By Forum Staff
The office of Queens Borough President Donovan Richards has been awarded a $1 million grant from the federal Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women to improve criminal justice responses to domestic- and gender-based violence in The World’s Borough.
This is the second time that Richards’ office has been selected for the Improving Criminal Justice Response grant from a large pool of applicants and after a competitive solicitation process. With this grant, Richards noted, the office will be partnering with non-profit organizations Barrier Free Living and Safe Horizon, as well as the Queens District Attorney’s Office, to create programming that will address our criminal justice system’s response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking and more.
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DA Katz said the grant “will save lives.”
Such programming is already underway, as Barrier Free Living hosted a training for criminal justice system professionals last week at Queens Borough Hall on addressing the needs of individuals with disabilities who have been impacted by domestic violence.
Richards will also host a Stalking Prevention and Intervention Training in January to mark Stalking Awareness Month.
“The goal is not only to have better outcomes for our survivors, but also to give our first responders the resources they need to address these cases as best they can,” Richards said. “We can only do that by working together.”
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz added, “No one should live in fear, and no one should suffer the trauma of intimate partner violence. This $1 million Department of Justice grant will save lives and help us respond to the needs of survivors.”
