, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families

Contact

Administration for Children & Families
Office of Communications
330 C Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201

Phone: (202) 401-9215
Fax: (202) 205-9688
Email: media@acf.hhs.gov

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