To the editor:

GaDuGi SafeCenter Inc. thanks House budget leaders for once again stepping up to the plate to address sexual and domestic violence in Kansas. Each year, more than 400 victims call our hotline or seek other services.

This year, GaDuGi SafeCenter, like others across Kansas, are facing federal budget cuts that will decimate many core services to victims of domestic and sexual violence in our community – services that are critical to protecting victims. Kansas will experience almost a

$1 million reduction in the federal Victims of Crime Act funding that provides domestic violence emergency shelter, hotline and sexual assault response services throughout the state.

The Kansas House Appropriations Committee is proposing a $500,000 budget item in the Omnibus Appropriations Budget to help stop the loss of the most critical services. We will have no choice but to cut 24-hour services if the House Appropriations proposal is not accepted. Although the proposal doesn’t cover the entire loss to Kansas, it will help to prevent the most devastating service reductions and make sure victims can still access shelter and emergency response to victims of sexual violence.

GaDuGi SafeCenter joins the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence in thanking representative Barbara Ballard for her leadership in protecting victims in our communities.

Lisa Koch, president GaDuGi SafeCenter Inc.,
Lawrence