Advocates address domestic violence solutions as federal funding plummets

To stop the scourge of domestic violence, communities must create a system that protects victims before the signs are obvious and it is too late to help, according to the keynote speaker at a Oct. 1 event to raise funds and advocate for survivors.

Rachel Louise Snyder, an investigative journalist and author of the award-winning “No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us,” shared the story of the book’s central figure, Michelle Mosure, 23, of Billings, Montana, during the 2024 Domestic Violence IMPACT Luncheon in support of the Center for Family Violence Prevention.

Mosure was shot and killed by her husband, along with the couple’s two children, before he committed suicide in 2001. The story was one of coercive control, how the husband kept a rattlesnake in a cage and threatened to put it in Mosure’s bed or shower if she made him mad and how he brandished her grandfather’s hunting rifle when she asked about getting a job at a local motel while he was unemployed.

It was also one of systemic failures by law enforcement, higher education and judiciary officials. When a restraining order was filed and the husband was arrested, he was out of jail within an hour. On a different occasion after he broke into a home to steal the couple’s daughter, he was charged with criminal mischief. When Mosure sought to get a nursing degree, financial aid officers recommended she get married to use her husband’s tax returns on documents. For context, Mosure was 15 when she first became pregnant. Her future husband was 25.

Snyder said Montana has since made some changes in how it approaches domestic violence. It supplies “Hope Cards,” wallet-sized cards provided along with restraining orders that show the offender’s photo and where they are forbidden. A neighbor told Snyder the day before Mosure was killed that the husband looked into each window of the home he was barred from. She believes Mosure would still be alive if her neighbors had Hope Cards.

Snyder also said when a suspect is arrested for any level of family violence, they are not allowed to bail out for a minimum amount of hours. That gives domestic violence advocates time to go to a victim’s home and offer a danger assessment or other aid.

“In Michelle’s case, they could have changed the locks and installed security cameras because the house was in her name,” Snyder said. “Four hours is enough time to pack up a victim and kid and take them to shelters if that’s what needs to happen. Four hours can buy a life; how much extra does it cost to hold a perpetrator for that period of time?”

Snyder said after her address that resources come to be when leaders learn how well they work. She said officials must connect across state lines and jurisdictions to better protect victims.

“The most effective areas that I’ve ever seen when it comes to dealing with domestic violence are those areas that have knocked down barriers, like between the police and the shelter,” Snyder said. “I was in Utah speaking about a year ago and they had a brand new shelter there, it was really nice. They told me how when they built the shelter they had every member of the police department walk through so they knew the layout, they knew where the safety rooms were, where the emergency buttons were, and they had ... front entrance cameras to the shelter directly in the police department.

“That’s the kind of thing that is really effective in telling victims we are going to put a safety net around you, the entire community is going to put a safety net around you.”

While talks are ongoing about establishing a Family Justice Center in Pitt County to promote cooperation among organizations that deal with domestic violence, Snyder said such efforts are expensive and dependent on space and resources. Hope Cards and holding perpetrators in jail longer, as well as well-funded offender intervention programs, are more cost-effective, she said.

Tuesday’s luncheon was the seventh in support of the Center for Family Violence Prevention. As its major annual fundraiser, it also featured a silent auction and other means to raise money for the center.

Funding is now an even bigger concern for advocates. Laura Coleman, the center’s resource director, said the Governor’s Crime Commission announced last week that Victims of Crimes Act funding was going to be reduced to a “critical level” effective Tuesday.

The Governor’s Crime Commission confirmed that the state would receive $3.5 million in VOCA funds in 2025, a steep drop from this year’s $24.6 million. Funding has been on the decline since 2018, when North Carolina was allotted its all-time high of $103 million in VOCA funds. The Center for Family Violence Prevention would see its allotment drop from approximately $116,000 to $15,300, Coleman said.

“VOCA is our core funding for advocacy, case management and shelter,” Coleman said. “Now I have to try to figure out with our finance team, how do we work the local fundraising? Who can we go to to bring some dollars in? It’s a significant cut; we experienced the cut last year as well. At some point it exceeds what the community even can make up.”

VOCA funding for states, referred to as the federal Crime Victims Fund, is accrued from forfeitures, fines and other money levied from federal prosecution.

A report from the N.C. Department of Public Safety said that since 2017 the federal government has distributed more money to states than it has taken in from prosecutions. Caroline Farmer, executive director of the Governor’s Crime Commission, said that a lawsuit has also made some funds inaccessible.

Effective Sept. 30, 2025, Farmer said applications for resources like legal services, the underserved, medical services or violence interruption models will no longer be received. She expressed concern that when smaller domestic violence efforts shut down, it will only increase the load on the larger ones that remain standing. She said that also exacerbates existing transportation barriers for victims in need of service.

The commission is expected to host a social enterprise workshop in November to discuss how groups can use market-driven approaches to address funding needs.

Coleman said that 1,361 people contacted the center for services in 2023. She told attendees of the IMPACT luncheon that the center’s shelter has never closed since it was established. The center serves Pitt, Martin and Washington counties.