The Domestic Violence Association of Central Kansas (DVACK) 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 U.S. Department of Justice to promote community awareness of crime victims’ rights and services during the 2018 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.

The awarded funding will be used to host a community awareness festival on April 14, 2018, at Oakdale Park from 12:00-3:00 P.M. to promote the rights and available services of crime victims. Salina’s second annual Crime Victims’ Rights Festival will include children’s activities, testimonies from crime victims, memorial display, and community informational booths. The festival is part of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, an annual observance that takes place April 8-14 in 2018.

“The support from NAVAA and OVC for our 2018 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities will help us help crime victims,” said DVACK Executive Director Andrea Quill. “Members of our community are encouraged to promote justice through service to crime victims by joining our 2018 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities and supporting victim assistance programs on a daily basis.”

First designated by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, National Crime Victims’ Rights Week increases 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 2018 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is “Expand the Circle: Reach All Victims.”

Since 2004, the NCVRW Community Awareness Project has provided financial and technical assistance to more than 1,000 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. DVACK was one of the 78 projects recommended by NAVAA and selected for funding by OVC for 2018 from the 185 applications that were submitted nationwide.

“Now more than ever, it is critical that communities come together to identify and meet the needs of victims and survivors of all types of crimes,” OVC Director Darlene Hutchinson said. “That’s why this year’s theme underscores the need to expand the circle to reach all victims, including those who need help and may be unaware of the many victim assistance service providers and programs that are available to them and play such a critical role in the aftermath of a crime.”

For additional information about 2018 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities or about victims’ rights and services in Salina and surrounding communities, please contact DVACK at 785-827-5862, email [email protected], or visit our Web site at www.DVACK.org. For information about national efforts to promote 2018 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, please visit the Office for Victims of Crime website at 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. taxpayers.