COLUMBUS – A new report indicates that funding for programs to combat domestic violence was cut just as the number of domestic violence-related deaths in Ohio saw a dramatic increase.
The annual report from the Ohio Domestic Violence Network says that 109 Ohioans died as the result of domestic violence in the year ending June 30th, a 35% increase from the year before and that domestic violence fatalities were 14% higher during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic than during the same months of 2019, Jo Simonsen, the group’s family systems advocacy director, said.
She says this comes as a primary source of funding for domestic-violence programs, the federal Crime Victims Fund, was cut by one-third statewide.
“While the need is still there and we’re actually seeing sort of increases in severity in some of the cases we’ve heard about most recently, the dollars have dropped off and that’s going to be significant for our program. We’re still encouraging victims or survivors to reach out to us,” Simonsen said.
State funding for domestic-violence programs in Ohio is $1 million a year, Simonsen said.
That is low, compared with some of Ohio’s neighboring states. Indiana spends $5 million, Kentucky spends $6.7 million and Pennsylvania spends nearly 16 million.
Simonsen says ODVN is calling for $5 million from the state to provide prevention services, victim advocacy support and permanent housing assistance.