Local Program Receives Community Awareness Project Funding for 2016 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week
Madisonville, TN – The Monroe County Health Council has received funding from the National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators (NAVAA) through a grant from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), within the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, to promote community awareness of crime victims’ rights and services during 2016 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.
The week of April 10 – 16, 2016, is National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW). This annual observance, first designated by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, seeks to increase general public awareness of, and knowledge about the wide range of rights and services available to people who have been victimized by crime. The theme for 2016 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is "Serving Victims. Building Trust. Restoring Hope"
Since 2004, the NCVRW Community Awareness Project has provided financial and technical assistance to more than 817 community projects that promote victim and public awareness activities, and innovative approaches to victim outreach and public education about victims’ rights and services during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. The Monroe County Health Council was one of the 60 projects recommended by the National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators and selected for funding by OVC for 2016 from the 221 applications that were submitted nationwide.
According to OVC Director Joye Frost, the Community Awareness Project helps generate widespread public awareness of crime victims’ rights and needs, and the importance of engaging all people in America in victim assistance efforts.
According to Ms. Frost, "Now, more than ever, it is critical that communities come together to identify and meet the needs of victims of all types of crimes. That’s why this year’s National Crime Victims’ Rights Week theme underscores the importance of building trust and restoring hope for crime victims. Expanding public awareness of the needs of crime victims and the resources available to help meet those needs is just the first step and we hope that everyone continues to build trust within our communities in order to restore hope for crime victims," Frost said.
According to Heather Rhymes, the Monroe County Health Council’s Community Outreach Advocate, the Community Awareness Project that will be sponsored in Madisonville will fund the massive publicity of victim’s rights by utilizing materials including but not limited to billboards, road signs, resource manuals, resources for local police, t-shirts for victim service providers and a candlelight vigil in honor of victims in Monroe County.
"The support from NAVAA and OVC for our 2016 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities will help us help crime victims," Rhymes said. "Members of our community are encouraged to help promote justice through service to crime victims by joining our 2016 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities and supporting victim assistance programs throughout the year."
For additional information about 2016 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities or about victims’ rights and services in Monroe County, please contact Heather Rhymes with Monroe STOPe and the Monroe County Health Council at 423-519-1232 , or visit our Web site at www.monroehealth.org For information about national efforts to promote 2016 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, please visit the Office for Victims of Crime website at http://www.ovc.gov.
The National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators is a non-profit organization that represents the 56 state agencies that distributes money from the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Crime Victims Fund to more than 4,000 direct victim assistance service providers. The money in the Crime Victims Fund comes from fines collected from offenders convicted of federal crimes and not from U.S>