GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Millions of dollars in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act will go towards supporting survivors of domestic violence in Kent County.
The award comes as domestic violence-related homicides are on track to double this year compared to last year.
The Domestic Violence Community Coordinated Response Team, or the DVCCRT, hopes to use the $4 million to create a domestic violence court in Kent County to address the need for a system that is created around supporting survivors.
"We know we're not alone in feeling that tension of just the severity of the problem, in our community," Safe Haven Ministries CEO Rachel VerWys says.
As the emergency shelter grapples with an increase of domestic violence related crisis calls, VerWys says the ARPA funding for the DVCCRT is a sign of hope.
"We saw this as an opportunity to say we could collectively look at both better service of victims, and accountability for perpetrators, by increasing the capacity of the network to coordinate with one another, and then together establishing a domestic violence specialized court in the county," she says.
VerWys says the specialty court in Kent County will help fill the gaps in the legal system that people encounter in domestic violence cases.
"There will be more training provided within the criminal justice system for specialized probation officers, for a prosecutor who is attentive to this, [for] a judge who holds space to hear these cases, and increase in victim advocacy and support along the way," she says.
The funding will also pay for positions that don't currently exist. Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker says the specialty court doesn't replace any parts of the legal process, but rather it funnels domestic violence cases so they can get special attention.
"That's part of the plan is to hopefully have more individuals to reach out and see what services that victim needs, every victims needs are different," he says. "It could be child support, could be housing, could be that they may have their own substance abuse issues."
The DVCCRT is getting funding for this over three years, but they hope this specialty court becomes a community staple to prevent more violence.
"It's one of those cases where you see it every day and they have the biggest potential to become very bad," Becker says. "It could be a minor domestic violence, suddenly, tomorrow could be death."
The DVCCRT hopes to get the domestic violence court off the ground in the next year.
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