Governor Expedites Release Of Domestic Violence Prevention Funds

Domestic violence advocates say they’re glad Gov. Mike Pence is expediting the release of domestic violence prevention funds that were held back during the last fiscal year, but advocates are still critical of the process.

The Indiana Criminal Justice Institute – the agency responsible for distributing domestic violence prevention funds – approved the release of $1.9 million last week to 43 programs around the state. The Institute held back more than a million dollars, asking the programs to submit spending plans that would justify distribution of the additional money.  On top of that, the government identified $344,000 dollars that was mistakenly sent back to the state’s General Fund last fiscal year. 

Domestic violence prevention advocates criticized CJI  for holding back funding and making programs jump through unnecessary hoops. The governor is now speeding up the timeline for release of the additional, and mistakenly reverted, dollars.  Coalition Against Domestic Violence executive director Laura Berry says the funding is critical to keep programs running.

“So yes, it’s a victory in the sense that it’s going to get to them quicker," she said. "They’re not going to wait six months to 12 months to get the resources that should have been distributed to them last week.”

Berry says the programs still have to submit spending plans to CJI, but that will be done in the next week, with the funding released shortly after that.