CA Governor Schwarzenegger Eliminating State Funding for DV Programs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Rita Smith
Executive Director
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV)
1120 Lincoln St., Ste 1603
Denver, CO 80203
(303) 839-1852
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102655845389&s=16375&e=001DhXs8MR8stnaiEV_MRuviuSqbtc3Yl-vG8trQziN1ZKvY6wl26uRg50IvqGsoLToqUbW1_kNfHG5aeS8KeT4OV-fM_vCaBnxLvGT2LMEuOw=

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Admonishes
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
for Eliminating State Funding for Domestic Violence Programs

July 30, 2009, Denver, CO- California's governor, with the swoop of his pen, has cut the heart out of the state's vital programs and services helping women, children and families deal with domestic battery, assault and violence. His line-item veto of the state's $20 million anti-family violence program is an attempt to bail out California's budget deficit by targeting the programs whose users are the least likely to speak out and fight back because they are too busy struggling to save their lives, their children and their physical safety.

This is not a "furlough," this isn't even an IOU. This is a cruel act by a political "terminator." This veto will have to either be overridden by the state legislature or reinstated by them at a drastically reduced level in order to get the governor's support.

The real tragedy is that other states are also suffering budget shortfalls and are making cuts in human needs programs and services. If they don't see a national outcry about California's heartless disposal of programs that help almost 100 shelters and service providers, they will follow the leader and make their own cuts and terminations.

Shelters and anti-violence programs are NOT just places where people who have been battered come to "cool off." These shelters are domestic violence crisis centers where women, children and families are not only patched up but counseled and steered to agencies, programs and services that can help them heal and thrive. In many instances, with early identification of a problem, families can deal with the violence together and children witnessing violence can be counseled and nurtured.

Our nation is horrified by the rapes of refugee women in Darfur and the cruel abandonment of Katrina's survivors left standing on a bridge, and we should be equally outraged that the state of California is abandoning the tens of thousands of fragile and wounded women and children who rely for their safety and future on the services and referrals provided by the shelters and centers. We must work with California's political leadership to remedy this situation and also stand firm so that the governor's cutting tool doesn't continue a swath across our whole country.

Advocates for violence prevention from all over the country will be calling on California's governor to help reinstate funding for the programs and services. We send and spend our money in California, as tourists, consumers of California's products and parents of children going to California's colleges to name a few examples. He will hear from us at both his Sacramento (916-445- 2841) and Los Angeles (213-897-0322) offices.
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The mission of NCADV is to organize for collective power by advancing transformative work, thinking, and leadership of communities and individuals working to end the violence in our lives. NCADV believes violence against women and children results from force or threat to achieve and maintain control in intimate relationships as well as from societal abuse of power and domination via sexism, racism, homophobia, classism, anti-Semitism, able-bodyism, ageism, and other oppressions. NCADV recognizes that abuse of power in society can foster battering by perpetuating conditions that condone violence against women and children. To learn more about NCADV, please visit http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102655845389&s=16375&e=001DhXs8MR8stnaiEV_MRuviuSqbtc3Yl-vG8trQziN1ZKvY6wl26uRg50IvqGsoLToqUbW1_kNfHG5aeS8KeT4OV-fM_vCaBnxLvGT2LMEuOw=.


Take care and STAY SAFE!
Anny Jacoby
A Success Survivor
The Realistic Female Self-Defense Company
"Raising female awareness and skills to reduce susceptibility in response to violence."
www.annyjacoby.com
www.realisticfemaleselfdefense.com



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