The Family Justice Center for Clackamas County provides victim advocacy services. (Courtesy photo: Clackamas Women's Services)

While she’s braved crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturns, Clackamas Women’s Services Executive Director Melissa Erlbaum said the current funding landscape is the most precarious she’s faced in her 30 years in the nonprofit field.

Along with roughly 150 victims services organizations statewide, agencies like Clackamas Women’s Services, Safety Compass, Children’s Center of Clackamas County and the victims services department for Clackamas County are all conducting layoffs and reducing the scope of their services — which will  significantly impact how much help victims receive — due to federal and state funding cuts.

“The widespread shortfalls across all levels of government have converged to create a crisis point — one that keeps me up at night,” Erlbaum said.

Why the funding shortfall?

Although federal funding reductions have become a source of consternation for many local governments and organizations in the first few months of President Donald Trump’s administration, the drastic decline in money to serve victims of abuse and other crimes in Clackamas County and beyond has little to do with partisan politics.

Since 1984, organizations that provide victims services heavily rely on funding from the federal Crime Victims Fund — which collects money from criminal fines, forfeited appearance bonds and penalties, and special assessments collected by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, federal courts and Federal Bureau of Prisons. The fund’s end-of-year balance has declined by 90% (to $1.2 billion) from fiscal year 2017 to fiscal year 2024. Theories about why the fund shrank so much ranged from the pandemic delaying the legal process to there being fewer prosecutions of corporations. Nevertheless, the Oregon Legislature considered a bill this year to backfill the state’s funding shortfall of $18.5 million, but it stalled in the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee.

“I was shocked by the Legislature,” Safety Compass CEO Esther Nelson Garrett said. “I can’t imagine what could be more important than funding a shelter or a first response advocacy organization that goes to the scene when people are running for their lives.”

The Legislature’s allocation for the Domestic and Sexual Violence Services Fund was also $5 million short of what would be required to maintain current service levels, Melissa Erlbaum of Clackamas Women’s Services noted. Federal grant funding freezes  have created further budget challenges for organizations that already operate on thin margins.

What cuts are being made? 

Clackamas Women’s Services, which assists victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse, is reducing its staff of 80 people to 62 — including within its youth services division — and will also see a 50% reduction in the number of confidential advocates who support victims of abuse at the Family Justice Center.

For youth, the organization runs art-based therapy groups and mental health counseling, provides advocacy services and holds a summer camp program for kids impacted by abuse. Due to cuts, Erlbaum said it would serve 50% fewer kids than in the past.

“We currently weren’t meeting the need entirely. The advocacy services mentioned previously, those advocates partnered with school districts and school-based health centers so students can access support. We have a waitlist of schools wanting to be part of the program prior to this cut.”

Erlbaum added that the reduction in confidential advocates will mean CWS can’t assist as many victims — thus often leading the victims to stay in unsafe situations, become more reticent to seek help again and continue an intergenerational cycle of violence and trauma.

“When folks reach out and say ‘I need help to get safe’ or are healing from harm, abuse and violence that occurred, when we don’t respond to a call they are very likely to stay in that violent situation; they don’t have hope, resources and someone there for them,” Erlbaum said. “It really is a life-saving service in many ways.”

Safety Compass, Nelson Garrett said, is laying off six of its 14 employees, including task force coordinators who manage an interdisciplinary team to fight human trafficking in local counties such as Clackamas.

The organization works with law enforcement to assist victims of human trafficking by providing emotional support, connecting them with shelter and getting them clothing. Safety Compass will still provide initial support, but Nelson Garrett said that it won’t be able to offer as much continuous assistance like helping people find housing and supporting them when they go to medical appointments.

“All of the follow-ups that keep people from falling back into situations with a lack of safety or becoming homeless, we won’t be able to do those things,” she said.

The Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office Victim Services unit, which lets victims of crimes know about their rights, reminds them of their court appearances and connects them with services, is planning to cut three of 10 victim advocate positions once funding runs out later this year. Clackamas County District Attorney John Wentworth said this means that the county will provide less support for victims of misdemeanor and property crime cases, but will try to maintain services for victims of crimes like assault, robbery and kidnapping.

“And it will be difficult to provide in-court help,” Wentworth said. “We’re going to try to keep personal crime (when a person harms another) services intact. Those are the times when having that victim assistance is most critical. It is going to put a strain on that unit and the office as a whole.”

Overall, Wentworth said these services have become a key component of his office and the funding shortfall will negatively impact victims.

“There used to be a time when having crime victim advocates was viewed as a luxury. Many communities didn’t have them and they have become a core function of the work we do and the services we provide both in the system and the community,” he said. “System-based advocates in my office and community-based advocates like Safety Compass are both critical to making sure crime victims have the support they need, not just to get through the criminal justice system but in coping with traumatic events. When we have cuts, it is a dramatic loss to services for people who need them.”

Hope at the federal level? 

Those hoping for more funding may look to the U.S. Congress, which is considering a bill that would increase funding for victims services by providing revenue from the False Claims Act — which collects money from entities that submit false claims to the federal government. The U.S. Department of Justice garnered $2.2 billion through this act in fiscal year 2022. The bill would create a sunset after four years so elected officials can assess how it works.

“This temporary infusion of resources will help stabilize the CVF, while retaining the Fund’s original intent of being financed by legal fines and fees, not Americans’ tax dollars,” a bill primer reads.

How to help

Safety Compass and Clackamas Women’s Services complement federal and state funding with donations. To donate to Clackamas Women’s Services, visit the donation page. To donate to Safety Compass, visit https://safetycompass.org/donate.

Clackamas Women’s Services is also hosting an upcoming 40th anniversary gala to galvanize support and is considering other funding sources.

“These efforts are not just about sustainability — they are about preserving a lifeline for survivors and families in crisis across our community,” Erlbaum said.