Action alert: Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA)

It is time for the Senate to pass FVPSA! The House passed a bill to reauthorize FVPSA last October. Now is the time to contact your Member of Congress and let them know you support FVPSA Reauthorization (H.R. 2119) and want them to support it too. If passed, this bill will increase the appropriations level to $253 million from $175 million. H.R. 2119 will also:

• Make a robust investment in prevention by expanding prevention efforts to all states versus the one small program, DELTA, under the current version which only goes to 10 states (about $6 million total for the program)
• Make needed changes to address Indian Tribes, including increased funding and making sure tribal coalitions receive funds just like state DV coalitions do
• Codify the Alaska Native Resource Center so it no longer is funded from discretionary funds
• Fund an underserved grant program for populations that don’t feel comfortable going to mainstream organizations like elders, younger adults, and LGBTQ people
• Fund a grant program that increases the capacity of culturally specific community-based organizations to expand access to safety for survivors of color, as well as provisions that promote best practices

 Action Alert

It is critical to reauthorize FVPSA to better address the many shifts in the field and better serve survivors.

Contact your Member of Congress TODAY and let them know you would like for them to vote yes on H.R. 2119:

• Tweet your House of Representatives Member: “.@Representative please support H.R. 2119 which will reauthorize FVPSA. This bill will help many Latin@ survivors of domestic and sexual violence. As your constituent, I appreciate your support.”
• Tag your representative on social media using these Twitter handles
• You can also email them through their Congress.gov webpage. Here is some sample language:

Greetings! Saludos!

My name is [your name and, if applicable, your organization], and I am a constituent writing to you from [your location] to urge you to support H.R. 2119, the Family Violence Prevention and Services Improvement Act of 2021. FVPSA helps survivors access life-saving services by providing funding for emergency shelters, crisis counseling, safety planning, assistance recovering from financial abuse, and help addressing housing insecurity. FVPSA also provides funds to state/territory domestic violence coalitions, a program dedicated to addressing the needs of children of domestic violence victims, and technical assistance and training programs like national resource centers. Please vote yes on H.R. 2119 to support domestic and sexual violence survivors.

Thank you,

[Your name]

Additional Information on FVPSA

The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) supports life-saving services throughout the country through grants to states, tribal governments and territories, as well as to the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, FVPSA is the only federal funding source dedicated to providing support to domestic violence shelters and programs.

FVPSA provides core funding to support more than 1,500 local public, private, nonprofit, and faith-based organizations and programs and over 240 tribes and tribal organizations – helping to meet the urgent needs of more than 1.3 million domestic violence survivors and their children. FVPSA funding is flexible since, for example, it is not tied to the criminal legal system.

Through FVPSA, survivors receive services such as emergency shelter, crisis counseling, safety planning, assistance recovering from financial abuse, and help to address housing insecurity. These programs also provide education and prevention programming to millions of community members annually. Additionally, FVPSA provides funds to state/territory domestic violence coalitions, a program dedicated to addressing the needs of children of domestic violence victims, and technical assistance and training programs. FVPSA was first passed in 1984 and was most recently reauthorized in 2010. Its authorization expired in 2015. Learn more via the resource: Ending the Cycle: Examining Ways to Prevent Domestic Violence and Promote Healthy Communities, sponsored by the Civil Rights and Human Services Subcommittee.

Esperanza United and FVPSA

Esperanza United (formerly Casa de Esperanza) is a National Resource Center and in this capacity, we provide expert insight into the Domestic Violence Resource Network (DVRN). Under this funding, we draft policy papers, webinars, training manuals, and policy alerts on topics that are important to the field of domestic violence survivors and service providers such as: how to serve Latin@ immigrant survivors, how culturally specific organizations can find federal funding, and how to meet survivors’ language access rights. Learn more via the resource: Boletín on Accessing Federal Resources to Enhance Services for Survivors from Culturally Specific Communities.

If you have other policy questions please contact Yasmin Campos-Mendez, Public Policy Manager at: ycamposmendez@esperanzaunited.org.

About Esperanza United

Esperanza United’s mission is to mobilize Latinas and Latin@ communities to end domestic violence. With nearly forty years of success, Esperanza United leverages the strengths of Latin@ communities to end gender-based violence. Founded and led by Latinas, we ground our work in listening to the community adapting to meet their changing needs. We work with the community, other service providers, and systems to ensure Latinas, their families, and our communities receive culturally relevant advocacy and quality, appropriate, and effective resources