YWCA domestic violence program loses state funding

YWCA Clark County will lose state funding for its Domestic Violence High Risk Team by the end of the month.

The program, which launched in March 2025, establishes partnerships with law enforcement and attorneys to help identify domestic violence victims who are at high risk of being killed or seriously injured by their abusers. The program has identified 86 people to be at high risk.

“Because there’s so many voices saying this has been such an effective program and meaningful to so many people, especially to our survivors, we will stay hopeful,” said Beth Landry, YWCA Clark County’s vice president of domestic violence programs. “We’re not giving this up. We will find ways to continue this work. It may be difficult, but it’s necessary.”

The YWCA learned on March 31 that a $90,000 grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce through the Office of Crime Victims Advocacy would not be renewed. Instead, the state will redirect the money to other counties for similar pilot programs.

Other sources helped cover the YWCA Clark County team’s $110,000 annual operating cost, which included pay for one full-time staff member and other expenses, Landry said.

Given the team’s caseload, the true estimate of annual operating costs is around $220,000, said Olivia Riley, YWCA Clark County’s director of community services and outreach.

“That will sustain the amount of folks that we’re serving right now and allow us to continue working with folks who continue to get screened into this program,” Riley said.

Law enforcement refers domestic violence survivors to the high-risk team after conducting an 11-question risk assessment created by the Geiger Institute, a national initiative to end domestic violence homicides.

The program then offers survivor-focused wraparound services and collects and anonymizes data from those who consent to help better understand trends.

Not the first setback

Funding has been a challenge this year for YWCA Clark County, which relies on both local and federal sources. The organization recently was denied grants it had previously received, often without clear explanation, while other funding opportunities disappeared under the Trump administration, CEO Brittini Lasseigne previously said.

The nonprofit has used federal grants to fund its sexual assault program, which provides a 24/7 response from on-call advocates who can provide clothing and other help for victims, and now must look elsewhere for money.

“We’re hopeful to have more conversations with state and local funders and look at any possible public and private funding,” Landry said. “We’ll continue to look for opportunities to fund those services. The reality is we’re at a $220,000 deficit for lifesaving program. We’re at zero.”

Clark County Sheriff’s Office Cmdr. Jayson Camp said the loss of funding for the Domestic Violence High Risk Team won’t hamstring law enforcement officers’ function in domestic violence cases, but it will jeopardize their ability to connect victim advocates with survivors of domestic violence in a timely manner.

Camp added that the high-risk team also helped provide important information after arrests and before trials, such as violations of no-contact orders, new crimes or details that survivors had not initially shared with law enforcement.

Prosecutors also could use this information to strengthen a survivor’s case and provide better protection.

“We had survivors or victims who are more willing to talk about their situation candidly with civilian victim advocates than they were with detectives or prosecutors. There’s fear of retaliation,” Camp said. “Feeling heard, understood and like they have somebody that they can call and talk to anytime — that’s what’s at stake here. And that, to me, is a big deal, as far as the emotional well-being, the mental health of the survivors.”

YWCA Legal Services Manager Kate Willow, who helps oversee the Domestic Violence High Risk Team specialist, said the effort is making a measurable impact.

Between 1997 and 2024, 75 domestic violence homicides occurred in Clark County, according to data from the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Almost a quarter of those homicides occurred between 2020 and 2024. Since launching the high-risk team, there have been only three domestic violence homicides in the county, Willow said.

“We’re trying to create every opportunity for the support for these survivors,” Willow said. “We need permanent funding, because that’s 86 lives that we have been able to save.”