ABA responds to DOJ cuts to grants supporting domestic violence, sexual assault survivors
For nearly 30 years, the ABA Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence has received federal funding to train and offer technical assistance to lawyers who support survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.
That changed abruptly on April 10, when Maricarmen Garza received an email from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women. It administers the grant programs that are authorized by the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 and later legislation.
“It was a short two-page email listing all of our grants and informing us that, effective immediately, all grants were terminated because DOJ had determined they no longer effectuate agency priorities,” says Garza, the chief counsel of the commission. “There was no explanation for that determination.”
At the time, the Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence had five active grants with the Office on Violence Against Women, Garza says. None of the grants were scheduled to end until later in the year, at the earliest; two were just about to start.
“Up until that morning and the day before, we were communicating with [the Office on Violence Against Women] about future trainings,” Garza says. “We had no notice that anything had occurred that would cause the cessation of our funds. It really was out of nowhere.”
One of the grants funded the commission’s Civil Litigation Skills Project, a long-running initiative that has offered webinars and interactive workshops as well as one-on-one technical assistance to attorneys who handle cases for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking since the 1990s, Garza says.
Other grants funded its Trauma-Informed Representation Project, which provides attorneys strategies for trauma-informed representation and organizations tools for building trauma-informed workplaces; and its LGBTQI+ Legal Access Project and LGBTQIA2S+ Training for Coalitions Project, which helps address domestic and sexual violence in LGBTQ+ communities.
The commission also received funding to support the Office on Violence Against Women’s Expanding Legal Services Initiative, which aims to create legal programs for survivors of domestic and sexual violence at organizations that currently do not offer legal representation. Garza and her staff had just begun to meet with the newest cohort, which includes organizations in Georgia, Montana and Puerto Rico.
Garza knows firsthand how important the commission’s work is to attorneys who represent survivors. Earlier in her career, she attended its trainings as an attorney with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid.
“It was a very valuable experience I used with my clients in my legal aid practice for many years,” Garza says. “So to think that these grants that were such a lifeline to me and my practice are no longer available is just a travesty. It’s a real loss.”
Tracey Lyall, the CEO of Domestic Violence Intervention Services in Tulsa, Oklahoma, says her staff attorneys and pro bono attorneys who handle cases for her organization both benefit from the commission’s training and technical assistance. Without these services, she says they will be less equipped to serve survivors “who are trying to achieve safety.”
“This, in turn, impacts the severity and recurrence of violence and ultimately, the safety and healing of families in our community,” Lyall adds.
On Wednesday, the ABA filed a federal lawsuit challenging the DOJ’s termination of its grants. The complaint is available here.
The DOJ did not return the ABA Journal’s request for comment.
Moving forward, the Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence needs the legal profession’s support to continue its mission of increasing access to justice for survivors, Garza says.
“This work is too important, and it needs to continue,” Garza says. “Every day across the United States, attorneys are going into court representing survivors in often life and death situations, and they need to have the training and support to be able to do that.”
Donations can be accepted at ambar.org/DonateCDSV.
See also:
Supporting Survivors: ABA and its members have shaped the Violence Against Women Act for 30 years
Justice for Survivors: ABA Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence marks 30 years of advocacy
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