Governor’s May Revision Fails to Fund Critical Services Needed to End Cycles of Violence

Survivors, Advocates & Preventionists Call for the Legislature’s Leadership to Ensure Comprehensive Approach to Addressing Sexual Violence and Domestic Violence in Final Budget

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 16, 2022

Press Contact:

• Megan Tanahashi: megan@cpedv.org | (916) 800-4856

SACRAMENTO —The California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, VALOR, the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, and the Culturally Responsive Domestic Violence Network are alarmed that Governor Gavin Newsom failed to include funding for sexual and domestic violence prevention in his May Budget Revision. Domestic and sexual violence are not inevitable and can be prevented with long-term initiatives that educate and equip Californians to change unacceptable social norms and systems that perpetuate violence. Prevention programs establish new belief systems and behaviors that promote emotional healing and mental well-being. Without ongoing funding to galvanize communities to offer healthy and safe alternatives, cycles of violence will persist throughout the state. In their final budget decisions, we call on the Governor and the California legislature to allocate $15 million in ongoing funding for prevention programs as well as an additional $25.5 million for under-resourced and over-represented communities to support culturally specific responses, innovations, and holistic approaches to end violence for future generations.

With a new study finding that over one million Californians have committed physical and/or sexual violence against an intimate partner within the last year, the need to provide ongoing funding for prevention efforts is clear. Prevention efforts are effective. One evidence-based example, Coaching Boys into Men, provides guidance to young male-identifying athletes around healthy and respectful relationships, as well as disrupting dating violence, sexual assault, and harassment. Programs like these give youth and communities the tools they need to make decisions that don’t result in violent, abusive, controlling behavior. We call on the Governor and legislature to make these investments and include violence prevention funding in the final state budget. 

With a tremendous amount of growth this year to the number of prevention initiatives–55 across the state working with marginalized people of all ages–existing funding has fueled progress in creating stronger and healthier communities. Californians need these programs to not only remain stable, but grow. Ongoing funding is required to keep up their momentum. 

There are detrimental consequences to limiting funding. When this occurred in 2020, layoffs throughout the state halted the progress of community engagement and created uncertainty in programs’ futures. Programs that had built partnerships with marginalized communities, like transitional and queer youth, stalled without sustainable funding, leaving vulnerable folks even more vulnerable. The legislature still has an opportunity to prevent these gaps from occurring again in two years if they commit to investing in ongoing violence prevention efforts. Limiting funding produces limited results—if we want lasting change, continuous funding is critical to ending violence in California.

The California budget should be a demonstration of our values and this budget does not reflect our desire for safe relationships, homes, streets, schools and workplaces. California has the chance to be a leader in violence prevention with a commitment to ongoing prevention funding. If healthy relationship and consent skills are built into the fabric of Californians’ lives, we could avoid the immeasurable impacts to survivors and the safety net: sexual violence costs the State of California $140 billion annually and the lifetime economic burden of domestic violence in California is nearly $400 billion.

By committing funds every year, starting with $15 million in ongoing prevention more communities across the state could deepen their efforts to stop domestic and sexual violence before adulthood. Over 100 organizations throughout California support this critical request to prevent sexual and domestic violence. There is no excuse for California’s budget to exclude this funding, particularly while the state touts an unprecedented surplus in revenue. 

This budget request is a part of a broader budget request package supported by more than 35 organizations. Our proposal calls for ensuring that California takes a comprehensive approach to ending domestic and sexual violence by funding community-based prevention programs, innovative interventions that address harm at the early stages of violence, culturally rooted responses, and holistic support services for individuals and families. In these final weeks of the budget process, it is imperative that the Governor come together with the legislature to adopt a comprehensive approach to ending cycles of violence by including all elements in the final budget.

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About VALOR: 

ValorUS (VALOR) is a national organization committed to advancing equity and ending sexual violence, and advocates on behalf of California’s safety net for survivors. Since 1980 VALOR is California’s recognized sexual assault coalition. For more information, visit valor.us.

About the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence:

The California Partnership to End Domestic Violence (the Partnership) is California’s recognized domestic violence coalition, representing over 1,000 survivors, advocates, organizations and allied individuals across the state. Working at the local, state, and national levels for nearly 40 years, the Partnership has a long track record of successfully passing over 200 pieces of legislation on behalf of domestic violence victims and their children. The Partnership believes that by collectively working with our diverse membership, advocates, and state policy makers, we can deepen the process of healing and restoration by identifying and addressing the underlying and contributing factors. It is through our shared expertise in creating system-wide change by way of our public policy, prevention, communications, and capacity building programs that we are able to support and invest in survivors and families and endeavor to end domestic violence. Every day we inspire, inform and connect all those concerned with this issue, because we believe that together, we’re stronger. With offices in Sacramento, the Partnership’s member programs span the entire state. For more information, visit cpedv.org.

About the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color:

The Alliance for Boys and Men of Color is a national network of hundreds of community and advocacy organizations who come together to advance race and gender justice by transforming policies that are failing boys and men of color and their families and building communities full of opportunity.

About the Culturally Responsive Domestic Violence Network:

The Culturally Responsive Domestic Violence Network (CRDVN) is a coalition of nearly 20 organizations across California that supports Black, Indigenous, immigrant, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, LGBTQ+ and other culturally marginalized survivors helping them meet their needs for safety, health, and well-being. CRDVN is working to transform the DV system of care so that it works for all communities. Violence prevention and creating economic pathways for DV survivors are essential approaches for CRDVN. The CDC has found that even a small increase in family income is linked to a decrease in family violence so CRDVN holds economic security as a universal basic need and fundamental to supporting survivors, in all cultural contexts. The network advocates for more responsive job training programs, investments in social enterprise, and financial coaching that engages and empowers DV survivors.